Anyone who says Los Angeles is nothing but concrete with no greenery, hasn’t visited the city. LA has tons of little parks and gardens tucked in all corners of town and downtown is no exception. In Little Tokyo, one of the hotels has a lovely Japanese inspired garden as part of the building. The location’s name is the Kyoto Garden.

Once owned by a Japanese hotel chain, The Double Tree in Little Tokyo once had a different name. The purchase happened in the last five years or so, but I can’t recall exactly when the hotel name change happened. The garden is a wedding venue and event space but it is a lovely place to sit and rest while the city bustles around a few floors below.

How to find the Garden

The location is hidden well and is not easy to stumble upon. To find the garden, you enter the main lobby of the hotel. If you look carefully, you can find the signs directing you to a small elevator. The elevator has the floor marked on it’s primary panel but the elevator is off to the side and hard to find.

The garden itself has several little alcoves to act as mini stages for events. Chairs and tables are scattered around the shaded areas to sit and relax. The area also acts as a lounge space for hotel patrons when there are no events. The Kyoto Garden is open to the public most days. On our first visit with my parents, the location was empty but the hotel puts up signs if there is an event taking place.

If you read the hotel website, they note the garden is patterned after an ancient garden in Tokyo, built for the 16th century samurai lord Kiyomasa Kato. Whatever the case, the garden designer did a great job of incorporating the feel of a Japanese garden in the heart of Downton LA. You can see the sky scrapers in some of the images below.

Special “thank you” to my dad for a couple of these pictures, especially the one right below, a rare photo of my husband and I.