Hidden in a Trunk

Encino’s Lang Oak keeps its secrets still.

Since the massive oak, which stood at Ventura Boulevard and Louise Avenue, toppled in an El Nino storm Feb. 7, the mystery has persisted:

Just how old was it?

The answer:

Nobody knows yet.

Clearly the tree was many centuries old. It must have been standing there when Spanish explorers rode into the San Fernando Valley. Could it have been a sapling as long as 1,000 years ago?

The answer to the mystery seems simple in theory--count the growth rings in a cross-section of the trunk. There should be one for each year.

It’s not so simple in practice. The tree has been cut into segments by city workers, but its 8-foot-thick trunk defies efforts to slice a ring sample, they say.

“It’s a lot of beef in that tree,” said Joe Parra, a city gardener and caretaker, as workers trying to cut into the trunk poured oil on chain-saw blades Thursday to lubricate them and keep the saws from overheating.

City officials plan to donate portions of the trunk to the Museum of Natural History and local public schools that were instrumental in the oak’s upkeep over the years, if the portions can be cut.

“It just doesn’t want to go silently,” said Ellen Stein, president of the Board of Public Works, shaking her head.