The Venice Garden & Home Tour, Saturday, May 4, 2013, will celebrate 20 years of inspiring and successful tours by showcasing 30 eclectic, creative gardens and homes within blocks of Abbot Kinney Boulevard, “the coolest street in Los Angeles,” where homeowners have the advantages of Venice-style urban living. This annual fundraising event for the Neighborhood Youth Association (NYA) will take tour-goers to the neighborhoods within a short stroll of Abbot Kinney where they will see the constantly changing, always inventive Venice lifestyle. They will visit properties of creative homeowners, artists’ studios, the homes and offices of architects and designers, and view gardens that vary from lush to minimalist pocket-gardens.
Architects and landscape designers live and work in Venice because the community embraces experimentation and the use of non-traditional materials. There will be homes of sleek, white cubes on the tour including two homes in one structure connected by a rooftop deck and a two-story, sculpturally beautiful, staircase. Also on view will be a redesigned home where pop-out windows expand the original footprint and bring the outdoors inside. A LEED Platinum environmentally responsive home with its water conservation and drought tolerant garden will be open as well as homes that are small in size but feel spacious because of creative design solutions. Besides contemporary architecture, restored Craftsman and updated old bungalows are on the tour and are examples of the enviable Venice indoor/outdoor living where the weather is congenial and neighbors take pride in their gardens and homes often enhanced by art of all descriptions. CODE Phrase: Venice Garden Celebrates 20 Years!
Loft living along the boulevard will be available for viewing where homeowners can go down a flight of stairs to street level cafés. Because this is Venice, there is exciting use of color everywhere, bursts of golden blooms blaze against a rainbow colored house, a yellow door shines next to chocolate colored walls, and orange, rust, or shades of green are used. Ever-present dogs add to the urban vibe, cats keep an eye on things, bikers carrying surfboards zip by, families with strollers, walkers and tourists are all part of the bustling yet laid-back life of Venice, and it’s all there for tour-goers to enjoy.
Homes and gardens by innovative architects such as Marc Bricault, Don Dimster, Isabelle Duvivier, John Frane, Dennis Gibbens, David Hertz, Michael Sant, and Steven Shortridge and landscape designers Russ Cletta, Jay Griffith, Andre Jackson and Di Zock are included. Venice has always attracted artists and the studios of David Gale, Mollie Favre, Brad Miller, and Robin Murez will be open. There is much to see on this exceptional tour as visitors meander near Abbot Kinney in the heart of Venice.
The Venice Garden & Home Tour is the fundraising event that draws visitors from all over California and gives financial support to NYA, including its Las Doradas Children’s Center, a licensed child care facility in Venice that provides full-time, education-based child care to low-income working families. It also provides support for NYA’s after-school programs at the Mar Vista Learning Center and other sites in Los Angeles where students receive academic support, counseling, career planning, and cultural enrichment activities.
The 2013 self-guided, walking Venice Garden & Home Tour starts at the Neighborhood Youth Association, 804 Broadway, at the corner of Broadway and Pleasant View.
Admission: $60 advance, $70 the day of the event. Children under 12 years of age are admitted free.
What: Venice Garden & Home Tour
Where: Pick up tickets at 1016 Pleasant View Avenue, Venice, CA 90291 (between Broadway and California, 1 block west of Lincoln Blvd)
When: 10:00 am – 5:00 pm
Phone: 310-821-1857
Website: www.venicegardentour.org
