La Beer Week

Sponsored By:

DESCANSO GARDENS

A natural "bowl" in the San Rafael hills provides a secluded setting for Descanso Gardens. The first inhabitants of the area were the Los Angeles basin's Gabrielino Indians. They relied on the native oaks for the mainstay of their diet, pounding acorns into meal for mush and bread.

The 150 acres that form Descanso Gardens today, had never been developed when E. Manchester Boddy, publisher of the Los Angeles Daily News, purchased them in 1937.

Boddy cleared the land and built an elegant two-story mansion of 22 rooms, designed by architect J. E. Dolena of Beverly Hills. This mansion overlooks 25 acres of live oak forest and a camellia-lined driveway. Boddy named his estate "Rancho del Descanso," which means "ranch of rest" in Spanish. He also purchased an additional 440 acres north of the original property, whose mountain streams provide fresh spring water for the Gardens today.

Our signature LA Beer Week Beer Festival will take place on Saturday October 24th, on the grounds of the Descanso Gardens International Rosarium. Breathe the perfume of this five-acre garden of America's most popular flower. More than 3,000 roses represent centuries of horticultural history and dozens of regions around the world. Significant collections of species, old garden and modern roses are arranged in theme gardens. Descanso's roses share their space with companion plants that thrive in the Southern California climate…like hops, barley and wheat (just kidding, but actually there are hop vines in the Garden)!