Although many Angelenos may not know or remember, it was Japanese-Americans who once dominated the landscaping and gardening service industry throughout Los Angeles from the early 1900's till the late 60's (an amazing 1 in 10 Japanese in Southern California was a gardener in 1918). It's interesting to note that coinciding with the popularity of all things "zen" (a cringe-inducing meaningless marketing term now), the history of Japanese gardening with our city's modernist past is being rediscovered and re-explored.
The Japanese American National Museum opened their exhibit, "Landscaping America: Beyond the Japanese Garden", this Sunday, offering visitors a look into the concepts and execution of Japanese garden design, where right angles are notably absent and symbolism runs deep. The Los Angeles Times has a great three page article about this story about our city's citizens and its landscape, outlining some of the basic tenets of Japanese style gardening and how they can be applied to a drought-sensitive Californian landscape (rock garden!). But if you require first hand inspiration, I'd recommend a childhood favourite destination (to this day, no other style of garden evokes such wonder and sense of beauty in my eyes), The James Irvine Garden.
i like the ucla hannah carter japanese garden (it's one of the posts i'd been considering submitting...)
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Thank you for the comment about "zen." It's one of my biggest pet peeves - right up there with "let's bring the outdoors in," and "make it pop!"
Becky
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I also find the Zen thing annoying.
view LaDonnaNichole's profile
Re: the 1 in 10 Japanese in S. Ca. was a gardener:
Does anyone have info on whether that was because of limited job options in other fields?
I once met a Japanese-American woman born and raised in Alhambra who said that after she got her college degree in Ca. in the 1930s, she was told she wouldn't be hired as a teacher (her dream job) because she was Asian.
(Eventually, with changing times, opinions and hiring policies, she WAs able to find a teaching job in the Ca. school system years later).
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