I have a native oak. It's the descendent of an acorn from who-knows-where that sprouted at my previous house. Also a worthy tree.

They have some nice speciments of cork oak at the San Diego Botanic Garden.

There are a couple planted on the street here. A bit surprised the bark hasn't been vandalized. The one imprisoned in a 3x3' square surrounded by pavement died but others are still surviving in spite of drought and little supplemental watering. I have to push on the bark every time I go by. I'd rather have a coastal live oak, prettier form and deeper leaf color.

That is funny because I push on the bark too. There are about six of them around the corner from my place. They are quite old and the only specimens I have seen in my town.

Very interesting. Thanks.

My elementary school in Van Nuys had cork oaks lining the street in front of the buildings. They must have been mature because the cork bark was like a magnet to young little hands. (We were warned to keep our hands off the bark -- you can guess how effective that was. You had to feel and explore even if it was just once.)

Now that I think a bit, my mother went to that same elementary school, so the trees could have been there for some time.

There is a number of different species of oak native to coastal California that are entirely evergreen, this is not an unusual feature there. Nor is Cork Oak particularly rare in west coast plantings - we even have some of it around up here in the Seattle area. It is also not a consistently smaller growing than usual species of evergreen oak. For instance:

This tree, in Napa, CA, was nominated by Bill Pramuk in 2014. It measures 89 feet high, with a trunk circumference of 245 inches and a crown spread of 81 feet for a total of 354 points.

http://californiabigtrees.calpoly.edu/tree-detail/quercus-suber/401

I walked past my local cork oaks a couple days ago. The largest tree is breaking the curb and sidewalk with large roots surfacing. The bark on the roots is cork as well.