Pasadena’s Best Kept Secret Will Open to the Public on a Weekly Basis!

The Storrier Stearns Japanese Garden (Photo – Sonny Promo ⒸColoradoBlvd.net).

Attention walkers and history enthusiasts, this Pasadena best kept secret will now be open to the public every Thursday!

By Chris Wood

Long considered the best private hideaway in Pasadena, this gem that was threatened by the extension of the 710 until recently, will finally be open to the public on a weekly basis starting Thursday, January 21, 2016.

A bridge at the Storrier Stearns Japanese Garden (Photo – Sonny Promo ⒸColoradoBlvd.net).

History

The Storrier Stearns Japanese Garden represents a major phenomenon in American cultural history. The appreciation and assimilation of Japanese design concepts and aesthetics beginning in the late 19th century and subsiding with the outbreak of World War II. Japanese gardens (and gardening) played an integral role in the history of Japanese immigration and acculturation, particularly on the West Coast.

The creation of Japanese-style gardens reflected America’s fascination with Japanese culture and fueled the boom in Japanese-style garden construction across the country.
The Storrier Stearns Japanese Garden is a superb example of the many private gardens that were a part of that phenomenon and one of the few still intact today.

It was designed and created by Kinzuchi Fujii, a landscape designer and craftsman from Japan. His patrons, Charles and Ellamae Storrier Stearns, were wealthy benefactors of the arts and significant players in the cultural and civic life of Pasadena.

Tea House at Storrier Stearns Japanese Garden in Pasadena (Photo – japanesegardenpasadena.com).

Significant features

In its grand size of nearly two acres, the Storrier Stearns Japanese Garden contains many of the much admired design features found in the most lavish of Japanese-style gardens of its era.

• Authentic twelve tatami mat Teahouse

  This is the highlight of the garden, constructed using the original architectural plans and historic photographs. The original teahouse was built in Japan, then disassembled and shipped to Pasadena for reassembly in the garden. The twelve tatami mats covering the floor (3′ x 6′ each) signified a teahouse of great importance. Fujii’s son, Frank, possessed his father’s original plans and many photographs taken during the garden’s first construction, which proved  to be an invaluable resource during the garden’s recent restoration.

• Four original bridges plus a traditional cedar log waiting house.

• Two large interconnected, irregularly shaped ponds.

• 25-foot hill with cascading waterfall.

• Winding dry riverbed shaded by spreading sycamores & old oaks, with many tons of rocks & stones.

• Granite statuary & stone lanterns, plus various gathering points & vista.

This Pasadena gem is a beautiful and charming retreat with a quiet and tranquil elegance. As Kendall Brown stated in his book, California Japanese-style Gardens:

…this is the genius of Kinzuchi Fujii: this was once a flat area of two tennis courts; now it is a masterwork.

Four original bridges line up the Storrier Stearns Japanese Garden property (Photo – Sonny Promo ⒸColoradoBlvd.net).

Tidbit facts:

• Owned by poet and preserver James Haddad and his wife Connie (read an interesting interview by Kathabela Wilson here).
• Time, Day and Cost: Open to the public every Thursday.
• Events: Once a month concerts, poetry  readings, and art events will take place in the Garden. Check our listings for the latest events.
• Location: Storrier Stearns Japanese Garden.

Source: japanesegardenpasadena.com