7th Annual Pasadena Tea Festival The Gorgeous Storrier Stearns Japanese Gardens

A truly lovely 2-part event for Spring!
Followed by Brunch at the Historic Raymond 1886. See separate post. Arrive extra early and visit The Arlington Garden directly across the street for free!!

⚠️REGISTRATION WILL OPEN SOON!! THIS EVENT WILL SELL OUT. I URGE YOU TO CONSTANTLY CHECK THE LINK. I WILL DO THE SAME. PLEASE POST IN COMMENTS AS SOON AS TICKETS ARE RELEASED. WE DON’T WANT TO MISS THIS FABULOUS TEA TASTING FESTIVAL & CEREMONY.

LIMITED TICKETS. PLEASE SELECT 11:OO AM IF YOU CARE TO JOIN US FOR BRUCH AFTERWARDS.

TICKETS: $20 Online
https://japanesegardenpasadena.app.neoncrm.com/np/clients/japanesegardenpasadena/event.jsp?event=4582

The garden’s most popular event of the year is here. Participating tea purveyors will be with their teas and tea accessories for sale. Festival admission includes a tea tasting cup and shopping bag.

For a limited number of guests, traditional Japanese tea ceremony demonstrations will be held in the garden’s Japanese Niko-an teahouse. Tea practitioner, Mikko Nakatomi, serves guests Japanese tea and sweets while sharing information about the history and traditions of the tea ceremony.

Held in the Japanese garden on Arlington Drive and in the traditional Japanese teahouse, the festival is a delight for tea lovers and garden lovers alike.

Several local vendors will offer samplings of their latest teas from Japan, China, Taiwan, and India (more details to come).

GARDEN GIFT SHOP
The garden’s gift shop, Takara-ten, will offer an array of antique and vintage items that make wonderful gifts, including a special pop-up sale of Japanese treasures. Garden Donors receive 10% off shop purchases. Stroll among camellias, azaleas and various other fragrant and sometimes drinkable plants as spring works its magic in the beautiful stroll garden. Originally designed in the late 30s by Kinzuchi Fujii, and recently restored by Takeo Uesugi, FAIA, the garden is on the National Register of Historic Places and is listed as a California Historical Landmark.

STORRIER STEARNS JAPANESE GARDEN
Hidden in the heart of Pasadena, this historic jewel, once belonged to an aristocratic Pasadena couple. Conceived in the 1930s as a private estate garden, and hidden from view for decades, a historic restoration brings new purpose to this place of special beauty.

Charles & Allamae Storrier Stearns:
http://www.japanesegardenpasadena.com/history-b.html

In the 1930s Ellamae and Charles made several trips to Japan which probably served as an inspiration to create the Japanese-style garden at their Pasadena home. About this time, many of the great estates installed Japanese gardens. Some were small tea gardens, consisting of a Japanese teahouse, often authentic, set in a naturalistic landscape; others were opulent creations featuring large ponds crossed by bridges.

The Depression put an end to grand estates, and the vogue for Japanese gardens cooled in the late 30’s as American relations with the Japanese government became strained. Shortly after the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, all persons of Japanese ancestry in the western United States were sent to internment camps for the duration of the war.

The Storrier Stearns Japanese Garden was created by Kinzuchi Fujii between 1935 – 1940 for Charles and Ellamae Storrier Stearns. Fujii (1875 – 1957) 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.

This pond-style stroll garden features a fifteen-foot waterfall and a formal teahouse 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.

ARLINGTON GARDEN:
About:
https://www.arlingtongardenpasadena.com/about/
Personal opinion: The Arlington Garden is more like a hidden community park for relaxation & picnicking. It’s rustic & cute. It should not be compared to other beautifully manicured gardens. It’s worth taking a look at since it’s directly in front of the Japanese garden and it’s FREE. Be certain to wear closed shoes. It’s entirely dirt with pebbles, but makes for an enjoyable and peaceful stroll.