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A couple of years ago, my husband Frank and I took a walking tour of Palms and Culver City, visiting sites associated with the early movie industry.
A friend of ours, George Garrigues, led the tour.
G eorge is a knowledgeable guide. He’s a former reporter for the Los Angeles Times and a journalism professor who has lived in Palms for 13 years. A graduate of Inglewood High and UCLA, George first worked in Palms in the publications division of Douglas Aircraft more than 50 years ago.
We met on the organizing committee of the Palms Neighborhood Council and served together on the council for three years. He is the author of Loud Bark and Curious Eyes, a history of the Daily Bruin, the UCLA student newspaper.
In 2006, George wrote He Usually Lived with a Female: The Life of a California Newspaperman about his father, Charles Harris (Brick) Garrigues. George currently is working on a history of Palms.
The movie industry is all about making things that aren’t what they seem, and the sites on our Walking Tour of Screenland are no different. Here are a few stops I’d suggest that may or may not have been on George’s tour:
Ivy Substation and Media Park. First stop is a 1907 Mission Revival structure set in a park. But it was built by Los Angeles Pacific Railway Company as an generation and distribution center for its electric railway system.
The building is a Historical Monument, retaining its original structure and setting. Leased by Culver City in the 50s, the interior was converted in 202 into a 99-seat theater. Resident company is Tim Robbins’ The Actors’ Gang.
Culver Studios. Called in a 1918 newspaper article “a motion picture plant that looks like a beautiful Southern estate,” Thomas Ince’s second studio was sold in 1925, when it became DeMille Studio.
Actors who worked there include Bette Davis, Robert Mitchum, Cary Grant, Carole Lombard, Katharine Hepburn, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. King Kong was released in 1933, and its sets were burned to film Gone with the Wind.
In 1956, the lot became Desilu Studios, and TV shows were produced for the next 15 years. It became Culver City Studio in 1970, then Culver
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Studio,s where independent movies were filmed. E.T. was among movies made there.
Hal Roach Studios, known for Marx Brothers and Harold Lloyd comedies, was located behind Culver Studios on National.
Kirk Douglas Theater. In 2004, the Moderne style Culver moviehouse with the 40-foot tower was converted into a 300-seat live theater by Center Theatre Group to showcase live productions.
Everything from classic drama to musicals to guest productions to world premiers has been staged at the Culver Boulevard landmark. The premier of a David Mamet farce highlights the 2007-08 season.
Culver Hotel. In 1924, Harry Culver built the six-story Hunt Hotel, later known as the Culver Hotel, at the intersection of Washington and Culver Boulevards. It was advertised in 1928 as having “150 modern rooms and apartments, built for you to enjoy.” Culver’s offices were located on the ground floor for a short time, and his statue sits on a bench in front.
 Many stars stayed there, including the casts of Gone with the Wind and The Wizard of Oz. Clark Gable and Buster Keaton kept parttime residences at the hotel. Rumor has it that Charlie Chaplin once owned it, but sold it to John Wayne for a dollar in a poker game. It was renovated and reopened in 1997.
Sony Pictures Studios. Ince’s original studio, the first of three major studios in Culver City, was built to look like a classical colonnade. Ince/Triangle was the first studio in Culver City. Samuel Goldwyn took over the lot in 1918. and it became Goldwyn Studios.
In 1924, a merger produced Metro Goldwyn Mayer, ushering in the height of Hollywood. The Wizard of Oz was shot on the lot there in 1930.
MGM became Columbia and, in 1990, Sony Pictures.
The iconic Film Strip USA in the fountain at Veterans Auditorium, at the corner of Culver and Overland, symbolizes recent attempts to renew Culver City--building on history, while looking to a shining future.
Some may not appreciate the increased traffic and prices gentrification brings. Others may disagree in matters of taste. But most appreciate the increased access to art, restaurants and entertainment. I know I do.
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Service to Mankind?" Or, that our Fire Fighters gave away 80,000 toys to deserving, yet impoverished, children that otherwise would not have received anything during the holidays? The more you come to know the men and women at this station, the more you will want to participate … it feels great!