CA--Culver City

Culver City, California

 

The Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios were established in the city in the 1920s, establishing it as a center of film and television production. Hughes Aircraft Company's headquarters were there from 1932 to 1986. In the city are the headquarters of National Public Radio West Culver and Sony Pictures Entertainment. It was named after its founder, Harry Culver. Most of it is surrounded by the city of Los Angeles, but Ladera Heights is an unincorporated area. Annexed over the years, it now covers five square miles (13km2) of land.

 

History

 

Downtown Culver City, 1920

Early history

Culver City's area has been inhabited since 8000 BC, when it was the homeland of the Tongva-Gabrielino Native Americans. The areas surrounding and adjacent to Culver City were once inhabited by native people for centuries. Spanish, Mexican, and Euro-American invasions wiped out the Native Americans of California with slavery, disease, relocation, forced labor, imprisonment, broken treaties, and a genocidal war of extermination. As a result of land concessions and grants from Spanish and Mexican governments, the Ranchos of California were formed between 1785 and 1846. On the lands of Rancho La Ballona and Rancho Rincon de los Bueyes, Culver City was founded. There were no restrictions on the purchase of property by native, Hispanic, or Latino residents when Culver City was founded.

 

Camp Latham

It was under the command of Col. James H. Carleton and Lt. Col. Benjamin F. Davis that Camp Latham was established in 1861 during the American Civil War. In Southern California, this camp was the first staging area for Union troops training and operations after it received its name from California Senator Milton S. Latham. Rancho La Ballona owned the land on the south bank of Ballona Creek, near Jefferson and Overland Boulevards today. Later, the post was moved to Drum Barracks in Camp Drum

 

Culver City

 

A view of Culver City in 1913

In 1913, Harry Culver attempted to establish Culver City. A private company named after its founder was first incorporated on September 20, 1917. There were preexisting transportation links in the area; Culver's first advertisements stated that all roads lead to Culver City. Despite this slogan that seems welcoming to all, the city was explicitly founded as a sundown town for whites, as were most suburbs and towns outside downtown and Central Avenue. During the same time frame, Culver, along with his close associate, Guy M. Rush, promoted lot sales restricted to Caucasians. At times, people of non-Christian religious faiths were excluded from the city.

 

Until recently, Culver City Call was the only newspaper in the area. Founded in 1915, the paper has been published for over a century.

 

Culver City's first film studio was built by Thomas Ince for The Triangle Motion Picture Company in 1918. In 1919, Hal Roach built his studios at the Triangle studio complex, which was taken over by Metro Goldwyn Mayer in 1924. There were many speakeasies and nightclubs lining Washington Boulevard during Prohibition.

 

An intersection of Venice Boulevard and Overland Avenue is the location of the Culver Center, one of Southern California's first shopping malls. A Rite Aid and a few banks and restaurants have also occupied the center since then.

 

Studio movies (1960s, 1970s, and 1980s)

 

King Kong moviegoers parked their bicycles at Culver Theater, Culver City, California, in 1977

1963 marked the demolishment of Hal Roach Studios. A large portion of the MGM backlot acreage (lot 3 and other property on Jefferson Boulevard) and the 285 acres (115 ha) known as RKO Forty Acres, once owned by RKO Pictures and later Desilu Productions, were sold in the late 1960s. Redevelopment of the sets took place in 1976. MGM property has been converted into a subdivision and shopping center, Raintree Plaza, on the southern end of the Hayden Industrial Tract.

 

1990s and 2000s rebirth of downtown

The city of Culver City embarked on a successful revitalization program in the early 1990s, renovating their downtown and several shopping centers near Westfield. Sony Pictures Studios, now called Culver City Sony Pictures Studios, was renamed Columbia Studios in 1990 after Columbia Pictures and TriStar Pictures moved into the Lorimar Studios lot.

 

Geography

 

Pedestrian bridge over Ballona Creek

Among its surrounding neighborhoods are L.A.'s Mar Vista and Palms neighborhoods to the north; Westchester to the south; Mid-City, West Adams, Baldwin Hills, and Ladera Heights. Other Los Angeles neighborhoods include Venice, Playa Vista, and Venice, bordering Marina Del Rey.

 

Among Culver City's most notable landscape features is Ballona Creek, which runs northeast-southwest through most of the city before draining into Santa Monica Bay in Marina Del Rey.

 

In terms of area, the city covers 51 square miles (132 km2), of which 99% is land.

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