Feb. 17, 1936: I think this may be my favorite entry so far. Times artist Charles Owens and columnist Timothy Turner visit a Japanese flower shop on San Pedro Street north of 1st Street, which was converted by Toyo Y. Maeda from a garage and parking lot.

Enter a hidden garden of a size and beauty that makes us say “Oh!” It is a completely Japanese garden with miniature landscaping in large plats or little flower boxes one can pick up; with miniature bridges over imaginary streams, a Shinto shrine in the corner — an apparently accidental yet carefully studied arrangement of flora in profusion…

Traffic cannot be seen or heard, for the walls keep the sound out. You can stand there right in the heart of old Los Angeles, with streetcars and motor trucks jammed on all sides, and hear birds sing and look up at the blue square of sky and write  a poem or chew gum meditatively — commune with nature according to your desires.

San Pedro and 1st streets, via Google Street View.