Celebrating 20 Incredible Years in 2013

Thanks to all who helped make our latest tour a huge success!

The Venice Garden & Home Tour is an annual fundraiser benefiting the children of the Neighborhood Youth Association (NYA) in Venice, CA. This self-guided walking tour showcases the unique homes and gardens of the creative Venice Beach community. We train our eye on different nooks and enclaves in the neighborhood each year, so no tour is ever the same. The 2013 tour focused on the area around Abbot Kinney - you can read more about it under Tour Information. You can also get a taste of tour history by browsing photos and articles for past tours. As planning for the 2014 tour gets underway, we'll update you here with more information. We hope to see you next year!

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It all started with a small stucco building. NYA needed a new home, so Jan Brilliot, Jay Griffith and Linda Lucks stepped up, creating the first Venice Garden Tour. It was truly grass roots, a fly-by-the-seat-of-their-pants event, with Jay making selections as they walked with 20 guests, raising $1,200. With the help of that first tour, NYA secured a small stucco DWP building that was lifted off its foundation and transplanted to Pleasant View Avenue on property leased from LAUSD. This new home became NYA’s Las Doradas Children’s Center and is still here today.

The second year they got more sophisticated, marking pre-selected gardens with balloons; however, before the tour even began, the balloons mysteriously appeared in one big bouquet – oops! Nevertheless, they raised $8,000. And the rest is history. With each year, the event – and the monies raised – continued to grow, culminating with 2,000 guests and $250,000 gross in 2012. In total, the renamed Venice Garden & Home Tour has grossed over $2.5 million for NYA in its 20-year history!