It's Always Sunny in LA: #27: The Huntington Gardens

At my old job I used to get bored a lot, and one week I found myself voraciously reading about the history of Los Angeles on Wikipedia (I know, nerd alert). I read about the history of South Central, Hollywood, Long Beach, Santa Monica, and all the old rich neighborhoods like West Adams, Hancock Park, and Pasadena. There is so much fascinating history about each of these different neighborhoods, not to mention important cultural influences that are still seen today. But that's besides the point. What really matters here is that reading about the histories of these neighborhoods really made me want to explore them. I'll save South Central for another day, but at the top of my list was Pasadena, and with it, the Huntington Gardens.

The Huntington Gardens (full name: The Huntington Library, Art Collection and Botanical Gardens) is in one of the oldest, richest neighborhoods of South Pasadena. The land and buildings were actually donated by the Huntington family estate, and the main museum (that houses locally well-known paintings such as Pinkie and Blue Boy) was the family home. And by home I mean ridiculous 1800s old-money mansion. There is also an impressive research library, which counts a Gutenberg Bible and manuscript of The Canterbury Tales among its six million titles. Not to mention the 14 different botanical gardens on its grounds.

My friend Barbara and I headed over to Pasadena on a lovely Sunday during LA's "Carmageddon" weekend (aka the weekend they closed part of the 405 freeway and everyone thought there would be Earth-ending hellish traffic, when in fact, there were NO cars on the road) and it was the easiest drive to Pasadena I could have imagined. We paid the $10 entrance fee (it's $20 on weekends for adults but I showed my student ID to get the discount, don't judge) and began exploring. We started out walking the grounds around the main house, which included a huge lawn lined with statues, and shaded winding paths through different orchards. We stopped by the Japanese garden, which was unfortunately under construction and mostly blocked off. We then visited the Chinese garden, complete with pagodas, lily ponds and thousands of native Chinese plants. We walked through the Desert garden, the Camellia garden, and the Herb garden. They were all absolutely stunning, peaceful, colorful.... everything you'd expect from a botanical garden.

Then we headed over to the Rose garden, which was breathtaking, to say the least. Row after row, trellis after trellis of the most vibrant, pungent and creatively-named roses I've ever seen. There were roses of every color of the rainbow (and even others - like grey!) with awesome names like "Rainbow Knock-out," "Class Act," "Passionate Kisses" and "Playboy." I've been to botanical gardens before, but I've never seen a rose garden of this magnitude. It was like something out of a storybook!

After a thoroughly enjoyable (and long) stroll through the extensive rose garden, we went over to the rose garden tea room for a high-tea lunch. We completely stuffed ourselves with fresh scones (with clotted cream and jam!), tea sandwiches, fresh fruit, fancy crackers and even fancier cheeses, and various pastry treats all topped with pink lemonade. It was absolutely delicious and the perfect compliment to a lovely day in the garden. Plus, the air conditioning was amazing.

After we snuck a few scones into our purses, we headed over to the art museum to avoid the now sweltering heat outside. I especially wanted to see the view out of the back terrace, which has a magnificent view of greenery and mountains and you would never guess you were in LA! We saw all the paintings, artifacts, stained glass windows, and spent the remainder of the afternoon lounging on the shaded terrace. We leaned back in rattan chairs and looked out over all the surrounding gardens and greenery. It was absolutely lovely.

After a quick trip to the gift shop (which was stock-full of History of LA books.. I die!) we headed home, full of romantic dreams of what it must have been like to be insanely rich in Pasadena in the 1800s. I am so glad that Barbara showed me this gem of a place. It was so beautiful and romantic and relaxing and interesting and the absolute perfect way to spend a Sunday afternoon. I highly, highly recommend a visit here (and make sure to bring your student ID!)