Venice Garden & Home Tour on May 5

Thirty gardens and homes will be featured May 5 during the Venice Garden & Home Tour to benefit the Neighborhood Youth Association's Las Doradas Children's Center in Venice.

A special feature of this year's garden tour is the Gregory Ain tract, an enclave of 52 one-story homes from 1947 in Mar Vista. The tract has a park-like atmosphere thanks to landscape architect Garrett Eckbo who planted rows of trees to create a streetscape.

Visitors can walk, ride or bike to the homes and gardens on the tour. Several artists's studios also will be open, including Cliff Garten's studio.

The self-guided, walking tour starts at the Las Doradas Children's Center at 804 Broadway in Venice and runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. There will be shuttle buses, food stands and catering trucks and biking is encouraged.

The Neighborhood Youth Association was founded in 1906 and the Venice Garden & Home Tour was founded by Venice landscape designer Jay Griffith and community leaders Linda Lucks and Jan Brilliot. NYA's Las Doradas Children's Center in Venice serves nearly 200 low-income, at-risk youths and provides preschool for 36 children ages 3 to 5 from low-income families.

Tickets are $60 if purchased in advance and are tax-deductible, non-refundable rain-or-shine tickets. Tickets are $70 if purchased the day of the event. Children under 12 are admitted free.

For ticket information, visit www.venicegardentour.org.