Now I See What All the Fuss Is About

Recently, I had to take my car to Ed Little Auto Service in Culver City to get some work done. With time to kill and no car, I thought a walking tour of downtown Culver City would be a great way to pass the time on yet another beautiful day in L.A. But first, having run out the door without breakfast, I headed to Tanner’s Coffee Co., a cute little café just a block away from the auto shop. After giving my order to the friendly woman behind the counter, I perused the latest L.A. Weekly as I sat on a comfy leopard-print couch and enjoyed my breakfast. Everything was great and (yay!) really cheap (only $3.95 for a toasted whole-wheat bagel with cream cheese and a regular-sized café au lait!).


On my way to downtown Culver City, I walked by the Sony Pictures Entertainment lot . . . and kept walking and walking by it (the studio is blocks long). At each entrance I passed (and there were a few), I tried to get a glimpse of anything going on, but sadly I saw nothing. At one point, a Mercedes pulled up to the gate, but I thought it might be somewhat rude to openly gawk at the car in the hopes of finding out if someone famous was inside.


When I finally reached the end of the Sony lot, there was City Hall, in the heart of downtown Culver City. It is one of the prettiest city halls I’ve ever seen. It didn’t give off the vibe of a city hall at all. It almost made me want to work there myself. I’ve always had this fantasy of working someplace beautiful. Wouldn’t it make going to work on Monday so much better?


Other highlights of my mini-tour included the historic Culver Hotel, Culver Studios, the Ivy Substation (a rail terminal that now houses the Actors’ Gang Theater), and the Kirk Douglas Theatre.

In my early days of looking for apartments, I looked at a few places in Culver City and I remember being very unimpressed with the area. I had been hearing what a cultural enclave Culver City was, but I just hadn’t seen what all the fuss was supposed to be about. Now, however, downtown looks great. Cute shops and restaurants line Culver Boulevard, making the street a very inviting place to hang out for a few hours.