Following a discussion that was half-serious, half "I can't believe we're spending time on this," the Manhattan Beach City Council on Tuesday night approved the camellia as the city's second official flower.

The camellia now joins the beach primrose in a place of honor in the city's official records. 

Specifically, the council voted to keep the beach primrose as the "official native wildflower," while the camellia would be designated the "official historic flower and shrub" of Manhattan Beach.

The motion was approved on a 4-0-1 vote, with Mayor Richard Montgomery abstaining in part over frustration with the dialogue and the amount of time spent on the issue.

Camellia History in Manhattan Beach

The move to give the camellia official city status took shape in the wake of new awareness about the history of the camellia in Manhattan Beach.

Camellia grower and horticultural pioneer Francis M. Uyematsu was a successful Japanese businessman and nursery owner who grew prized camellias and cherry trees on a 120-acre property in Manhattan Beach. During World War II, the Uyematsu family was forced to relocate to the Manzanar detention center, and Uyematsu had to sell off most of his land to sustain his business. After the war, with his business far below pre-war levels, Uyematsu sold the last 40 acres of his Manhattan Beach property to the Redondo Union High School District (which at the time also included Manhattan Beach) for what became Mira Costa High School.

Mira Costa has since recognized the history of the land with a plaque dedicated to Uyematsu and his family.

Throughout the years in Manhattan Beach, the camellia has long been a popular flower and shrub. In fact, the camellia had actually been the official flower of Manhattan Beach from 1959 until 2011. But in 2011, at the urging of the Manhattan Beach Botanical Garden, the city changed its official flower to the beach primrose because it is a native flower known for its drought tolerance and uniqueness to the beach.

A dozen years later, in light of the new recognition of the history of the camellia in Manhattan Beach, the Manhattan Beach Botanical Garden recommended the dual designation (keeping the beach primrose as the "official native wildflower," and designating the camellia as the "official historic flower and shrub" of Manhattan Beach).

A Meaningful Symbol?

Councilmember Amy Howorth, who introduced the resolution, said that the motion would be a way to recognize the importance of the camellia to the history of Manhattan Beach and Uyematsu's contributions to the field of horticulture. 

"I think that the importance of this is maybe not what happened to the Uyematsu family [in World War II], but the fact that Mr. Uyematsu was a pioneer, an innovator, and a successful horticulturist who we should be proud of," said Howorth. Having two official city flowers, she said, would be a way for the city to say "We honor the past and look forward to the future."

The new naming would have no budgetary implications, she added.

The proposal had drawn both support and opposition. Jacquelyne May, a lifelong Manhattan Beach resident who had first brought the idea to Howorth, said that the designation would be especially meaningful considering the longtime significance of the camellia in the city. "It was such a huge part of this community growing up," she said.

But local historian Gary McAuley downplayed the significance of the camellia. The Uyematsus lived in Montebello, not Manhattan Beach, and had three large farms in Southern California, he said. The camellia was the "flower of the moment," in the 1950s, added McAuley, and many cities - and even the state of Alabama - designated the camellia as their official flower at that time.

Councilmember Steve Napolitano weighed in to say that he was "agnostic" on the flower naming issue in the sense of, "What is the purpose, what is the meaning? Why are we doing this?"

"Is this the best way to recognize what we’re trying to recognize?" asked Napolitano. "We can check this box, but have we achieved anything? Activity doesn’t always equal achievement. Were there other residents of Manhattan Beach that suffered the same fate [as the Uyematsus] and is there a better way to recognize it? There are things that are more significant than naming a flower to me. I just don’t find it that meaningful."

Yet Councilmember David Lesser called the naming "a teaching opportunity" in recognition of the significant role that camellias had played in the city's history. 

Similarly, Mayor Pro Tem Joe Franklin said, "I think the camellia can coexist with the beach primrose and we’re all the better for it. It’s not subtracting, it’s adding."

Montgomery expressed his frustration with the tenor of the debate and some of the comments received from the public. He pointed out that there had been more time spent on the flower discussion than on the city budget. "I'm out," he said, abstaining from the vote.