Barnum Hall Gets Glamour Treatment

Barnum Hall, Tuesday, February 17, 4 p.m.
                                                                photo by Chris Zielin

  The new planting around the restored Barnum Hall at Santa Monica High School was designed to recall the glamour of Hollywood in the 1930s, when the Streamline Moderne theater was built.
   On Monday, February 16, cranes placed six Washingtonia robusta palms, ranging in height from 10 to 22 feet, in pre-dug holes. A large multi-trunk European fan palm and two giant birds of paradise were also planted around Barnum, along with smaller birds of paradise and pygmy date palms.
   As with the $6 million restoration of the landmark building itself, a number of Santa Monica residents donated services and goods to the landscape project.
   Santa Monica landscape designer Mary Effron contributed the landscape plan, which features tropical plants that do not require excessive maintenance or water. For this initial phase, Aaron J. Landworth, owner of LanDesign West, Inc. in Santa Monica, donated many of the plants and is providing the larger trees and labor at cost.
   An irrigation system was donated by the Hammer Company. Its owners Norman and Steve Hammer, and Steve’s son, Dr. Carl Hammer, are Samohi graduates, and Dr. Hammer is the high school’s assistant band director.
   The project has been managed by Campus Beautification Committee co-chairs Judi Bloom and Bonnie Freeman, who also secured funding from both the PTSA and individual donors.
   “Landscaping a beautiful building like Barnum has been a labor of love for all concerned,” Bloom said. “It was the ideal private-public collaboration — one that everyone involved wanted to see happen. With students, the community, and this beautiful building in mind, professionals and representatives from PTSA, Restore Barnum, the district and the Samohi administrations did their best to make the project run smoothly and economically.”
   Samohi students will install smaller plants to complete the project.
   “It’s been a year since Barnum Hall reopened, but we’re still completing the restoration, piece by piece,” said Jean Sedillos, chairperson of the Restore Barnum Hall! committee. “It has been a pleasure to watch Judi and Bonnie put together this amazing group of professionals to add the finishing touch to Barnum on the outside.”