Culver City Times

In March, I reported that the Annenberg Foundation has proposed to build a $50 million interpretive center and make other improvements in Area C of the Ballona Wetlands -- an area adjacent to Culver City and of great importance to residents of the city. Of course, the question is: is Annenberg's proposal the right thing to do with this land?

But it occurs to me that there were many others to ask before we can properly answer the first:

What is currently in Area C? What does the land mean to the community? Is Area C currently healthy? Will the Annenberg Foundation's…

Film students at Culver City High School were recently invited to screen their short documentary film in the highly competitive Los Angeles Film Festival. Their film “Bod Mod” explores the taboo world of underage body modification, including piercings and tattoos.

In the short film, high school students discuss the motivation and reasoning behind their tattoos and piercings. They speak frankly and honestly since it is a high school crew that is asking the questions. Guided by a single camera, the documentary approaches the subject without bias and strives to leave the audience with a deeper understanding of young people and their relationship with their bodies.

The students behind the film, namely Mimi Erlick, Michelle Bac, Maddie Hopfield, Antonio Marasco and R.J. Ward (pictured at…

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…

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…

The Actors Gang Theatre's one-man adaptation of Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" has received quite exceptional reviews from the Los Angeles Times and LA Weekly.

The LA Times' Charles McNulty calls Brian T. Finney's performance "intensely contained" and calls his dedication to the text "admirable." 

The LA Weekly selected the production as it's Pick of the Week, saying: "

In his haunting, solo adaptation of Joseph Conrad's novel Heart of Darkness, playwright-actor Brian T. Finney navigates his craft directly…