We moved into the house summer of 1996. It was a quiet, old, lush green, peaceful neighborhood, so different from the trashed, graffiti covered busy streets of Hawthorne. It was a mere five minutes from the beach, opposed to the 20 minute drive. Everything was perfect.

Except for that tree. My parents had scored a nice, low priced, fixer-upper house for one thing: location. It was on the hillside of the Hollywood Riviera area, where almost all the houses had a view of the city, ocean, or both. However, ours was obstructed by a massive, overgrown and unhealthy olive tree, shading our entire backyard with its enormity. Surely the owners of the house in front of us would allow a little trim, just enough for us to be able to see our ocean and city view, right?

As the months went by we got to know our neighbors...