Updated at 3:30 p.m. Dec. 24, 2016
Vandals won’t be allowed to darken Christmas — not at the end of Crystal Pier.
When Janelle Sherako saw on Facebook that someone had tossed the traditional Christmas tree off the end of the 1920s-era wooden pier in Pacific Beach, she was appalled.
“We were hurt about this,” said Sherako, a 20-year PB resident. “We weren’t going to let anyone get us down. We weren’t going to let (vandals) win. We wanted to take back our community.”
Strolling down the pier to take pictures with the lighted tree, festooned with ornaments, has been a local tradition, and some people don’t visit the tree until Christmas Eve, she said Saturday.
“They expect to see it,” she said. “And we wanted it back.”
So with her family including husband David and friends — a total of seven adults and six kids — they contacted nearby Green Gardens Nursery on Cass Street and CVS Pharmacy on Mission Boulevard, which gave a discount on ornaments.
When the group showed up on the pier Friday afternoon, “people were so excited,” Sherako told Times of San Diego. Decorations were distributed to strangers and “everybody started putting ornaments on the tree in a huge community effort. That’s what [Christmas] is about.”
News that the original tree was tossed over a five-foot railing into the ocean brought some to tears. The timing of the crime seemed to make replacement impractical.
“It’s sad because of the pure sake that it means so much to people in the community,” Meggan Buscho said Friday before the replacement tree emerged. She’s the manager of Crystal Pier Hotel & Cottages and helps prepare the tree.
“There’s a lot of things that happen down here, and we don’t know why,” she said, but thinks alcohol and nearby bars plays a part.
The lighted Christmas tree on the pier and accompanying festivities means something to the community, she said.
On Saturday, Buscho said the new tree, secured to the pier amid strong winds, will be up until Jan. 2.
“It’s something that the families of this community … can relate to. It’s nice. We have a tree out here,” Buscho said. “It’s family oriented; the parade goes on. They feel like they are getting their community back.”
Jim Bostian, part owner and manager of the cottages, received a phone call from their security guard early Dec. 17, saying the tree was gone.
“What do you mean the tree is gone?” he responded, thinking it was just knocked over by the wind that kicked up that night.
“It was windy, but not enough to hoist it over the fence,” Bostian said. The tree had four “heavy duty” guide lines and was in a stand secured to the pier. All safety lines were nowhere to be found afterwards.
Bostian is convinced it was no act of God.
“It just couldn’t have been the wind,” he said. “It was much too big; we didn’t have 100-mile-an-hour wind that would have launched it over a 5-foot railing. It would have knocked it over on to the deck with some cables attached.”
The tree washed up four to five blocks from the pier.
Ornaments worth hundreds of dollars were strewn on the pier. Along with the fake presents, they were stomped on and crushed by the vandals.
Wreaths contributed by local businesses also were tossed into the sea or damaged and left lying on the pier.
@KUSINews PB resident Mike Mason and PB volunteers replace the vandalized Crystal Pier Tree in time for Christmas pic.twitter.com/cV6AfIDAnQ
— David Sherako (@DavidOak619) December 23, 2016
The 14-foot tree, valued at $400-$500, weighed a couple hundred pounds, according to Alex Baker of Christmas Tree Country, which donated the tree.
Baker offered to replace the tree, but Bostian said it was too close to Christmas, but would have done so if it had happened earlier in the month.
“I attribute it to the amount of alcohol consumed in PB,” he said, adding that he thought it was a spur of the moment action, committed by people who thought it was fun.
Manager Buscho has another theory.
“I think it was thought out,” she said, citing vandalism on the pier two nights earlier when patio furniture and clay pots were also hurled into the sea.
Bostian said he got word of other vandalism in Pacific Beach that night, including a woman who told him her artificial tree and inflated lawn decorations were stolen.
While the gate to the pier is locked at sunset, he said people have scaled the fence or climbed up over the railing from adjoining buildings. A security guard is on duty for eight hours nightly.
Buscho said many visitors had been dismayed about the crime.
“Everybody enjoys it being lit up at night … and then to not see it and Christmas hasn’t even happened, people are like, “Where is the tree?”
Calling the incident “horrible,” Bostian said, “We’re all disappointed. It’s something that is unique to the community and unique to us.”
Bostian believes Crystal Pier is the only pier in the country to have lodging and a Christmas tree on it during the holidays.
This isn’t the first time a Crystal Pier tree was attacked.
About two years ago, a man who “didn’t believe in Christmas” climbed the tree and shook it violently in an attempt to destroy it, Bostian said. However, since the incident occurred during the day, the man was caught.
What will prevent a repeat of the vandalism next year? A higher fence?
“If you put up a higher fence, you take away from the feeling,” Buscho said. “It’s like a caged tree. It’s like, why do it?”
Bostian said they are contemplating attaching a surveillance camera in 2017.
“We will put it (the tree) up again next year,” he said. “It will be bigger, better and stronger than they (vandals) are.”
