Serving Torrance and Surrounding South Bay Communities

About the club

The Riviera Garden Club is proud to be entering its 56th year. Membership is made up of amateur gardeners and is open to all residents of the South Bay. Club objectives are to educate, increase interest in gardening, plant and bird life, conserve all natural resources, and beautify our area. The goal of members is to further their knowledge of gardening and ecology.

The current Riviera Garden Club was formed by the merger of two garden clubs: Riviera and Colinas Garden Club in 1957. The original bylaws limited membership to Riviera residents only. That restriction was changed during recent times and our membership now includes residents of Manhattan Beach, Torrance, Palos Verdes, Lomita, etc. We are proud to be continuously growing and currently count 73 active members, 4 associate members, 11 honorary members and 1 special patron.

Riviera Garden Club is a 501 (c) 3 charitable organization under the umbrella of the National Garden Clubs (the world's largest volunteer organization), the California Garden Clubs (the largest group under the National Garden Clubs, Inc. umbrella) and the local Costa Verde District which is Riviera Garden Club's "home district" and that of several other local garden clubs: Hermosa Beach, Long Beach, Naples Island, San Pedro, etc. Our Club and District supports the South Coast Botanic Garden, Madrona Marsh, etc.

As a philanthropic organization, we fundraise through plant sales, garden tours, etc., with the objective to fund local scholarships and undertake civic beautification, etc. The last several years our club has given two $1,000 Scholarships: one to an El Camino student studying Horticulture and another to a Torrance area school senior graduate who is planning to study environmental science in college. Proceeds from our last garden tour also allowed us to purchase two benches for Madrona Marsh and donate to the refurbished Dahlia Garden at South Coast Botanic Garden.

We have undertaken many civic beautification projects including the refurbishing of two local library planter boxes: El Retiro and Walteria Libraries. We also recently redesigned and refurbished the Torrance Marker at the corner of Pacific Coast Highway and Palos Verdes Blvd. to include drought tolerant plants, as well as the Colinas Circle on Calle Mayor Road. We have completed and maintained other local projects including a flower garden at Rocketship Park plus involvement at an elementary classroom of mentally impaired students. In conjunction with the City of Torrance, and to celebrate our Club's 50th Anniversary, we installed a Blue Star Marker (a National Garden Clubs project) at the corner of Pacific Coast Highway and Calle Mayor to honor U.S. Service men and women. We recently gave our 106th seedling plantation to Penny Pines to help with California's reforestation projects.

The Club is currently involved in drought tolerant education and plantings. Our civic beautification and library planting projects have all encompassed drought tolerant plantings. We are concerned about the environment and ecology and promote Arbor Day tree plantings and Earth Day. We participate in local Landscape Awards with joint participation with the Riviera Homeowners Association. These Awards are recognized in community publications.

We have worked with several community outreach projects which include planting workshops at El Retiro Library, other City of Torrance projects, the Riviera Homeowners Association, South Coast Botanic Gardens, The Surfrider Foundation, Torrance Friends of the Library, St. Francis Episcopal Church and the Redondo Beach Art Group.

Regular Meetings are held from September to November, and January through May, on the fourth Tuesday of each month, at 9:30am. The meeting starts with socializing at 9:30am, followed by the business meeting at 10:00am and the speaker at 11am. The regular meetings are held at the Torrance Airport General Aviation Center Meeting Room, unless tours are planned. Meetings of the board of directors are held the same months and the same time as the regular meetings, on the third Tuesday of each month. The board of directors meetings are held in members’ homes.

Please contact our Co-Presidents, Karen Lent and Shelley Lubinsky for more information:
                       Email: President@RivieraGardenClub.org