Sunday, January 20, 2008

Walking L.A. #9 - Downtown Culver City

We continued the walks today with a tour of Downtown Culver City. There were 6 of us including a new couple (and their baby girl) my wife met through the popular online Westside family group Peachhead.

We all met at the starting point on Washington Blvd and Ince Blvd near Culver Studios. The first sight on the walk was the facade of the studio itself which was a colonial mansion that was part of the famous movie Gone With the Wind.

Next, we walked by the Culver Hotel, the triangular brick building in the heart of the newly revitalized downtown area. Our book pointed out that in 1924, many actors from the Wizard of Oz stayed there including the many wild and crazy munchkins.

We continued with a stroll down the very short Main St. and stopped for coffee and empanadas at the Argentinian bakery Grand Casino. Leaving downtown, we walked through a quiet residential neighborhood to Carlson Park which served as a good place for a bio-break.

From there we continued through the residential neighborhood to Overland and then to the bike path running along the north side of Ballona Creek. Along the creek, I spotted a few California native plants like a Lemonadeberry and a Mexican Elderberry tree.

We exited the bike path at Duquesne Ave. and walked across Jefferson Blvd. to Culver City Park. I had been here a few times to visit the Culver City Dog Park, but this is the first time I went on the Interpretive Nature Trail which is an elevated wooden footpath that climbs up the hillside up to a park with amazing views of Los Angeles and the Pacific Ocean. On the way up were many plants and trees some of which were California natives. Again, I saw Lemonadeberry shrubs and Mexican Elderberry trees. The path also passed by a ropes course which a group of kids were using.

The rest of the walk was basically to return to downtown Culver City where our lunch at Honey's Kettle really hit the spot.

The next walk is Leimert Park Village.

Walking L.A.: 36 Walking Tours Exploring Stairways, Streets and Buildings You Never Knew Existed

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice blog! RE: ...Culver Studios....the facade of the studio itself which was a colonial mansion that was part of the famous movie Gone With the Wind. This is not correct. The facade was seen before the movie starts, with the wording, "Selznick Studios presents...". Parts of GWTW was filmed at Selznick Studios in CC including the famous burning of Atlanta.

Ken Weiner said...

Thanks for the correction!

Brittany said...

Sounds like a nice walk. I want to do more of this in LA this summer. Everyone is so confined to their cars and they don't get out and see all the city has to offer. Glad to see some people are exploring LA.