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Standing just inside the gates of The Fairmont Miramar Hotel, Santa Monica, the magnificent Moreton Bay fig tree has been welcoming guests and visitors from around the world for more than a century. An historical landmark and the second largest of its kind in California, the fig tree boasts a lofty 80-foot height and breathtaking 120-foot network of branches. Suitably inspired, the hotel's Festival of Figs will take place September 1st -16th, 2001, and will feature

• Fig Lover's Getaway package
• Who Gives A Fig? Cooking Classes & Fig Tastings
• Fig-inspired daily table d'hote menu in the Grille restaurant
• Get Figgy With It Libations in the Grille Bar and Lobby Lounge

The "Fig Lover's Getaway" package includes overnight accommodation, a four-course fig inspired dinner in the Grille restaurant, and a fig gift basket upon arrival. Guests staying on the package will have their choice of a fig bath basket or fig edibles basket.

"Who Gives A Fig? Cooking Classes & Fig Tastings" will be scheduled throughout the festival. While the Grille restaurant will feature a daily fig inspired table d'hote menu, including: Fresh Fig & Papaya Salad; Chilled Jumbo Tiger Prawns with Spicy Fig Chutney; Roasted Whole Chicken with Rosemary Figs and New Potatoes; and Warm Fig & Mango Tart.

"Get Figgy With It Libations" on the Grille and Lobby Lounge cocktail menus will include the Figtini and the Figarita, both made with Kleiner Feigling - vodka imported from Germany enhanced with natural fig flavoring. The chef has also created the California Fig Cooler and Fig Power Smoothie.

The magnificent Moreton Bay Fig Tree, which stands just inside the gate of The Fairmont Miramar Hotel, Santa Monica, commemorates more than a century of local history. Today, the tree's lofty 80-foot height and breathtaking 120-foot network of branches make it the second largest tree of its kind in California. Although its leaves resemble that of a magnolia tree and its overall size calls to mind the Hawaiian Banyan tree, it is indeed a fig tree. However, the figs are ornamental and fall off each year.

Dating back more than a hundred years ago, an unknown sailor from Australia carried the original sapling off his ship into a local Santa Monica watering hole. Unable to pay for his drinks, he gave the sapling to the bartender in lieu of money. The bartender, having no use for the sapling, gave it to Mrs. Jones, the wife of Nevada's Senator John P. Jones, who founded Santa Monica in 1885 and who built the original Miramar as a family mansion in 1889. The Jones' gardener, a man by the name of W.H. Lee, planted it in the garden amongst some rare and exotic plants, some of which are still thriving today.

The Jones family sold their home shortly before the Senator died in 1912 and it was converted into the Miramar Hotel in 1921. By this time, the original sapling had already grown to an impressive size and was widely recognized as the "Jones Family Tree". Although a modern building replaced the Jones' residence in 1938, the tree continued to serve as a focal point for outdoor meetings and local festivities—a tradition that is still followed today.

In 1969, the Santa Monica chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution held a special ceremony commemorating the planting of the tree and issued a memorial plaque which is now affixed to the tree's base among the flowers near the sidewalk path. The Santa Monica Landmark's Commission during the United States Bicentennial year in 1976 declared the tree a historic landmark. Today, the Moreton Bay Fig Tree, which came to Southern California from halfway around the globe, continues to welcome visitors from around the world.

A fruit worshipped throughout the ages and one that has sustained mankind since the beginning of history, figs are the essence of summer. They evoke leisurely, sun-filled days, which are common year round in Santa Monica.

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