THE HOOD

culver city:

where innovation rules

KATIE GIBBS PHOTO KATIE GIBBS PHOTO

KATIE GIBBS PHOTO SPF STUDIOS

By Linda Lang

CLOCKWISE TOP OPPOSITE PAGE: 1. The 72foot high Samitaur Tower designed by Eric Owen Moss serves as Hayden Tract's welcoming structure. 2. Creativity can appear anywhere on the city's commercial buildings. 3. Gregory Davis Landscaping occupies a uniquelydesigned corner of the building. 4. Tours of Sony Studios include visits to soundstages of iconic films like “The Wizard of Oz" and "Spiderman" and hit TV shows such as “Jeopardy!” and “Wheel of Fortune.” 5. Photogenics Media has a distinctive entrance. 6. The Mansion, the first Culver Studios building completed by founder Thomas Ince in 1918, remains the studio's signature structure. 7. The Waffle is Moss' undulating structure with bulging win dows and a sagging midsection that looks overly endowed with love handles.

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Culver City is where the past and the future meet in the present. Bordering the Westside on the north and Marina del Rey to the west, this is the birthplace of some of Hollywood’s greatest films and TV shows of today and yesterday. “Gone with the Wind”, “Singin’ in the Rain”, “North by Northwest”, “Showboat”, “Thelma & Louise” and dozens of other classics were made at the former MGM Studios - now Sony Pictures Studios, and The Culver Studios, founded by silent movie pioneer Thomas Ince, and also once owned by icons Cecil B. DeMille, David O. Selznik, Pathe Studios and Desilu. Early TV hits included “The Andy Griffith Show”, “Lassie”, “Batman”, “The Nanny”, “Deal or No Deal” and endless others. Today, Culver City continues as a major entertainment capital turning out major TV hits and blockbuster movies.

Its creativity is not limited to the entertainment industry. Once home to Hughes Aircraft and the Spruce Goose (1932-1985) and Helms Bakery (19311969), Culver City is also a magnet for visionaries in the business, architectural, arts, retail, and culinary worlds.

In what was once a destitute neighborhood of drugs and decaying industrial buildings stands Hayden Tract, one of today’s most exciting central Los Angeles locations. Just 10 minutes south of Rodeo Drive, 15 minutes from Venice, and 20 minutes from downtown, it was originally considered an architectural oddity of 31 eclectic buildings designed by local architect Eric Owen Moss. His assemblage of inimitable structures continues to be a mecca for architectural devotees worldwide.

Today, Hayden Tract is also home to trend-setting media, advertising and real estate firms. The vision shared by Moss and his client, developers Frederick and Laurie Samitaur Smith, was to inspire economic and social change through architecture and grow vibrant communities around this innovative hub. There was no master plan, government subsidy or political influence, making the idea quite laughable at the time.

Still, the Samitaur Smiths and Moss believed this area could be reborn entirely with private financing, and despite all the guffaws, that’s precisely what they did. Moss’ more recent works include the 72-foot high Samitaur Tower that serves as the tract’s iconic welcoming structure. Unlike commercial digital billboards, the angled screens on the tower’s curved façade broadcasts information on local events and non-commercial art and graphics. Near the tower stands the Waffle, Moss’ undulating structure with bulging windows and a

sagging mid-section that looks overly endowed with love handles. Titles of other buildings also represent their atypical looks with names such as the Stealth, Beehive, and The Box defining their irregular façades, twisted angles, and other singular abstract features.

In 2010, thirty-somethings David Fishbein and Joseph Miller formed Runyon Group, a full-service real estate company also dedicated to creating neighborhoods that serve not only the basic needs but provide an imaginative contrast to the traditional mall that would attract both locals and visitors. And, like Samitaur Smiths, so they did. In addition to owning and managing high-end real estate projects, Runyon provides advisory services to other developers, helping to shape the city’s brand. Today, the area is drawing visitors from all over the southland - the destination made easier to access with the new Expo Line’s stop at 8817 Washington Blvd. connecting downtown Los Angeles to Santa Monica.

Next door to the station is Platform, Runyon’s signature retail center in the Hayden Tract, which opened last year in a three-story building with colorful murals enhancing its one-of-a-kind corrugated metal façade. Retail spaces are carefully curated and leased to innovative first-to-market designers, specialty retailers, art galleries, chefdriven eateries and other companies, forming what many consider the new center of Los Angeles trend-setters and cult-favorite merchants. Some call it Los Angeles’ “top capsule of cool.”

At Platform you’ll find Guild, Monocle, Promised Land, Modern Society, Teller and foodie favorites including Blue Bottle Coffee, Holey Grail Donuts and Sweetgreen. Space is also allocated for select, short-term tenants and special events which can range from preOscar parties to seasonal art presentations by companies such as Tappan Collective, an online platform for discovering and presenting original artwork by emerging talent. www.platformla.com

Also in anticipation of the continuing creative influx, Expo Line and other forms of public transportation, downtown Culver City has recently undergone another major rebirth, and developers are still eyeing locations around the city for new office buildings, apartments, and multi-use structures. New restaurants, shops and businesses are appearing in a city that is no longer totally automobile-reliant.

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CLOCKWISE TOP OPPOSITE PAGE: 8. Next door to the new Expo Line station is Platform, Runyon Group's signature retail center in the Hayden Tract. 9. Rabbit Ladders is a popular children's shop at Platform. 10. Platform tenants are carefully curated to uphold the center's dis tinctive image of creative expression and innovation. 11. Westfield Culver City is the city's more traditional shopping center on Sepulveda Blvd. by the 405. 12. Roberta's, a renowned pizzeria from Brooklyn chose Platform for its first extended West Coast lease. 13. David O. Selznick was also once an owner of The Culver Studios. 14. Loqui is a trendy new restaurant featuring handmade Mexican street food in the Platform center.

Cherished landmarks include the historic Culver Theatre, now the Kirk Douglas Theatre, and The Culver Hotel, a wedge-shaped Renaissance Revival-style structure. It became a recognizable set in early films, and stars including Red Skelton, Clark Gable, Ronald Regan and Joan Crawford had part-time residences here. Today, it is a protected City Landmark.

Westfield Culver City, adjacent to the 405 freeway at Sepulveda and Slauson, is the city's more traditional shopping center which opened in 1975. Here you’ll find 181 retailers including a 156,000-square-foot Target, Nordstrom Rack, Macy’s, Best Buy, H&M, XXI Forever, Sephora and Hollister along with a great offering of trendy restaurants. For little ones, there are Smarte Carte and selfserve strollers, Westfield PlaySpace where they can climb and explore a spacious play area with animal characters and large puzzles, and Westfield Family Lounge with private nursing and baby-changing stations where you and the kids can take a break and enjoy TV and toys. Kid-friendly dining with scaled-down tables and chairs is also available in a special area on the dining terrace. Got an electric car? You can charge that at one of two charging stations.

Other stores include M.A.C. Cosmetics, ULTA Beauty, Victoria’s Secret, Kamana Beauty and Pandora. Popular eateries include BJ’s Restaurant and Brewhouse, California Fish Grill and Lucille’s Smokehouse Bar.B.Que. www.westfield.com/culvercity.

Visit www.discoverlosangeles.com for more information on things to do and places to stay. For studio tours, go to www.sonypicturesstudiostours.com. For information on production facilities, sound stages, screening room, and holding conferences and social events at The Culver Studios, check out www.culverstudios.com. v