On Capitol Hill, a Tree for Just About Everyone

"You shouldn't have to show the average customer more than three trees," says David Martin, the Christmas tree man of Capitol Hill, outside of Frager's Hardware on Pennsylvania Avenue SE.

A suburban Christmas tree operation might try to re-create the ambiance of the forest -- each tree upright in its own little plot -- but space is at a premium in the city. Most of the trees outside Frager's are wrapped with twine, their branches cinched tight. They lean against each other like rows of furled umbrellas, waiting for David or one of his lawn and garden department coworkers to pull them out and show them off.

That means David must be able to see the inner tree.

He grabs a six-foot Fraser fir. "I know when I open this up it will have a bare spot here," he tells me, pointing at a narrow bit of trunk toward the top of the tree. "See the stem?"

He cuts the twine, frees the tree and, as predicted, there's an open space. I ask what he would call that sort of imperfection.

"I'd call this a perfect place for a hanging nativity scene," he laughs.

Frager's has a few long, soft-needled white pine trees in its inventory -- all of it trucked up from North Carolina -- but they sell mostly Frasers, at roughly 10 bucks a foot.

"There's always a certain percentage of people who look at the cost of a seven-foot tree, and their eyes cross," says David, 41, a former actor and arts administrator. For them, Frager's has "promotional" trees, nature's factory seconds. Lopsided and misshapen, these Charlie Brown trees work well in a corner, if not in a bay window.

What most people opt for is the quintessential Capitol Hill tree: tall, because of the houses' high ceilings, and skinny, because of their narrow rooms.

As the Sunday morning progresses, more customers stroll in. In front of the store, kids line up to sit on the lap of Santa, a.k.a. Howard Mayr, a bearded 60-year-old who runs the hardware store's plumbing department. (Says David: "I said, 'How many people sat on your lap yesterday, Howard, just to get plumbing advice?' He said, 'Two.' ")

The garden department employees scurry about, showing off their wares.

"Now this is an example of a man who doesn't want any help," David says of a husky fellow in a blue sweat shirt, who holds a tree in each outstretched arm, as if showing off a pair of trophy swordfish.