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The Japanese Garden
Rating Details »
Category: Botanical Gardens [Edit]
Neighborhood: Lake Balboa6100 Woodley Ave
Van Nuys, CA 91406
(818) 756-8166
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
14 reviews for The Japanese Garden
It's ...a huge japanese garden. A Very, very zen and peaceful area to walk around in. I recommend going here when it's good weather, otherwise you're going to be dying in the heat instead of appreciating the aesthetic beauty you're surrounded by.
I have a confession to make though, when I came here with my friend, she was fascinated by the beauty...I was fascinated by the miniature trees.
When I was a kid I always wanted a forest of those little trees to play my GI Joes and Xmen action figures in. Every time I see them now it makes me feel like a kid again. And kind of like a GI Joe.
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This place is so cute. I was taken here for a day date and really enjoyed it. If you love gardens, scenery, and Japanese things, you'll definitely enjoy this place. The admission is really cheap, $3! You pay for that at the gift shop. They have a small Bonsai exhibit, that's separate from the main garden. In the garden is an adorable tea house. My date and I videotaped inside the tea house, and had some fun (no, not in that kind of way!) And took lots of pictures (I posted a few for you to see :)).
If you go to the large building in the garden you can get a better view of the place. Just go on top of the stairs. Btw, there's a picture of me on the stairs overlooking the garden on my profile if you want to see. I felt like Mufasa on Lion King.
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Sometimes life gets so difficult that even your easy chair gives you a hard time. Need a break from all the ball-breaking? Does your chi need a chin check? Then give adversity the slip and beat a retreat to these heavenly grounds for a much needed stress enema.
Then get back to work, asshole!
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The garden is beautiful. Everything is very well maintained, the grounds are just gorgeous to walk through and admire. Good for kids to learn about plants and animals - there is a pond with fish/ducks which is great.
Parking is abundant, you do have to pay to get in the garden though.
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I despise The Valley with all it's perennially hot weather, poor air quality and horrible traffic. With that said, I still had to come out here to see this garden.
Driving up to the garden you are required to show your driver's license to the security guy at the gate. He's not very friendly and just takes down whatever information it is he's taking down. He then directs you to the gift shop to pay to enter the garden. When entering the gift shop you are greeted by a kindly old white man wearing Asian attire. At first I thought it was John Wooden, but of course it wasn't. He was very polite in asking if I had been there before. He gave me a nice map of the grounds indicating points of interest and what kind of plants are growing around the garden.
Upon entering, I was pleasantly surprised at how well kept and green everything was. For some reason, though, it didn't feel very 'Asiany.' Yea, you got the Tea House, rock garden and some ornamentation scattered throughout, but I don't know if the Water Reclamation Plant building offsets that or what, but it's nice nonetheless.
Walking around I liked how quiet it was and everything was so neat. The large pond and side pond were filled with fish. I think some kind of cichlad and carp. They were EVERYWHERE! Would have been nice to have Koi swimming around to add to the experience and have some color in the murky water.
I made my way to the back where the reason I came here for was: The Tea House. I took my pics for a project I hope to accomplish. It was a really nice place to chill out, literally, as later on some Grannie demonstrated by sitting there in her wheelchair just gazing into the pond. There's a very nice waterfall and a couple of bridges that are also along the path.
The concept of Yin and Yang is also demonstrated by proceeding over to the reclamation plant building. There's an observation tower where you can look into how they process sh*t filled water into usable water. Turn your head right- beautiful garden. Turn your head back - sh*t filled water.
I wish the fountains at the Plant worked. They looked like they would be really cool if they did.
In all, it's a nice picturesque place to come and pretend you are not in The Valley and get yourself balanced from dealing with all the horrors that envelope the surrounding area.
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Very beautiful garden, and a nice visitor center/gift shop. A lovely walk if there ever was one.
I have lived in the area for nearly four years and just recently discovered the Japanese Gardens. What an amazing retreat. Everything about the Gardens is beautiful. Like the other writer, I too really enjoyed talking to the gift shop volunteers and grounds security, "Loumi." Take your camera and plan to spend at least two hours there to take it all in. I only wish they were open later in the day, during the spring and summer especially so that I could go after work. I'm going to say that this is not a good place for kids, not that I dislike kids (I have two adult children of my own) but because of the peacful and tranquil environment they are trying to create.
Yay! I've lived a few miles away from here for my entire life but visited it for the first time this week. It's not as nice as the Japanese garden in SF, maybe cause the climate is too dry here, but it was very peaceful and pretty. It's much bigger than you would expect as well.
There was a few shaded seating areas near the tea house; I bet it would be a nice spot for a picnic.
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experience absolute tranquility
Great sights.....Great place to take Pictures...and see birds
Simply beautiful place to visit
Very limited times you can visit is the only drawback...therefore only giving it a 4/5
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Opening Times
We offer docent led tours through 6.5 acres of
authentic Japanese Garden on four mornings each
week (Monday through Thursday)
for just $3 per person; $2 for children under ten
and seniors 62 and over. The garden is also available
for open strolling Monday through Thursday from
12:00 PM to 4:00 PM., but please call on the morning
of the day on which you want to visit to make sure
that we are open.
We are also open on Sundays from
10:00 AM until 3:30 PM
Last entry time for open-strolling is 3:15PM
Evening tours are offered during the Summer
on Tuesdays and Thursdays
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Little oasis in the midst of the hustle and bustle of the SFV.
Volunteers are friendly and the gardens are immaculately kept. Admission is only $3, and you can purchase tea and snacks for only $2 from the little teahouse, cuuuute.
The boyfriend and I give it two thumbs up! =)
Row, Claire and I walked the grounds today and found it to be a pretty decent time. Funny thing was that we met some old man who gave my 3 month old daughter a one (1) dollar bill and we thought it was funny when he said "open a savings account for her and put this in there", I replied "....savings account, she has a checking account already"
Japanese garden...
Not as nice as the Huntington botanical gardens' Japanese Garden. But it's close....and less expensive to get in.
Caution: It can get smelly sometimes... The water that supply's their lake's water is from the reclamation plant next door...
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i love being in this garden it is all about zen...i love the aesthetics of japanese gardens, of the various sub gardens and the waterfall against the modern administrative building. It happened to be an event day so that's always a treat. origami demonstrations, meditations, just serenity...
the gift shop is really nice as well, clever trick admission being paid there! went up to $5 by the by, and they got me! i finally got the gold dipped maple earrings i've been eyeing for a year. too late for the pendant, but i'm a happy camper. usually nature is enough but i wanted those earrings...
namaste!
Lovely garden, and it's cool their water supply is from next door.
Lots of symbolism, many cute animals, some fishies, baby ducks, and an army of squirrels.
All that they were missing were some helmets and guns,
they were stampeding, 20 of them. :o
Nice place to sit and relax,
3$ for an Adult.
They even have a tea house where they have weddings.
'Tis so cuuute.
;D
Give it a look if you live in the area!
*
I came again recently, you should go see the gift shop's things. Not too overpriced, and extremely adorable.
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