Long shot tree ID?

[Catagonia]

Hi, when I was a kid, I had a favorite tree. Two pictures are attached, one from 1979 (complete with dorky kids in period attire) and one from 2014 per Google street view.


Maybe a little better quality shot from 2020:


I know the picture quality is ... not good but if anyone can help, I'd appreciate it.

This was/is a street tree in Costa Mesa, Orange County, California.

 

[Shibui]

Do you remember whether this tree was/is deciduous?
With very little else to go on other than the compound leaves I'll guess Chinese pistachio - Pistacia chinensis.

 

[Catagonia]

I do not believe so. One of those pics is from December, and I don't remember it ever losing its leaves.

 

[Catagonia]

Chinese pistachio is definitely an approved street tree, so that's looking good. It never turned color or dropped its leaves, though. Costa Mesa never really gets into genuinely cold temperatures, so maybe that explains it.

Thanks!

 

[M. Frary]

Foemina!

 

[Cruiser]

Are there any distinct features you can remember? How the leaves smelled? What the bark texture was like when you climbed it? Did it get messy underneath from rotting fruits, etc? Were there lots of other ones around?

The open branch structure in the first photo reminds me of eucalyptus, but the foliage and bark doesn’t look quite right..

If there’s more of the same species planted nearby you could use street view to look around and maybe get a clearer view of another tree to help with identification.

 

[Wulfskaar]

I also recently tried to ID a tree from google street view. Maybe you can get a closer pic of the leaves (zoom using mouse wheel)?

The more recent pics look almost like oak, but the leaves on the old pic with the kids don't.

 

[hinmo24t]

my first thought with kids n tree is a locust of some sort

 

[Catagonia]

The left hand one has the clearest image of the leaves I could find, zoomed in. The right one show the bark now at least 50+ years old.

Definitely not eucalyptus, it didn't have that smell. I don't remember litter, flowers, or fruit (but it was a very long time ago!) There's no litter or dropped leaves
in any of the old street photos either, which were taken in May, June, Sept, Oct, Dec, and Jan.

I don't really NEED this information for anything except curiosity/nostalgia, I was reminded of this tree and thought it might be cool to try creating a bonsai of the species. Thanks for all your help

 

[Firstflush]

Carrotwood or Brazilian pepper. Can’t see that clearly. Very very common street trees.
The left photo looks like a carrotwood.
If you saw red berries, Brazilian pepper.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

with my "northern tree" background, I would have guessed one of the ash species. Fraxinus. But I am not familiar with California street trees. It could be any of a dozen species.

@Catagonia - you are in Sacramento California, why not take a drive back to Costa Mesa and take a close look at the tree? I do realize that it is a 6 hour drive one way, but perhaps you can combine the trip with business or visiting old friends or relatives.

I have revisited old haunts from my youth, though fortunately most of my old haunts were not that far away. I take that back, one of my favorite places is 5 hours from home. And I have taken a weekend and visited, just for nostalgia.

Do it.