A Neighborhood Guide to Culver City Meets Venice
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A NEIGHBORHOOD GUIDE TO CULVER CITY MEETS VENICE with contributions from 826LA student writers WELCOME TO CICLAVIA Today’s route takes us from the northern tip of vibrant down- town Culver City through the community of Mar Vista to Venice and the sparkling Pacific Ocean— OUR PARTNERS a perfect route for a summer day where you can enhance your CicLAvia experience with a swim in the ocean and enjoy the SoCal beach scene. The neighborhoods you’ll pass through today are but City of Los Angeles three of the 23 that make up the region dubbed OUR SUPPORTERS OUR SPONSORS LA’s “Westside,” a place, like the rest of LA, of Annenberg Foundation Cirque du Soleil Ralph M. Parsons Foundation Sony Pictures Entertainment great diversity, rich lore and constant change. Rosenthal Family Foundation Los Angeles Department of Water David Bohnett Foundation and Power Tern Bicycles But one aspect that the area is famous for will OUR MEDIA PARTNERS Wahoo’s Fish Taco not be in effect today: automobile traffic. As The Los Angeles Times The Laemmle Charitable Foundation Laemmle Theatres Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition anyone who either lives on the Westside or Time Out Los Angeles Indie Printing LA Weekly commutes here knows, the traffic is gnarly. Two 102.3 Radio-Free KJLH of Metro’s most eagerly awaited projects, the extensions of the Purple Line subway and the Expo Line rail, will ease congestion by connect- Written by Andrea Richards ing West Los Angeles and Santa Monica to the Designed by Colleen Corcoran and Tiffanie Tran region’s growing transit network. It’s a move Printed by Pace Marketing Communications that will improve mobility for everyone through- © CICLAVIA 2015 out Los Angeles County. To create this particular CicLAvia neighborhood guide we had some very special help. We COMING SOON ON OCTOBER 18, 2015 partnered with 826LA to run a workshop at CicLAvia—Heart of LA their Mar Vista location that brought together local kids and volunteers from 826LA and CicLAvia so that we could hear firsthand about institutions and places that matter most to the young people who live here. This workshop was a fantastic (and fun) opportunity to help these young writers hone their literary skills while at the same time learning from them and sharing our stories. We are proud to publish some of these students’ creative work here and grateful to the students, their parents and 826LA for this great opportunity. Thank you for your contribu- tions—they are an invaluable part of this project. As usual, we also had the help of several local historians who volunteered their expertise to help us maintain accuracy and deepen our appreciation for the dynamic past of the area. We were lucky to have the input of Culver City’s City Historian Julie Lugo Cerra, who traveled our route several times, pointing out significant sites of interest along the way. Her work on the official Culver City website is a treasure trove of local history. Jonathan Kaplan, of Vintage Venice Tours, practically took us backwards in a time machine on his fantastic walking tour of Venice, and his feedback has been crucial. If you CicLAvia transforms LA’s streets into a safe, fun, are interested in exploring Venice, from “reel to car-free space for walking, bicycling, skating, real,” spend time with him. jogging and seeing the city in a whole new way. Ray, age 10 CULVER CITY ............................. 6 MAR VISTA .............................. 32 VENICE ......................................... 40 Jason, age 10 NEIGHBORHOOD EXTRAS—LEGEND CULINARY LA INSTAGRAM SPOTS SEEN IT: FILM LOCATIONS LITERARY LA SING IT View of Culver Blvd. looking west, 1929 CULVER CITY The land that became Culver Courtesy of the California City was home to a nearby community of native Historical Society Collection, USC Digital Library Tongva people as well as masses of resident and migratory birds and the great, seasonal Ballona Creek, which until a flood in 1825 actually linked to the Los Angeles River. In fact, it was on the banks of Ballona Creek that Harry Culver found Thomas Ince filming a western and convinced the silent-era filmmaker to move his studio to Culver’s new development. Culver, who had worked for real estate devel- oper Isaac N. Van Nuys (founder of Van Nuys), pinpointed a spot that was served by three rail lines and situated perfectly between down- town Los Angeles and Abbot Kinney’s resort of Venice to build his own dream city. With his Culver Investment Company, he transformed barley fields located on what had once been Rancho La Ballona and Rincon de los Bueyes into “the Heart of Screenland.” He convinced Ince to move his production studios to his new city; Ince would eventually build two different studios in the area, both of which went on to house major players during Hollywood’s Golden Era. Pioneering producer Hal Roach built a third major motion picture “plant” as well, which operated from 1919 until 1963. 7 While film studios formed the city’s early economic base, other industries developed NATIONAL Culver City 10 3 soon after, including Helms Bakery in the 1930s 2 4 and aerospace operations in Hayden Industrial DOWNTOWN NATIONAL Tract during the 1940s (an area that is now an CULVER CITY HUB HUGHES architectural wonderland). Because Culver City 6 MOTOR 8 5 PALMS was outside of Los Angeles’ jurisdiction, during OVERL 7 Prohibition it became a thriving area for night- 10 9 1 AND 13 11 clubs along Washington Blvd. By the 1950s, the N DUQUESNE party was long over and many of the famous TO VENICE G 12 hot spots were replaced by car dealerships SHIN A that serviced a different vice: the gas-guzzling 14 W automobile. CULVER 15 What started as a town of just over 500 people 16 is today transformed into one of the Westside’s TELLEFSON most diverse communities. Since its origin, BALLONA CREEK Culver City has grown by more than forty PARK HUB annexations and continues to be an important center for the entertainment industry. Plus, a SEPULVEDA revitalization of the downtown area along with the development of the Culver City Arts District JEFFERSON introduced art galleries, restaurants and other cultural institutions, making it a cutting-edge, Grab a bite at Tito’s Tacos or In front of the 1915 pedestrian-friendly scene. the iconic Johnnie’s Pastrami Colonnade Building INGLEWOOD Putting Pants on Phillip (1927), Mr. Wilson’s Cabinet of A Star Is Born (1937) Wonders by Lawrence Weschler, Notes on a Cowardly Anything on the jukebox Lion by John Lahr at the Cozy Inn 8 Angie, age 8 1 Ballona Creek Bike Path Entrance at Syd Kronenthal Park (National Blvd.) Though it’s not officially on today’s route, how could we start a tour of Culver City without mentioning this wonderful 8-mile bike path that fans claim is among the most beautiful rides in LA? Maintained by the county of Los Angeles and the cities of LA and Culver City, it runs alongside the channelized Ballona Creek from here to Marina del Rey, where you can travel to both the Ballona Lagoon and the Venice canals. It also links up to the Marvin Braude Bike Trail, which travels through Santa Monica and the Palisades or down to Redondo. 2 Helms Bakery 8800 Venice Blvd. The historic 1931 Art Deco building that was once the family-owned and operated Helms Bakery is now the centerpiece of a busy retail and restaurant dis- trict. Located just a block east from the eastern end of today’s route, the Helms Bakery operated from 1931 to 1969 and was an important industrial bakery in LA. Opened during the Depression, the bakery supplied many jobs; instead of being sold in stores, fresh-baked bread was delivered “Daily at Your Door” (as the slogan went) across the Southland. Helms Bakery also supplied food for the nearby Olympic Village during the 1932 summer games. 10 11 3 Frank Sebastian’s Cotton Club (site of) 6500 W. Washington Blvd. What today is part of the culinary store Surfas was once the site of a famous nightclub where both Louis Armstrong and Lionel Hampton played. Opened in 1926 by entertainment entrepreneur Frank Sebastian, who ran Sebastian’s Café in Venice as well as several other establishments, the club featured valet parking, full orchestras and three dance floors. It had no relation to the New York club of the same name. The building that housed it burned in the 1950s. 3. FRANK SEBASTIAN’S COTTON CLUB Courtesy of Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection 4 Culver City Metro Station 8807 W. Washington Blvd. This elevated light-rail station services Metro’s Exposition Line and connects the Westside by rail to Downtown LA, Pasadena, San Fernando Valley, South Bay and Long Beach. Opened in 2012, it’s the most western station currently in operation, although that will soon change when “Phase 2” of the line’s expansion is finished, which will connect this station all the way to Santa Monica. The site of this station has long served rail lines; in the early 1900s it was a junction point for the Venice Short Line until the closure of the Venice line in 1950. 4. CULVER CITY STATION, Detail of Unknowable Origins, Tom LaDuke, artist. Courtesy of Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro). 12 13 5 Hal Roach Studios (site of) 8822 W. Washington Blvd. From 1919 until 1963, this site was a film studio that was nicknamed the “Laugh Factory to the World” for the number of great comedies made here. Founded by producer Hal Roach, eventually the studio comprised 55 buildings on nearly 15 acres of land and produced some 50 comedies a year, most memorable among them starring Our Gang, Harold Lloyd and Laurel & Hardy.