Culver City is a city in western
Los Angeles County,
California. As of the 2000 census, the city had a population of
38,816.
The community is mostly surrounded by the
city of Los
Angeles
, but also has a border with unincorporated areas of Los Angeles
County. The mayor is Andrew Weissman.
Since the 1920s, Culver City has been a significant center for
motion picture and later television
production, in part because it was the home of
MGM Studios. It also was the headquarters for
the
Hughes Aircraft Company
from 1932 to 1985.
National Public
Radio West and
Sony
Pictures Entertainment now have headquarters in the city.
History
The area of Culver City was earlier inhabited by
Gabrielino Native Americans.
The city was founded
primarily on the lands of the former Rancho La Ballona
and Rancho Rincon de los Bueyes
. From 1861 to 1862, during the
American Civil War,
Camp Latham was established by the 1st
California Infantry under Col.
James
H. Carleton and the 1st
California Cavalry under Lt. Col.
Benjamin F. Davis. Camp Latham was named for
California Senator
Milton S.
Latham and was the first staging
area for the training of Union troops and their operations in
Southern California. It was
located on land of the Rancho La Ballona, on the south side of
Ballona Creek, near what is now the
intersection of Jefferson and Overland Boulevards.
The post was later
moved to Camp Drum later the Drum Barracks
.
Harry Culver's first attempt to
establish Culver City was in 1913, and the city was
incorporated on
September 20 1917. (His
first ads read "All roads lead to Culver City" indicating a main
transportation route via the city.)
The first film studio in Culver City was built by
Thomas Ince in 1918. In the 1920s,
silent film comedy producer
Hal Roach and
Metro
Goldwyn Mayer (MGM) built studios there.
During Prohibition, speakeasies and nightclubs such as the Cotton Club
lined Washington
Boulevard.
Heart of screenland
Hundreds
of movies have been produced on the lots of Culver City's studios,
Sony Pictures
Studios
(originally MGM Studios), Culver Studios, and the former Hal Roach Studios. These include
The Wizard of
Oz,
The Thin
Man,
Gone with
the Wind,
Citizen
Kane,
Rebecca, the
Tarzan series, and the original
King Kong. More recent films made
in Culver City include
Grease,
Raging
Bull,
E.T. the
Extra-Terrestrial,
City
Slickers,
Air Force
One,
Wag the Dog, and
Contact. Television shows
made on Culver City sets have included
Las Vegas,
Gunsmoke,
Mad
About You,
Lassie,
Batman,
Arrested Development,
The Andy Griffith
Show,
Jeopardy!, and the
night version
Wheel of
Fortune.
John Travolta's "Stranded at the
Drive-In" sequence in
Grease was filmed at the Studio
Drive-In on the corner of Jefferson and Sepulveda. It served as a
set for many other films, including
Pee-wee's Big Adventure. The
theater was closed in 1993 and was demolished in 1998; it is now a
housing subdivision featuring large homes on small lots, as well as
being home to the
Kayne-ERAS center, a
school and community center for the disabled and mentally
challenged.

Downtown Culver City, about 1920
Culver City's streets have been featured in countless films and
television shows. Since much of the architecture has not changed in
decades, particularly in residential areas of town, the nostalgic
sitcom
The Wonder Years
set many of its outdoor scenes in the neighborhoods of Culver City.
The 1970s show
CHiPs also featured
many chase scenes through the streets. The
Nicolas Cage film
Matchstick Men included scenes
made at Veterans Memorial Park (which was also featured in the
opening scenes of the sitcom
Valerie /
Valerie's
Family /
The Hogan
Family).
The history of the town is beginning to be recognized.
The Aviator, a film about
Howard Hughes, featured several mentions of
Culver City in connection with Hughes.
The Hughes Aircraft Company plant had a Culver
City mailing address but was actually in the adjacent Los
Angeles
neighborhood of Westchester
at a site now called Playa
Vista
. Scenes from
Bewitched (2005) with Nicole Kidman and Will
Farrell were also filmed in the Culver City streets as well as the
liquor store scene in
Superbad.The
2005 film,
Fun with Dick and
Jane, starring
Jim Carrey was
filmed there.
Decline of the studios (1960s and 1970s)
In the
late 1960s, much of the MGM back lot acreage
(lot 3 and other property on Jefferson Boulevard), and the nearby
28 acres (113,000 m²) of the somewhat inaccurately named "back
forty"
, once owned by RKO Pictures and later Desilu
Productions, were sold by their owners. In 1976, the sets
were razed to make way for redevelopment. Today the "back forty" is
the southern expansion of the Hayden Industrial Tract, while the
MGM property has been converted to a subdivision and a shopping
center known as Raintree Plaza.
Rebirth of downtown (1990s and 2000s)

Culver Center
In the 1990s, Culver City launched a successful revitalization
program in which it renovated its downtown as well as several
shopping centers in the
Sepulveda
Boulevard corridor near
Fox Hills
Mall. Around the same time, the relocation of
Sony's motion picture operations (known as Columbia
Pictures) to the former MGM studios at
Washington Boulevard and
Overland Avenue brought much-needed jobs to the city.
The influx
of many art galleries and restaurants to the eastern part of the
city, formally designated as the Culver City Art District, prompted
The New York Times in
2007 to praise the new art scene and call Culver City a "nascent
Chelsea
."
Transportation
The first phase of the
Expo line, a
light rail line from Downtown Los Angeles
to a terminal station at the Culver Junction near Venice and
Robertson Boulevards in Culver City started in 2006, with an
estimated completion date in 2010. The line mostly follows the
right of way which the
Pacific
Electric Santa Monica Air Line used.
The intent of the
Los
Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority is that the line
eventually be extended westward to Santa Monica
, again mostly along the existing right of way with
the possible exception of going through the commercial strip of
Venice Boulevard.
Culver City Bus currently operates
bus service within Culver City.
The city
is served by the Los Angeles International
Airport
, which is located about south of the
city.
Points of interest
Businesses
- Culver Hotel
: A 1924 landmark pie-slice-shaped hotel in
downtown. Many of the cast of The Wizard of Oz
stayed here during filming of the movie in 1939. The hijinks of
that period, including the hotel's being taken over by the
"Munchkins," were featured in the 1981 movie Under the Rainbow. Formerly owned by John
Wayne, the hotel has housed many stars including Clark Gable, Greta
Garbo, Joan Crawford, Red Skelton, Buster
Keaton and Ronald Reagan.
- Helms Bakery, now a center for
restaurants, art galleries, the Jazz
Bakery (a jazz club), and furniture sales rooms.
- Sony Pictures Plaza: This
unusual, cantilevered building was featured as the headquarters of
Wolfram & Hart, the demonic law firm that was the chief nemesis
in the TV Show Angel. The
building is across the street from the main gate of Sony Studios,
which is at 10202 W. Washington Boulevard (occupying the former
MGM Studio facilities).
- Surfas: A company selling restaurant
equipment and specialty cooking supplies, along with a variety of
foods, including gourmet spices. It was featured on the FOX
television show Hell's
Kitchen.
Education and research
- Star Eco Station is an
environmental science and wildlife
rescue center; the STAR ECO Station houses exotic animals that
have been abandoned or confiscated and teaches learners of all ages
about the environment. At 10101 W. Jefferson Blvd., it offers
organized tours. The STAR ECO Station shares its facility with
STAR Prep Academy: a Middle-High
School that provides hands on opportunities to work with the
animals on site.
- West Los Angeles College
is a two-year community college within adjacent
unincorporated county territory of Baldwin
Hills, California
. (Thomas Guide Los Angeles County,
page 673.)
Local landmarks
Museums and the arts
- The Actors' Gang at the Ivy
Substation (within the Palms district, city of Los Angeles, but on
long-term lease to Culver City).
- Culver City Art
District: A cluster of more than 20 contemporary art galleries
in the vicinity of Washington and La Cienega Boulevards.
- Culver City Public
Theatre: presents an annual summer season of free, outdoor,
classical theatre in beautiful Dr. Paul Carlson Memorial Park, at
the corner of Motor Avenue and Braddock Drive (near the 405 and 10
Freeways) in Culver City, CA as well as a yearly tradition of
presenting theater for young audiences, the Children's Popcorn
Theatre. All performances are held during the summer on Saturdays
and Sundays at 2 p.m., with the Children’s Popcorn Theater
performance at noon.
- The Jazz Bakery, the only nonprofit
nightly jazz venue in greater Los Angeles.
- Kirk Douglas Theatre
, featuring the Center Theater Group
Recreation
Neighborhoods
Neighborhoods
Geography
The city
is surrounded by the Los Angeles neighborhoods of Mar
Vista
, West Los
Angeles
and Palms
to the north; Westchester
to the south; the Baldwin
Hills
and Ladera Heights
unincorporated areas to the east; and the L.A.
neighborhoods of Venice
and Playa Vista
to the west, along with the unincorporated area of
Marina Del
Rey
.
The two primary
ZIP codes for Culver City
are 90230 and 90232.
Because ZIP codes
do not necessarily follow city boundaries, a portion of Culver City
is in the 90066 ZIP code, which also serves
some of the Mar Vista neighborhood of the city of Los
Angeles
.
The major
geographic feature of Culver City is Ballona Creek, which runs northeast to
southwest through most of the city before it drains into Santa Monica
Bay
in Marina Del Rey.
Culver City is served by the
San
Diego,
Santa Monica, and
Marina freeways.
Culver City is at (34.007761, -118.400905). According to the
United States Census
Bureau, the city has a total area of .
Education
Primary and secondary schools
Culver City has its own school district,
Culver City Unified School
District. It has five elementary schools, a middle school, two
high schools (regular and continuation), a Community Day School, an
Office of Child Development, and an Adult School. In addition,
there is an Independent Study program where students of elementary,
middle school, or high school age can make a weekly appointment to
drop off and pick up homework, which is to be completed throughout
the week.
STAR Prep Academy, a private
middle and high school, was established in 2004 and shares its
campus with the STAR ECO Station, an exotic wildlife rescue center.
It is one of the few schools in the United States in which students
have the unique opportunity to work with exotic and endangered
animals on a daily basis as part of their school-day
curriculum.
Colleges and universities
West Los
Angeles College
, located in an unincorporated section of Los Angeles
County adjacent to Culver City, is part of the Los Angeles Community
College District. Antioch University Los
Angeles is also located in Culver City, off Slauson
Avenue.
Other
The Los Angeles County Probation Department's Training Academy is
housed on the campus of West L.A. College.
Culver City is the location for the Los Angeles area campus of the
Gemological Institute
of America as well as
Culver
Beauty College and the
Biofeedback Institute of
Los Angeles.
Demographics
As of the
census of 2000, there were 38,816
people, 16,611 households, and 9,518 families residing in the city.
The
population density was
2,932.9/km² (7,589.8/mi²). There were 17,130 housing units at an
average density of 1,294.3/km ² (3,349.5/mi²). The racial makeup of
the city was 59.24%
White, 11.96%
Black or
African American, 0.71%
Native American, 12.02%
Asian, 0.21%
Pacific Islander, 10.16% from
other races, and 5.69%
from two or more races. 23.70% of the population were
Hispanic or
Latino of any race.
There were 16,611 households out of which 26.1% had children under
the age of 18 living with them, 40.8% were
married couples living together, 12.8% had a female
householder with no husband present, and 42.7% were non-families.
34.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.3% had
someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average
household size was 2.31 and the average family size was 3.02.
In the city the population was spread out with 20.9% under the age
of 18, 6.6% from 18 to 24, 33.3% from 25 to 44, 25.3% from 45 to
64, and 13.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was
39 years. For every 100 females there were 87.5 males. For every
100 females age 18 and over, there were 82.7 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $51,792, and the
median income for a family was $61,451 (these figures had risen to
$65,525 and $82,582 as of a 2007 estimate). Males had a median
income of $46,683 versus $41,478 for females. The
per capita income for the city was
$29,025. About 5.5% of families and 8.6% of the population were
below the
poverty line, including 12.1%
of those under age 18 and 5.1% of those age 65 or over.
Government and infrastructure
In the
state
legislature Culver City is located in the 26th
Senate District, represented by
Democrat
Curren D. Price, Jr., and in the 47th
Assembly District, represented by
Democrat
Karen Bass. Federally, Culver
City is located in
California's 33rd
congressional district, which has a
Cook PVI of D +36 and is
represented by Democrat
Diane
Watson.
The
United States Postal
Service operates the Culver City Post Office at 11111 Jefferson
Boulevard and the Gateway Post Office at 9942 Culver
Boulevard.
Sister cities
Noted natives
- Todd Baker, producer
- Drew Barrymore, actress
- Gary Carter, major league baseball
player
- Tiffany Cohen, double gold
champion in swimming at the
1984 Summer Olympics
- Dee Dee Davis, actress
- Derrick Deese, NFL player
- John Derevlany writer
- Jeff Fisher, NFL coach
- Rocky George, guitar player,
Suicidal Tendencies
- Charles Herbert, actor
- John Hencken, breaststroke
swimmer
- Helen Hunt, actress
- Christian Lander, author, Stuff
White People Like
- Kyla Pratt, actress/singer. Best
known for The Proud Family and
Dr. Doolittle.
- Michael Richards, actor and
comedian
- Gwen Verdon, actress
- Robert Trujillo, bass player who
has played with Suicidal
Tendencies, Ozzy Osbourne,
Metallica and more
- Michael Bumpus, NFL Player,
Seattle Seahawks
- Art Alexakis, musician,
founder/lead singer of the band Everclear
- Masiela Lusha, Albanian-American actress and poet.
- Cory Monteith, Actor from Glee
- Jack Black, Actor
- Lauren Holly, Actress
References
- Camp Latham Marker Unveiling
- The California State Military Museum, Historic California
Posts: Fort Moore (Post at Los Angeles, Fort Hill and including
Camp Fitzgerald), reprinted with permission from Colonel Herbert M.
Hart, USMC (retired), Old Forts of the Far West,
published in 1965
- The California State Military Museum, Historic California
Posts: Camp Latham
- Historic California Posts: Fort MacArthur -
Military Museum
- According to
http://www.culvercity.org/cityinfo/history/10202.html, Columbia
Pictures was the subsidiary of Sony that moved into the old MGM
lot. Retrieved August
3, 2005.
- "Inauguration of the King Fahd Mosque" from the
Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia
- http://gaea.culvercity.org/imf/imf.jsp?site=GenCity
-
http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/ACSSAFFFacts?_event=Search&geo_id=16000US0616000&_geoContext=01000US%7C04000US06%7C16000US0616000&_street=&_county=culver+city&_cityTown=culver+city&_state=04000US06&_zip=&_lang=en&_sse=on&ActiveGeoDiv=geoSelect&_useEV=&pctxt=fph&pgsl=160&_submenuId=factsheet_1&ds_name=ACS_2007_3YR_SAFF&_ci_nbr=null&qr_name=null®=null%3Anull&_keyword=&_industry=
- " Post Office Location - CULVER CITY."
United States Postal
Service. Retrieved on December 6, 2008.
- " Post Office Location - GATEWAY."
United States Postal
Service. Retrieved on December 6, 2008.
- Culver
City High Class of 1981 (I)
- Drew
Barrymore (I)
- Gary Carter Baseball Stats by Baseball
Almanac
- Dee
Dee Davis (II)
- Jeff Fisher Speaker Booking Agent – Hire Jeff
Fisher for a Celebrity Appearance
- : Robert Trujillo - Musician Profile :
- Charles Herbert (I)
- Michael Richards Information, Photos, and Trivia at
MovieTome
- IBDB: The official source for Broadway
Information
- Culver
City High Class of 1983 (I)
- Seattle Seahawks - Players : Michael
Bumpus
- http://www.co.multnomah.or.us/dcj/rf/artalexis.htm
External links