I like palm trees, useless as they are — in contrast to the LA Observed website, which caused a stir last year with anti-palm comments (such as here and here) —  but I like them maintained. It must be the orderly, neatnik side of me, but to see layer after layer of dead fronds cascading down the side of a trunk like a hula skirt makes me want to bring out shears, or maybe a flamethrower.

The scenes above and below could have been shot in any city in the Inland Valley, or Southern California for that matter. Both happened to be on Indian Hill Boulevard in Pomona, a couple of blocks apart. The one at bottom is in Claremont and was shot from the Metrolink parking lot.

Why oh why won’t people — and possibly public agencies, in the latter case — trim their trees? Most of us would never notice if an elm weren’t trimmed, but all the beauty of a palm is lost when the dead matter starts accumulating in plain sight. How many years of dead growth are on display in these photos?