Celebrating its 20^th year, the annual Venice Garden and Home tour will be tomorrow, Saturday 10 to 5 pm.   This year the Garden and Home Tour will feature “30 eclectic, creative gardens and homes within blocks of Abbot Kinney Boulevard,” according to the brochure.

Tickets can be purchased for $70 at the door at 1016 Pleasant View Avenue, which is where the tour starts.  Tickets and donations are all tax deductible. All proceeds go to the Neighborhood Youth Association.

Last year Linda Lucks, president of Venice Neighborhood Council and one of the three originators of the tour, said “when we first started, we had to beg people with gardens and homes to participate.  Now they want to be part of the tour.”  Jan Brilliot and Jay Griffith were the other originators.  It was started as a fund raiser for the Neighborhood Youth Association.

One lady from Southern California attending last year said she and her husband, an architect, never miss the Venice show.  She said it is the best in Southern California.

According to the brochure, “Architects and landscape designers live and work in Venice because the community embraces experimentation and the use of non-traditional materials. There will be homes of sleek, white cubes on the tour including two homes in one structure connected by a rooftop deck and a two-story, sculpturally beautiful, staircase.

“Also on view will be a redesigned home where pop-out windows expand the original footprint and bring the outdoors inside. A LEED Platinum environmentally responsive home with its water conservation and drought tolerant garden will be open as well as homes that are small in size but feel spacious because of creative design solutions.

“Besides contemporary architecture, restored Craftsman and updated old bungalows are on the tour and are examples of the enviable Venice indoor/outdoor living where the weather is congenial and neighbors take pride in their gardens and homes often enhanced by art of all descriptions. Loft living along the boulevard will be available for viewing where homeowners can go down a flight of stairs to street level cafés.

“Some of the innovative architects represented this year include Abramson Teiger, Marc Bricault, Don Dimster, Isabelle Duvivier, John Frane, David Hertz, Michael Sant, Steven Shortridge, Sue Addison, Dennis Gibbens and Carlos Zubieta. Landscape designers include Russ Cletta, Jay Griffith, Andre Jackson, Di Zock, Eva Sobesky, Tatiana Barhar and Mark Tessier. Venice has always attracted artists, and the studios of David Gale, Mollie Favre, Brad Miller and Robin Murez will be open. There is much to see on this exceptional tour as visitors meander near Abbot Kinney in the heart of Venice.”