Image courtesy Storrier Stearns Japanese Garden website
The Storrier Stearns Japanese Garden is inviting the public to visit their outdoor displays while practicing social distancing.
From 3 to 6:30 p.m. Jan. 2, visitors will have an opportunity to relax at a peaceful retreat during “Saturday in the Garden,” enjoying the sights and sounds of this uniquely Pasadena treasure.
“What a special place the garden is in the evening,” says an announcement on the Garden’s website. “The light is ethereal as twilight dissolves into night and the garden lights begin to add to the beauty. Finding peace can be especially difficult these days but the Storrier Stearns garden is an oasis that offers the serenity that has characterized Japanese gardens for centuries.”
The number of visitors will be limited and safe-distancing guidelines must be respected. For this Saturday and the next, Jan. 9, online registration will be open until 9 a.m. the day of your visit. No walk-ins are allowed.
Located at 270 Arlington Drive in Pasadena, the Storrier Stearns Japanese Garden is a pond-style stroll garden that features a 15-foot waterfall and a formal tea house on approximately two acres of land. The garden is considered by many to be a masterwork and it demonstrates the adaptability of Japanese culture in modern America.
The garden was created by Japanese landscape designer Kinzuchi Fujii between 1935 and 1940 for Charles and Ellamae Storrier Stearns.
Fujii was born in Japan in 1875 and came to California in 1903. For most of his life in the U.S. he designed and built Japanese landscapes across Southern California in the first half of the 20th century. The Storrier Stearns Japanese Garden is his only remaining garden. It is also the only intact example of a major Japanese-style garden created before World War II for a residence in Southern California.
Under the direction of Dr. Takeo Uesugi, landscape architect, professor emeritus at Cal Poly Pomona and a Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects, The Storrier Stearns Japanese Garden was faithfully restored from 2007 to 2013.
Registration fees to visit the Garden are $12 per person. Children 12 and under are free, but only a maximum of four people who live in the same household will be allowed.
Members of the Garden and donors of $50 can register for free.
To register, go to this event registration page.
To learn more about the Storrier Stearns Japanese Garden, visit www.japanesegardenpasadena.
