Group aims to raise money, awareness for ‘Whispering Pine’ Japanese Tea House in Brand Park

For Michael Belzer, there’s a particularly picturesque corner of Brand Park that is, in many ways, one of Glendale’s best-kept secrets.

The Shoseian Japanese Tea House and Friendship Garden certainly isn’t new. It opened in 1974, but many who walk or drive by the grounds may easily miss it en route to somewhere else. They may even notice that it’s often closed.

If they were to get inside, they’d see a gently sloped grassy hill and pathway bending to the right toward a tiny house overlooking waterfalls and a pond stocked with koi fish and turtles. Like much of Brand Park, the house sits in the shadow of the Verdugo Mountains due north.

The structure is one of very few architecturally accurate Japanese tea houses in the western United States that’s open to the public — a point of pride for Belzer and the city.

“I call it the hidden gem of Glendale,” Belzer said.

A room inside the tea house at Shoseian “Whispering Pine” Japanese Tea House in Glendale on Tuesday, April 12, 2016.

(Tim Berger / Staff Photographer)

The Glendale resident is a docent and martial arts ambassador for Friends of Shoseian, which formed in 2001 to rekindle the facility’s original goal of friendship and cultural exchange, a mission that had waned at the time.

Shoseian translates to “whispering pine,” which is why the facility is sometimes referred to as the Whispering Pine Tea House. The house and gardens were a product of Glendale’s Sister City program with Higashiosaka, Japan. At the time, the program was led by Glendale community leader Anabel Neufeld.

A dentist and deputy mayor of Higashiosaka had picked Glendale to be his city’s Sister City, noticing that the two had some similarities, particularly each city’s nearby mountain range.

Planning and fundraising for the project, now considered a historic landmark by the Glendale Historical Society, took about a decade. Hayahiko Takase, known as a premier architect for designing tea houses in greater Los Angeles, served as the architect. The building materials came from Japan, according to city historical records.

Two young Amazon parrots eat fruit in the gardens at Shoseian “Whispering Pine” Japanese Tea House in Glendale on Tuesday, April 12, 2016.

(Tim Berger / Staff Photographer)

Part of the reason many people miss the gardens and tea house is because of the facility’s limited operating hours, Belzer noted. The gardens are open from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Monday through Thursday; the tea room is open by appointment only. On weekends, the grounds are often used for weddings.

“The only thing [people] have to say is, ‘How come I can never get in there?’” Belzer said. “A lot of people are in school or they’re working. They don’t have the time to come up to the park during that time.”

Friends of Shoesian, which has about eight active members, is looking to boost awareness of the grounds and raise $50,000 to remodel the interior of the tea house. They’ve raised about $10,000 so far.

The group hosts cultural events on the third Sunday of each month that have included tea ceremonies, martial arts demonstrations and even hula. Suggested donations help fund future Shoseian events and the tea house renovation.

New life is sprouting at the garden, too, Belzer said, in the form of 20 cherry trees planted a few weeks ago.

On a recent afternoon in the garden, Los Angeles residents Carlos Acevedo and Eva Lopez strolled the grounds and meandered over a gently curved footbridge above the tea house’s pond.

“We’ve been here many times,” Acevedo said.

When asked what she liked most about the grounds — the koi fish, the turtles, the waterfalls or the relaxing atmosphere — Lopez couldn’t pick just one.

“Everything,” she said.

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Bradley Zint, bradley.zint@latimes.com

Twitter: @BradleyZint