Culver City is a city located in western Los Angeles. The city is surrounded by Mar Vista, West Los Angeles, Palms and Beverlywood to the north; Westchester to the south; the Baldwin Hills and Ladera Heights unincorporated areas to the east; and Venice and Playa Vista to the west, along with the unincorporated area of Marina Del Rey.
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.
Since the 1920s, Culver City has been a major 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 the 1930s to the 1980s. National Public Radio West and Sony Pictures Entertainment now have headquarters in the city.
History
Culver City was founded by Harry Culver in 1913 and the city was incorporated in 1917. 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) would build studios in Culver City. During Prohibition, speakeasies and nightclubs such as the Cotton Club lined Washington Boulevard near the studios; as in West Hollywood to the north, their presence was a major factor in Culver City's resistance to annexation by Los Angeles.
The Heart of Screenland
Hundreds of movies and TV shows have been filmed on the lots of Culver City's movie studios, including The Wizard of Oz, The Thin Man, Gone with the Wind, Citizen Kane, Rebecca, the Tarzan series, and the original King Kong. In fact, the yellow brick road from the Wizard of Oz is still inside the lot on Stage 27 of Sony Studios. More recent films made in Culver City include Grease, Raging Bull, ET, City Slickers, Air Force One, Wag the Dog, and Contact. The TV shows filmed on Culver City sets, include Mad About You, Lassie, Batman, The Andy Griffith Show, and Jeopardy.
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, the first Drive-In Theatre built in California. It served as a set for many other films, including Pee-wee's Big Adventure. The Drive-In was closed in 1993, and was demolished in 1998.
Due to its proximity to the movie studios, the city's streets have been featured in countless films and TV shows. Since much of the architecture of the residential areas of the town have not changed in decades, the nostalgic sitcom The Wonder Years filmed many of their outdoor scenes in the neighborhoods of Culver City which easily passed for the 1960's. The 1970's show CHiPs also featured many non-contiguous chase scenes through the streets. The Nicholas Cage film Matchstick Men featured many scenes at Culver City's 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 2004 film about Howard Hughes, featured several mentions of Culver City in connection with Hughes. Culver City has a long history with Howard Hughes, including housing Hughes Aircraft Company. The actual physical Aircraft Company plant has always been located in Westchester - directly adjacent to Culver City. Rebirth of Downtown (1990s & 2000s)
In the 1990's, 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 also brought much-needed jobs to the city. Although property crime is still an issue (as in most areas of Los Angeles), Culver City is now a diverse, prosperous middle-class community.
The influx of multiple art galleries to downtown, all within walking distance of one another, prompted the New York Times in 2005 to praise the new art scene and call Culver City a "nascent Chelsea."
Groundbreaking may begin in 2006 for the first phase of a Light Rail line from Downtown Los Angeles to the intersection of Venice & Robertson in Culver City with a completion date of 2009 or 2010. The stated intent of the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority is that the line eventually be extended to the city of Santa Monica to the west.
Culver Hotel - A 1924 landmark pie slice-shaped hotel in downtown. Much 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 being taken over by the "munchkins" was 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.
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 located right across the street from the main gate of Sony Studios. at 10202 W. Washington Blvd.
STAR ECO Station - An enviromental science and wildlife rescue center, the STAR ECO Station houses animals rescued by U.S. Fish and Wildlife service and uses the WWF curriculum to teach learners of all ags about their enviroment. Located at 10101 W. Jefferson Blvd, provides organized tours to schools and individuals.
Culver City has its own school district, Culver City Unified School District. It has five elementary schools, a middle school, two high schools, the Community Day School, the Office of Child Development, and the Adult School.