Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree of it in which James Earl Jones played the role of the returning ex-con. According to L. Russell Brown, he read Hamill's story in the "Reader's Digest", and suggested to his songwriting partner Irwin Levine that they write a song based on it. Levine and Brown then registered for copyright the song which they called "Tie a Yellow Ribbon 'Round the Ole Oak Tree". At the time, the writers said they heard the story while serving in the military. Pete Hamill was not convinced and filed suit for infringement. Hamill dropped his suit after folklorists working for Levine and Brown
Encino Oak Tree in the pre-urban Encino that the community was named after the Spanish word for "oak." The Encino oak was the most magnificent of the community's oaks, so large that Louise Avenue was split to accommodate its enormous canopy, diameter, and circumference. It has been said that the Encino oak "creates a woodsy atmosphere more resembling a whole forest than just a single tree." In 1958, the oak was threatened when a developer planned to bulldoze the tree to build a road. Local residents formed a group called Encino Save the Oaks and the developer eventually donated the tree to the