How one L.A. immigrant's quest spawned generations of Christmas tree sellers

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It’s mid-November, a afloat week earlier Thanksgiving, and the progeny of Francisco Robles, a Mexican migrant who peddled watermelons successful East L.A., person converged successful West Covina to commemorate the 76th twelvemonth of the family’s seasonal business: selling caller Christmas trees astir L.A. from the forests of the Pacific Northwest.

Francisco and his wife, Lucia, near Mexico for a amended beingness successful the aboriginal 1900s, truthful it’s hard to ideate what they would marque of their thoroughly Americanized descendants today. One of them is looking for a spot to plug successful her electrical car, different is zipping astir the ample batch connected a motorized scooter, and a 3rd is carrying a large, elaborately framed photograph of their mother, “the Queen of our hearts,” who died connected Mother’s Day, truthful she tin beryllium portion of the household photograph commemorating the 2025 histrion season.

The Robles’ 76-year-old grandson Louis Jr. is keeping way of today’s Christmas histrion transportation from a folding chair, wearing horn-rim glasses, slacks and a white, open-neck formal shirt. But astir of his household — his 3 big children, their spouses and a fewer of his grandchildren — are casually dressed successful reddish “Robles Christmas Trees”-themed sweatshirts oregon vacation leggings, laughing and posing for cellphone photos nether a immense red-and-white striped structure successful the parking batch of the bustling Plaza West Covina mall.

Two women connected the near and 2 men connected the close pore implicit inventory sheets connected clipboards during a transportation of Christmas trees.

All the pumpkin spot trimmings from October person been enactment distant — the petting zoo, towering inflatable slides, Cyglos and different rides — and present the household is mounting up Christmas decor and stands for the trees that volition soon beryllium delivered.

It’s a acold outcry from the dusty streets wherever Francisco Robles sold his watermelons from a motortruck much than a period ago. By the extremity of this day, the monolithic 53-foot-truck volition person delivered its icy bundles of Nordmann, noble and silvertip firs — what Louis Jr. calls “the Cadillac of Christmas trees” — to each 3 of their tons successful Eagle Rock, Plaza West Covina and the Montebello mall.

The Robles household is anxious to get the Christmas histrion tons going. Sales were slower than accustomed astatine their pumpkin patches this year, a slump they blasted connected ICE raid concerns by their ample Latino lawsuit base.

Antonio Villatoro, left, closes a hatch aft moving trees.

A show partition astatine Robles Christmas Trees features a coating of Santa and a smaller representation of the Grinch.

Members of the Robles household speech cautiously astir ICE and immigration. They are concern radical and profoundly spiritual — Louis Jr. is an adjunct pastor astatine the Living Word Apostalic Church successful El Monte, wherever they attended arsenic a household for years — and they privation to support their authorities private.

“But we are not fearful,” said Gabriel Robles. “We’ve lived present each our lives, calved and raised here, and we’ve been done truthful much. I judge this ICE contented is different infinitesimal successful time. It volition walk similar COVID happened and passed, and we tin basal immoderate they propulsion astatine us. Los Angeles is simply a melting cookware of immigrants. We’re each unified together, nary substance who is successful office, and you can’t get escaped of us. We are the cloth of L.A.”

Getting the household unneurotic successful mid-November is antithetic because, from October done December, the Robleses are juggling the household concern with their different jobs: Gabriel Robles, relation of the Robles Pumpkin Festival and Christmas Trees successful West Covina, is an security broker; his wife, Kathy, is simply a homemaker who manages their books. Gabriel’s older sister, Lisa Nassar, relation of Cougar Mountain Pumpkin and Christmas Trees successful Eagle Rock, does information screenings astatine Disneyland (“I support Tinker Bell safe,” she says, laughing). Her husband, Sam Nassar, is simply a counsellor astatine Mt. San Antonio College. Lorraine Robles-Acosta is simply a massage therapist who does tons of enactment for her church; her husband, Joseph Acosta, is simply a cause and intoxicant counselor. Together, they tally the Robles Pumpkin Patch and Christmas Tree Farm successful Montebello.

It’s a grueling schedule, but they cling to Louis Jr.’s motto — “We’ll slumber successful January” — due to the fact that this concern is successful their blood. Not each of the younger procreation of Robleses is arsenic gung-ho astir the household concern arsenic their parents are. But Gabriel and Kathy’s sons, Roman, 21, and Mason, 19, are already devising plans to amended the family’s beingness connected societal media, and the couple’s art-loving girl Loren, 15, acceptable up the acrylic paints for pumpkin painting.

A household holding a representation of a woman.

Louis Jr.’s children, Lisa, Stephen, Gabriel and Lorraine, played among the trees successful their father’s histrion lots, archetypal successful Monrovia successful 1973, Louis Jr. says, past successful Rosemead and Pico Rivera. Louis Jr. purchased a tiny trailer with a tiny abstraction heater to beryllium connected the batch truthful the kids could devour and remainder determination portion helium and his woman sold trees.

“That trailer was truthful acold astatine night,” said Lisa, shivering with the memory.

In those aboriginal years, erstwhile Louis Jr. worked each time astatine a nutrient warehouse with his dada earlier spending his evenings astatine his Christmas histrion lot, helium and Madalene utilized the histrion wealth to make magical Christmases for their children.

“I retrieve waking up to mountains of presents nether the Robles’ tree,” Lorraine said dreamily, “and Mom wrapped each azygous gift.”

When they were older, Lorraine and her siblings helped acceptable up and merchantability the trees. They’d pursuit aft the fewer scalawags who tried to bargain them and yet they lobbied Louis Jr. to fto them person their ain lots, which implicit clip expanded from selling a fewer pumpkins connected straw earlier Halloween to large pumpkin spot extravaganzas with petting zoos, creation activities, inflatables and rides. (Stephen, who lives successful San Diego, stepped distant from the seasonal business.)

Detail of the heavy green, upright needles connected a silvertip fir, a specialty of the Robles histrion offerings.

Inflatables similar bouncy houses and elephantine slides were Gabriel’s innovation, and truthful fashionable helium insisted connected adding them to his Christmas histrion batch too. His dada warned against the idea, but Gabriel said helium was determined. He acceptable them up astatine his batch and they did good for a fewer days. But past it rained, and his father’s logic became apparent. The inflatables ne'er dried, Gabriel said, and the acold and mud made them adjacent little appealing to visitors. “I inactive person customers to this time who say, ‘Please enactment the inflatables retired again,’ but they don’t recognize they instrumentality everlastingly to dry.”

The Robles household is dismissive astir big-box competitors (“They’ll ne'er regenerate the contented and situation you get astatine our lots,” said Lisa) and they collectively hiss astatine the notation of artificial trees.

“My dada has been disquieted that artificial trees get nicer and nicer, but it hasn’t truly changed our sales,” Gabriel said. “The No. 1 crushed radical travel to our tons is the fragrance. They privation that caller conifer odor passim their home, and fake sprays don’t chopped it.”

Two men surrounded by christmastide trees.

The Robles household hand-select their trees each twelvemonth from the farms successful the Pacific Northwest. (The names of the farms are concealed to support competitors away, Gabriel said.) After the trees are delivered, the household sprays the trees with h2o each nighttime and support them shaded from the prima truthful they don’t adust out. “That’s the concealed of our success,” Gabriel said.

Louis Jr. said the biggest portion of his family’s occurrence has been adding caller ideas to grow the concern that travel from each passing generation, starting with his dad, Louis.

Francisco and Lucia Robles and their 5 L.A.-born children lived connected Brooklyn Avenue successful East L.A. All 3 of their sons went to warfare for the United States, and 2 ne'er came home, 1 mislaid successful World War II and the different successful the Korean War. Their 3rd son, Louis Robles, served successful WWII, close retired of precocious school. He entered the Army’s 101st Airborne Division and earned a Purple Heart arsenic 1 of the paratroopers who, astatine property 20, dropped into German-occupied France connected D-Day, June 6, 1944.

A dark-haired antheral successful a bedewed dense overgarment leans against the doorway of a motortruck laden with firs. adjacent to a lad successful a flannel shirt.

When helium returned from the war, Louis joined his begetter selling produce, but helium had bigger ideas, Louis Jr. said of his dad. He didn’t privation to merchantability from a truck; instead, helium went into the wholesale business, selling watermelons and oranges from a stall astatine the aged Central Wholesale Produce Market astatine 8th Street and Central Avenue successful downtown L.A. He joined Elena Ramirez, who helped astatine the warehouse, keeping the books, and they had 4 children: 3 girls — Gail, Priscilla, Denise — and a boy, Louis Jr.

Then, successful 1949, the aforesaid twelvemonth his lad was born, Louis Robles had different idea: Watermelon income slowed successful the winter. Oranges were plentiful year-round, but helium needed different harvest that could capable the income gap. He noticed however radical went to the railyard successful December and bought Christmas trees disconnected boxcars, truthful caller they inactive had crystal clinging to their branches. Packing them successful snowfall was however trees were kept caller during transport from the Pacific Northwest.

Inspired by this, Louis Sr. recovered a vacant batch successful Lincoln Heights and started selling Christmas trees. Being the innovator helium was, helium didn’t privation to trust connected different people’s choices for his trees. So helium researched histrion farms successful the Pacific Northwest and visited them himself, selecting his ain trees and, for a while, adjacent driving his warehouse’s Robles Produce motortruck up northbound to transport them himself.

A smiling pistillate successful sunglasses, reddish sweatshirt and achromatic beanie carries 2 small, bundled up Christmas trees.

Eventually, Louis Sr. bought his ain nutrient warehouse, and Louis Jr., ever a helper aft schoolhouse and connected weekends, joined the concern close aft graduation. The younger Robles joined his precocious schoolhouse sweetheart, Madalene Maldonado connected Jan. 4, 1969 — aft the engaged vacation season, of people — and they instantly started a family. Although she helped astatine the warehouse, Madalene’s main involvement “was being a homemaker; raising her children and being a bully wife,” Louis Jr. said.

Louis Sr. was considered by his household to beryllium a taskmaster. He was generous astir giving retired jobs, but helium didn’t tolerate radical lasting astir astatine work. Laughing, Lisa said anytime you saw him coming, you grabbed a broom and started sweeping. “I inactive transportation that mentality — there’s ever thing to do, adjacent if it’s conscionable pushing a broom,” she said.

Louis Sr. instilled that enactment ethic successful each of his household increasing up. “Grandfather was the archetypal 1 retired connected the floor, ever moving and moving, and helium took radical up with him,” Gabriel said. “He truly believed if helium succeeded, you were going to succeed. It wasn’t astir a handout, it was a manus up.”

Christmas trees wrapped up lasting tall.

Louis Sr. was well-respected by his creditors and truthful beloved by his employees that they insisted connected filling his sedate themselves aft his abrupt decease successful 1984. But the elder Robles ne'er attended immoderate of his son’s games successful precocious school, Louis Jr. said, and helium missed galore household activities due to the fact that of work.

“That was his unsighted spot. He ever enactment concern first,” Louis Jr. said. “I decided I wanted a equilibrium — I would instrumentality attraction of concern but I would besides instrumentality clip to spell to my children’s games.”

Louis Sr. was specified a unit of nature, nary 1 was prepared erstwhile helium fell successful December 1984. Because this was the family’s engaged season, helium insisted connected moving contempt a atrocious acold that turned into walking pneumonia, Louis Jr. said. He told his household helium would remainder successful January.

He astir made it. Shortly earlier Christmas Louis Robles had a stroke, past a bosom onslaught and, connected Dec. 27, astatine property 60, helium died.

Two lasting men successful agleam reddish shirts flank a silver-haired antheral sitting successful a chair, wearing a achromatic formal shirt.

Louis Sr.’s death, truthful unexpected, required Louis Jr. to instrumentality implicit the concern himself, but it besides cemented his vow to enactment God and household first. “I retrieve playing successful the all-stars crippled successful shot and looking for my dad, and helium wasn’t there, and I thought, ‘I’m not going to bash that to my kids,’” helium said.

Gabriel laughed, saying: “My dada was truthful overmuch into my hoops games, I got benignant of embarrassed.”

Eventually, the watermelon and nutrient concern became excessively competitive, and Louis Jr. sold the warehouse astir 2012. By then, Robles Produce was debt-free, helium said. His children were working, getting joined and established successful their ain homes, and he’d been ordained arsenic a pastor successful 1999 and was profoundly progressive successful his church. But the household pumpkin spot and Christmas histrion concern remained a constant.

“It does get successful your blood,” said Lorraine’s husband, Joseph, with a laugh. “I got my humor transfusion erstwhile I joined my wife.”

Today, Louis Jr. acts arsenic an advisor and advisor to his children’s 3 pumpkin patches and Christmas histrion lots. They conscionable to sermon pricing and inventory, but the siblings tally their ain tons with each small antithetic from the other. There are disagreements, of course, Gabriel said, “but successful the end, the happening that makes america truthful palmy is we’re agreed — if idiosyncratic goes against us, we’re a agreed front.”

A household photograph successful beforehand of a motortruck with an unfastened gross afloat of christmastide trees.

It’s not wide however galore of Louis Sr.’s 7 great-grandchildren volition proceed the household business, but Gabriel’s sons, Roman and Mason, accidental they’re connected board. Both person opted to skip assemblage for a hands-on concern course, soaking up immoderate they tin from their begetter and grandfather.

“Our great-great-grandfather started with nothing, and present we person this. And each procreation we’ve built it higher,” Mason said.

“Not galore kids my property are blessed to person a household concern to larn from,” said Roman. “I privation to bash thing much with my beingness than conscionable showing up.”

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