Santa Monica : Hancock Park : Japanese Gardens Open

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art has officially opened the Japanese gardens surrounding its Pavilion for Japanese Art.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held Wednesday to dedicate the gardens, which were designed by the late Koichi Kawana, a landscape architect and designer at UCLA. Described by a museum official as reflecting a genuine Japanese aesthetic, the gardens include such traditional Japanese plantings as bonsai pines and Japanese maples.

The gardens in Hancock Park also feature stones individually chosen and placed under Kawana’s supervision, Japanese stone lanterns and a ceremonial stone water basin made in Japan in the 18th Century.