A Christmas tree tradition that's lasted generations

How an L.A. immigrant's grit led to a 76-year-old business

- JEANETTE MARANTOS

JONATHAN TOVAR, foreground, arranges Christmas trees with Roman Robles.

It’s mid-November, a full week before Thanksgiving, and the progeny of Francisco Robles, a Mexican immigrant who peddled watermelons in East L.A., have converged in West Covina to commemorate the 76th year of the family’s seasonal business: selling fresh Christmas trees around L.A. from the forests of the Pacific Northwest.

Francisco and his wife, Lucia, left Mexico for a better life in the early 1900s, so it's hard to imagine what they would make of their thoroughly Americanized descendants today. One of them is looking for a place to plug in her electric car, another is zipping around the large lot on a motorized scooter and a third is carrying a large, elaborately framed photo of their mother, "the Queen of our hearts," who died on Mother's Day, so she can be part of the family photo commemorating the 2025 tree season.

The Robles 76-year-old grandson, Louis Jr., is keeping track of today's Christmas tree delivery from a folding chair, wearing hornrim glasses, slacks and a white dress shirt. But most of his family his three adult children, their spouses and a few of his grandchildren are casually dressed in red "Robles Christmas Trees" sweatshirts or holiday leggings, laughing and posing for photos under a huge red-and-white striped tent in the parking lot of the Plaza West Covina mall.

All the pumpkin patch trimmings from October have been put away - the petting zoo, towering inflatable slides, Cyglos and other rides and now the family is setting up Christmas decor and stands for the trees that will soon be delivered.