Storrier Stearns Japanese Garden – Pasadena

On a wonderfully beautiful Los Angeles Sunday, my wife and I drove up the 110 and got off on Orange Grove Ave., and turned left toward Arlington Drive. We were going to visit and hopefully experience the calm and beauty of the Japanese Gardens.

HISTORY OF THE GARDENS

The property was originally owned by Charles and Ellamae Storrier Stearns, who were wealthy patrons of the arts and cultural heavyweights in the civic life of Pasadena. In 1935, they hired a famous Japanese landscape designer named Kinzuchi Fujii to construct a formal Japanese garden with a Tea House on their 2 acre lot. Now most formal Japanese gardens are rather small in square feet but a chance to create such a huge canvas for his work was something he could not pass up.

So starting in 1935 until 1942 when he was taken away to an interment camp for the Japanese during World War II, Fujii worked on the garden for the Stearns. During the 7 years of construction, the Stearns would invest more than 150,000 dollars into the project. First Fujii had to remove two tennis courts and dig out areas for the two koi ponds and waterfall. By moving tons of dirt around the lot, he was able to construct a hill area where there was none, two large ponds, and areas for the tea house and contemplation. The garden was so unusual that it became locally famous. It is the only example of a formal Japanese garden created before the war that still exists in Southern California. However, like the rest of Fujii’s gardens in the Los Angeles area which are all gone now, things did not look good for this garden site.

Ellamae died in 1949, and the mansion and property were put up for auction. Gamelia Haddad Poulsen, an art/antiques dealer, attended the auction for the Storrier Stearns estate. She was hoping only to buy two Louis XV chairs. However, when she realized that no one was bidding on the whole property, she impulsively made a bid. To her amazement she ended up as the owner of the entire estate. She sold off parts of the estate but kept the garden and an area to build a new home for her family.

In 1975,  Caltrans used eminent domain to seize a strip of property on the easternmost side of the garden for use in building the extension of the 710 freeway. An easement was also taken, since expired, to create an access road for trucks to use during the future construction of the freeway. It would have sliced directly through the middle of the garden.

Believing that the garden was lost, Gamelia let it fall into disrepair and sold off some of the valuable artifacts. The final blow came when the teahouse burned down under mysterious circumstances in 1981. Gamelia died in 1985 at which time the garden ownership passed to her son and daughter-in-law, Jim and Connie Haddad.

The garden continued to languish until 1990, when the Haddad’s decided to restore the garden to its former glory. Progress was slow through 2005 until Dr. Takeo Uesugi, professor emeritus of landscape design at Cal-Poly Pomona and one of the leading experts on Japanese garden design in the United States, undertook the management of the garden restoration. To ensure the restoration was accurate, Dr. Uesugi followed Kinzuchi Fujii’s original plans, documents and photographs taken during its first construction.

On February 15, 2005, the restored garden was placed on the National Register of Historic Places and listed as a California Historical Landmark on the California Register of Historic places. Additionally, the garden was recently awarded a Historic Preservation Award, in a ceremony in the garden, by the City of Pasadena.

NOW

The Haddads still maintain the garden and it has become a culture center in Pasadena for meetings, weddings, events, and afternoon strolls. It now features an 11 foot high entrance, two large interconnected ponds, two water falls including a 12 foot high that falls into the larger pond, and a new tea house to replace the one that burned down in 1981.

The garden is open every Thursday from 10 AM to 4 PM. The fee is $10 for adults and $7.50 for children 12 and under. They feature different jazz musicians on the 2nd Sunday Jazz series (check the website – www.japanesegardenpasadena.com for the schedule) and they are also open the last Sunday of every month. During the 2nd and 4th Thursday, they offer a Japanese Tea Service where you learn the history and meaning of the traditional Tea service. See the website or call for reservations.

ADDED BONUS

Right across the street on Arlington is Pasadena’s Arlington Park. Such a beautiful well-maintained public park filled with old and mature California friendly plants which make up quiet and restful areas all through the park. Well worth the drive just to see this park for free. But the combination of Japanese culture and California plants, it a beautiful day not to miss.

Enjoy!!

(Much of the information in this article was taken from the Storrier Stearns website, www.japanesegardenpasadena.com.)