A few of the uniquely bent and shaped trees that were once part of Scotts Valley’s Tree Circus and Lost World can still be seen at the Tree Circus Center at 4652 Scotts Valley Drive today — one of the few remaining traces of the days when north Scotts Valley was a destination for roadside tourism.
In 1947, Axel Erlandson bought a piece of property in Scotts Valley, which he would later name the Tree Circus.
A self-taught surveyor, farmer, and tree-grafter, Erlandson brought most of his tree-grafting experiments — and his family — to this new location with the intent of opening a popular attraction along the Los Gatos Highway. Thus, the Tree Circus was born.
“He grafted and made chairs and hearts and all kinds of things out of them and he charged people to come in and see his creations,” said Scotts Valley Historical Society Member and Cultural Resource Preservation Commissioner for the City of Scotts Valley Eric Taylor.
Before moving to Scotts Valley, Erlandson and his family lived on a farm in Hilmar, near Turlock. Erlandson worked the farm and began experimenting with tree grafts after he witnessed some natural grafts.
His daughter, Wilma Erlandson, said that her father began training the trees right around the time she was born and that her favorite is the basket tree, which still survives to this day.
“I was approximately 20 years old when he opened the Tree Circus,” she said.
After purchasing the three-quarter-acre lot, Erlandson planted more trees.
These were designed to resemble spirals, geometric patterns, ladders, chairs, telephone booths, hearts, knots, and other shapes and forms; he even grafted and trained several trees into a tall, cathedral-like shape.
He also chopped down some of his experiments from home to be put on display at the Tree Circus.
Originally the attraction was called “World’s Strangest Trees,” but Wilma proposed a new name, which stuck.
“At first, he had a big sign that said ‘See World’s Strangest Trees Here,’ then I suggested one time that we call it ‘Tree Circus’ and he decided to change the name,” Wilma said.
By 1957, the Tree Circus had over 70 different trees, grafted from box elder, birch, cork, loquat, mulberry, acacia, poplar, and sycamore species. At the time, these curiously shaped trees were the only ones of their kind and were known around the world, having been featured in Ripley’s Believe it or Not numerous times and in Life magazine. Records kept by Erlandson revealed that 24,500 guests visited the strange trees during the Tree Circus’s existence.
The trees were grown within a fenced area, which was surrounded by a decorative hedge that resembled an ornate wall and was trimmed to have scalloped edges. Later, Erlandson built a building that resembled a castle on the property.
Due to his deteriorating health and inability to care for the iconic trees, Erlandson sold the Tree Circus property in 1963, and he died at the age of 79 just one year later.
The Tree Circus attraction was purchased by the Thompson family, who renamed it the Lost World, which opened to the public in 1964.
The Lost World continued to display the same trees — renamed as the “Mystery Forest” — but had a few new family-friendly features.
“The Tree Circus turned into the Lost World when the Thompson family purchased the property, which was supposed to be kind of a prehistoric-type of mini amusement park with dinosaurs made out of cast concrete and fiberglass and cave men and things like that,” said Dene Bustichi, Scotts Valley’s mayor and owner of the present-day Tree Circus Center.
Although the Tree Circus was never as successful as Erlandson and his family would have liked, its one-of-a-kind trees drew thousands of visitors who stood in awe of their creative, yet natural shapes and designs.
Many of the great trees were moved to Bonfante Gardens, now known as Gilroy Gardens, where they can still be viewed today.
“My father didn’t tell people just how he did all of this,” Wilma said. “It was his trade secret, he called it.”
Tune in next week for the second part of the Press-Banner’s history of the Tree Circus and Lost World attractions.
