Trees Shaped by Wind at Point Fermin Park

Point Fermin Park sits on the bluffs above San Pedro's coastline, next to the fenced-off landslide zone known as Sunken City. Ocean winds off the Pacific are constant here, and over decades they've trained the park's coastal trees to grow at a permanent lean, some bent nearly parallel to the ground. The park's open lawns and dirt paths run along the same bluff edge that has been sliding slowly toward the water since 1929, when unstable clay layers beneath Point Fermin gave way. The city maintains the park as public parkland even as the adjacent slide area remains restricted.

Photo taken in December 2011.