Culver City Times

The J. Paul Getty Museum is currently offering an exhibition of the photography of Culver City resident Ed Ruscha, including the images from some of the 16 photo books Ruscha produced between 1963 and 1978, including Twentysix Gasoline Stations (1963), Some Los Angeles Apartments (1965), Every Building on the Sunset Strip (1966) and Pacific Coast Highway (1974).

It's just great stuff, and I highly recommend you take the trip up the hill to check it out. Ruscha's images manage to be both matter-of-fact and very droll, both iconic (with those flat-lit exteriors framed by palm trees) and questioning. The framing emphasizes both the bold graphic qualities of the structures and their isolation. 

For Twentysix Gasoline…

At last night's Culver City Council meeting, the councilmembers unanimously voted to introduce a ban on single-use carryout bags. The ordinance aims to ban the use of single-use plastic carryout bags and require retailers to charge customers a minimum of 10 cents for any single-use paper bags.

This "introduction" of the ordinance is the second step -- after the public hearings in April -- toward its adoption. The ordinance will return to the council at the "next available opportunity" for a final reading and final vote to put it into effect.

The ordinance will affect approximately 72 retailers in Culver City. And to allow sufficient time for businesses to use up their existing inventory of bags and to adjust to the requirements of the ordinance, its…

As part of the Pacific Standard Time's celebration of Los Angeles' heritage of modern architecture, the Center for Land Use Interpretation has taken over downtown Culver City's Parcel B to present its paean to on-site trailers. Quoth the Center: "Ubiquitous but often unseen, the construction office trailer is a type of invisible architecture that precedes and enables the construction of the more permanent buildings that make up Los Angeles.  CLUI will present an exhibition of original photography within a construction trailer, along with tours of these structures at high-profile construction and engineering sites around Los Angeles." 

The exhibit's website has five examples of the phenomena. At least three of them -- and possibly all of them -- are from around…

Every other Friday, I'll post a picture of something in Culver City that is 'hiding in plain sight.'

This time, the question is: Do you know where in Culver City this cosmic dog is? If you know, enter your response in the comments box of this post! I'll reveal the answer in two weeks, on Thursday. Then the next day, I'll post a new game.

A new exhibition of paintings by international street artist HUSH opens at Corey Helford Gallery in Culver City this Saturday, May 18th. Entitled “Unseen,” the show is HUSH's first solo exhibition with the gallery. The opening reception is -- as always -- free and open to the public.

Juxtapoz.com reviewed the show this week, saying: 

The women of “Unseen,” enciphered with street tags and abstractions, appear as graffiti specters, colorful visages of noir street action. Under street influence, HUSH paints the exhibit’s imagery as an inward vision...“I look to take something like tagging that is generally seen as aggressive, ugly and masculine out of context and present it to the viewer as something beautiful,” HUSH…

The Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles will present a Veterans Center for the Performing Arts production of the play Cry Havoc! in the Rotunda Room of the Veterans Memorial Building in Culver CIty this Saturday, Sunday and Monday, May 11-13, at 8:00 pm. Here's how they describe the play:

"After serving six years in the Army, and battling PTSD, a young veteran hopped off an Amtrak in Montana and met William Shakespeare. Twenty years later, using Shakespeare’s timeless words and his own stories, actor/veteran Stephan Wolfert leads the audience on interactive journey to meet Shakespeare’s veterans and consider the needs, hopes, and concerns of veterans today." The play is written and performed by Stephen Wolfert

Tickets are pay what you can, with a…

Every other Friday, I post a picture of something in Culver City that is 'hiding in plain sight.' Two weeks ago I asked: Do you know where in Culver City this greenery is?

Culver CIty Times member Poppalarge correctly identified it as from the exterior of the Leaf Cafe on Washington. Poppalarge described his reason for why he joined Culver City Times as "to rule the world." Well, Poppalarge, you've begun your campaign by ruling our "Where Am I in Culver…

You've probably noticed the street banners pitching the ongoing celebration around Los Angeles: "Pacfic Standard Time Presents: Modern Archiecture in Los Angeles." The organization selected just three buildings to represent Los Angeles' modern architectural heritage: James Langernheim's Populuxe-styled LAX Theme Building, the record-stack-emulating Capital Records building in Hollywood, and . . . Eric Owen Moss' Samitaur Tower, right here in Culver CIty. 

As such we're treated to the slightly mind-boggling sight of the banner flying right in front of the structure itself.

Pacific Standard Time Presents: Modern Architecture in L.A., an initiative of the Getty, is a collaborative celebration of Southern California’s lasting impact on…

Chowhound reports that Samosa House West in Culver City is offering an unusual dish, rare in Los Angeles restaurants: thalipeeth. A savoury multi-grain pancake popular in Western India, Thalipeeth is traditionally prepared from flour made from roasted Chana daal, Urad daal, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, wheat, and rice. Onion, fresh coriander and other vegetables and spices are added when kneading the dough. Samosa House is serving the delicacies with additional onions, chutney and raita.

According to Chowhound, Samosa House has "a new(ish) chef and are offering regional thalis and other unusual specialties like thalipeeth on a separate menu."

I haven't been down to Samosa House yet, but here's a picture of…

The Annual Cruisin' Back to the 50's Culver City Car Show is this Saturday, May 11th, from 9 am to 3 pm. As in the last eight years, downtown Culver City will be shut down to display hundreds of classic cars and hot rods from all across California. The event is always a huge success - attracting car enthusiasts from across the city and beyond - and is a lot of fun.

George Barris -- car customizer and creator of the Batmobile, the Munsters' Koach, the Beverly Hillbillies' jalopy and many more vehicles from the movies and television -- will be there with some of his great creations. The Culver City Car Show is produced by the Culver City Exchange Club and sponsored by the City of Culver City.…