Culver City has a small-town feel that...

Culver City has a small-town feel that seems out of place on the trendy Westside.

Such homespun charm has made Culver City the butt of jokes among those who live in avant-garde communities nearby, but residents are fiercely proud of their turf. They boast a crime rate that has dropped in 14 of the last 15 years, one of the best fire departments in the nation, one of the strongest school systems in the county and an ambitious redevelopment agency that has given the city’s downtown area a much-needed face lift.

Things might have been much different for Culver City residents had they not fought so hard early on to prevent Los Angeles from swallowing up the area. In 1914, all 59 of Culver City’s voters defeated an aggressive annexation campaign.

The city was a year old at the time, founded by ambitious real estate developer Harry Culver. Soon after, Thomas Ince opened one of the city’s first studios on what later became the MGM studio lot and is now Sony Pictures.

Other studio executives followed Ince’s lead, opening production facilities in Culver City, and the movie industry quickly became the city’s heart and soul. Its love affair with the movies earned it the motto “The Heart of Screenland,” which is now on the city’s seal.

Meanwhile, the Roaring ‘20s saw a Culver City gone wild. Historical accounts describe a time when bootleggers, gamblers, prostitutes and gangsters invaded Culver City and the local government was mired in scandal and controversy.

From the 1920s until the mid-1930s, Washington Boulevard was a hot spot for tawdry Vegas-style nightclubs--the Cotton Club and the Plantation being two of the most popular. They were stocked with liquor supplied by bootleggers who reportedly cooked up the booze in private homes along west Washington Boulevard.

After the Depression and World War II, Culver City continued to expand but it also mellowed, leaving behind its colorful past. The city’s population exploded, and by 1950 there were 20,000 residents.

Staging A Comeback

Some of the biggest changes in Culver City resulted from an ambitious redevelopment plan to improve the look and layout of the city. The Fox Hills Mall was built as part of Culver City’s first redevelopment project and has since become one of the city’s largest producers of sales tax revenue.

As the city developed, it lost the allure of its early days as an exciting movie town. Although Culver City offers music, theater and other arts events, it has earned a reputation of being a social and cultural frump.

But city officials expect Culver City to make a comeback. Last year, the city completed the redevelopment of its downtown area, including the construction of a new City Hall.

City Redevelopment

Downtown restaurants now offer sidewalk dining and the city installed more fashionable lighting, planted flowering trees and decorated with public art. Business owners are encouraged to improve the facades of their buildings and to redesign the signs they hang outside.

The changes have not yet drawn huge crowds, but city officials expect that, over time, the downtown redevelopment will bring some of Culver City’s former glory back to the “The Heart of Screenland.”

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By The Numbers

City Business

Incorporated: Sept. 7, 1917

Area in square miles: 4.94

Number of parks: 16

City employees: 600

1995-96 budget: $45 million

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People

Population: 38,793

Households: 16,149

Average household size: 2

Median age: 37

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Ethnic Breakdown

Asian: 12%

Black: 10%

Latino: 20%

White: 58%

Other: 1%

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Money and Work Median household income: $42,971

Median household income / L.A. County: $34,965

Median home value: $329,400

Employed workers (16 and older): 22,974

Percentage of women employed: 64%

Percentage of men employed: 79%

Self-employed: 2,191

Car- poolers: 2,371

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Retail Stores

Number of stores: 686

Number of employees: 8,300

Annual sales: $992 million

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Families:

Married couples with children: 19%

Married couples with no children: 27%

Non-family households: 40%

Other types of families: 14%

Source: Claritas Inc. Household expenses are averages for 1994. All other figures are for 1990. Percentages have been rounded to the nearest whole number.