• calendar_month August 3, 2023

You may not associate Los Angeles with the same kind of hustle culture as cities like New York and Chicago, but it’s still a major city. So, it pays to know where you can escape when the long hours at the office and traffic jams are chipping away at your serenity. And rare is the place that can deliver Zen quite like a Japanese garden Los Angeles hides like a jewel amongst its twisting freeways and concrete edifices. Punctuated by soothing koi ponds, romantic naturescapes, and even the occasional teahouse, LA’s Japanese gardens offer the perfect respite to gather your bearings. Here are 8 of our favorites!

Kyoto Garden – Doubletree by Hilton – Little Tokyo

Photo credit: Hilton

It’s not quite a secret garden. Still, you’re bound to find an obscure wonderment in this Japanese Garden Los Angeles hotel Doubletree by Hilton maintains. Perched atop the parking garage, the half acre of gently whispering waterfalls, verdant greenery, and reflective pools juxtaposes beautifully against the city skyline. 

Dubbed the Kyoto Garden, this notable event space actually draws inspiration from a storied Tokyo garden designed in tribute to 16th century samurai noble Kiyomasa Kato. Almost every Japanese garden Los Angeles harbors finds inspiration in the distinct aesthetics popularized by the Kyoto region of Japan. So, it’s interesting that the space officially dubbed “Kyoto Garden” instead recreates a Tokyo landmark. 

With exterior terraces and its “Thousand Cranes” room, Kyoto Garden has built a reputation as a stunning venue for weddings and other events. Sure, the garden is only open to guests of the high rise hotel. Still, many visitors of Little Tokyo have shared stories of sneaking into the pastoral sanctuary. Of course, we would never tell you to do that!

Japanese Garden – The Huntington Library – San Marino

Photo credit: Sebi Ryffel

It may be hard to remember that there’s an authentic Japanese Garden nestled into the vast expanses of the Huntington Library. After all, there’s already so much to do and see at the popular institution. However, it’s easily a contender for the best Japanese garden Los Angeles has to offer. 

Going back over a century, the Huntington’s Japanese garden boasts an exotic bamboo forest, intricate bonsai collection, meditative koi pond, classic moon bridge, and grounding zen court. This culminates in an authentic, made-in-Japan home that designers shipped here piecemeal in 1904. Behind this traditional structure, you’ll even find a teahouse where experts regularly perform authentic Japanese tea ceremonies. 

The Japanese Garden – Van Nuys

Photo credit: Howcheng

Who would have guessed Van Nuys has their own sprawling 6.5 acre Japanese garden? Officially dubbed Suiho En (which means “Garden of Water and Fragrance”), this marvelously manicured area accurately recreates the “stroll garden” popularized amongst feudal lords in the 18th and 19th centuries. 

Designed by Dr. Koichi Kawana, this garden combines traditional design with modern industry more than any other Japanese garden Los Angeles boasts. How? By utilizing contemporary irrigation techniques in conjunction with the neighboring Donald C. Tillman Water Reclamation Plant. That’s sustainable serenity! 

If Dr. Kawana’s name sounds familiar, it’s because he’s a reputable designer of Japanese gardens across the country. He even designed LACMA’s botanical garden. And with this garden’s natural flow around a central pond serving as an axis for classical bridges, intricate stonework, and ornate teahouses, Kawana further reinforces his reputation. 

Japanese Garden – Descanso Gardens – La Cañada

Photo credit: Rennett Stowe

Arguably the most beautiful Japanese garden Los Angeles boasts, this exclusive section of the bountiful Descanso Gardens is strictly composed of flora native to Asia. This includes the most camellias of any garden in the country. 

With its abundance of cherry blossoms in the spring, looming Japanese maples, and bridges delicately arching over babbling koi brooks, it captures nature at its most exquisite. A tea house crowned with a gorgeous tile roof, donated by LA’s Japanese-American community, further beautifies the tranquil scene. 

Earl Burns Miller Japanese Garden – Long Beach 

Photo credit: Alan Ray

It may not be the biggest Japanese garden Los Angeles has to offer, but the Earl Burns Miller Japanese Garden makes up for it with pure placidity. Located on the Cal State Long Beach campus, it’s a hot venue for weddings. But it’s also often host to workshops, demonstrations, movie screenings… even a yearly origami festival. 

Centered around a gorgeous pond, the garden got its origin in 1981 as a memorial gift from Loraine Miller Collins to her late husband, Earl Burns Miller. Today, this slightly over an acre of land continues to commemorate her love. 

South Coast Botanic Garden – Rancho Palos Verdes

Photo credit: InSapphoWeTrust

We’re going from a Japanese garden that spans barely over an acre to a sprawling 87 acre landscape bordering Rolling Hills Estates. Of course, not all of this is reserved for the Japanese garden, but there’s still plenty to take in at South Coast Botanic Garden. Their Japanese garden is actually neck in neck with the Earl Burns Miller sanctuary in size. 

However, this garden features Okazaki stone lanterns over 200 years in age! Imported from Japan, these lanterns strike a stunning juxtaposition to the lovely koi pond and flowing waterfalls. 

James Irvine Japanese Garden – Little Tokyo

Photo credit: North American Japanese Garden Association

If you caught our Little Tokyo blog a few weeks back, then you’ve already been acquainted with the James Irvine Japanese Garden. However, knowing it exists isn’t the same as knowing how to get there. Finding possibly the most hidden Japanese garden Los Angeles harbors is easier said than done.

To reach this sanctuary, start at the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center. You’ll find an information desk at the left of the entry, which can be helpful. After checking in, you’ll be directed to an elevator. Ride it down to Level B, then head right.

This tranquil oasis from the concrete desert is referred to as Seiryu-en (or “Garden of the Clear Stream”). And this isn’t false advertising. One of the garden’s most distinctive features is the creek that languidly bisects it. 

Storrier Stearns Japanese Garden – Pasadena

Photo credit: Storrier Stearns Japanese Garden

Originally built in the 1930s, this beautiful Japanese garden features waterfalls, bridges, and ponds with an authentic tea house as its axis. Additionally, noted landscaper Kinzuchi Fujii designed the grounds in his native Japan. 

Yet, fate was unkind to this meticulously manicured masterpiece. Like a scene from a Yukio Mishima novel, flames consumed this Japanese garden in 1981. However, in more recent years, the two-acre Storrier Stearns Japanese Garden was painstakingly restored per its original design.