Welcome to the South Coast Plaza Palm Tour

We hope this guide will enrich your tour of our diverse palm collection, unique in Southern California. While our property is home to hundreds of palms, the 58 featured in this brochure represent the breadth of variety within the collection—not its full quantity. The core of our collection comes from the estate of Dr. A.J. Vance. Dr. Vance began collecting exotic palms in the late 1940s at his canyon estate located off Sunset Boulevard, in Los Angeles, California. The collection was recognized for both its size and diversity of plantings.

After Dr. Vance’s death in the early 1980s, the collection was acquired by South Coast Plaza and transplanted to its present location in 1986.

With the help of the International Palm Society, South Coast Plaza continues to add unique specimens to its collection. We would like to thank Ralph Velez (past president) and Larry Black, president of Southern California Palm Society for their continued collaboration in helping develop one of the most acclaimed palm collections in Southern California.

58 of our palms are labeled with their common name, botanical name and country of origin.

We hope you enjoy this interesting and educational tour.