Twilight Zone - "You Drive"

My wife and I are in the midst of watching every episode of the classic television series, Twilight Zone. I was excited to see images of Carlson Park in the 1964 episode, "You Drive". "You Drive" stars Edward Andrews as Oliver Pope, a misguided man who fails to report a hit and run accident that kills a paperboy. His lapse in judgement causes him to be haunted by his car. Carlson Park and the Carlson Park neighborhood are clearly visible in many of the scenes. I was amazed to see how similair the neighborhood looks in 1964 and today. I took the following series of photographs showing the neighborhood then and now. Below is a look at the paperboy riding down Braddock headed for his fateful collision, followed by a shot from the same location today. You can see the dining building and lamp post are visible in the background in both.

Here is a look across Motor to Carlson Park. The ficus trees must have been newly planted in 1964. They are huge now. And, of course, the phone booth is now gone.

Below is a look at Carlson Park, as a woman tries to save the paperboy, followed by the park as it appears today.

Below is a shot down Motor both then and now:

Below is another shot down Motor. The trees are way taller, but the houses are mostly the same.

Below is a shot from inside the pay phone. The houses on the corner of Motor and Braddock are clearly visible. I tried to recreate the same view.

Below is another shot across Motor and Braddock with the police on the scene.

The main characters live at 4183 Keystone Ave in Culver City. The house looks almost identical now as it did in 1964, including the same house number sign. When I was taking the photos, I talked to the owner of 4183 Keystone who claims that western movie star, Gabby Hayes, once lived in the house several decades ago. Gabby was in many movies in 30s, 40s and 50s, and has a star on the Hollywood walk of fame. Below is a look at the house then and now. Unfortunately, a truck was parked in front of the house, so the new photo is not that great. I am going to try to go back and take a better photo in the future.

Here is Oliver Pope leaving his home on Keystone and walking down the street towards Braddock, followed by a shot from today.

In the final scene, Oliver Pope walks down Jasmine where he is confronted by his haunted car. Below is Oliver walking down Jasmine, followed by a shot from today.

Here is a shot from inside the haunted car looking out at a house on Jasmine. The house looks almost the same today as it did in 1964.

Below is a shot of Oliver Pope making a run for it in between two houses on Jasmine. The homes are almost identical then and now.

Finally, here is a shot of Rod Serling. From the looks of the palm trees in the background, I believe this was shot in Carlson Park.

If you live in the Carlson Park area, I highly recommend watching "You Drive". It is available for streaming on Netflix, as is the entire Twilight Zone series.

Culver Hotel in Capella University Commercial

We were watching HGTV today, and noticed The Culver Hotel in the background of this Capella University commercial. That old lady looks pretty depressing. I am not sure that this would make me want to attend their school, but I appreciate that they decided to film in Culver.

Coolhaus

We were in the mood to get out of the house last night and decided on ice cream. Coolhaus was close by and also open on Sundays. I was excited to learn that their specialty is ice cream sandwiches, as I was always a fan of Diddy Riese from my days in Westwood. It turns out, Coolhaus has been around for awhile. They have a number of food trucks in LA, Austin and New York. The Culver City location is their first store and opened in November. It is located at 8588 Washington Blvd near the Helms Bakery complex. It is easy to miss as there is no actual sign saying "Coolhaus". They instead have a large neon sign in the outline of an ice cream sandwich. I liked the place immediately. The guy and girl behind the counter were super friendly, and more than willing to let us sample many flavors. I tried peanut butter, red velvet cake and something with bacon. They were all delicious, but I opted to go with red velvet which was awesome as it actually had crumbled pieces of red velvet cake mixed in with the ice cream.. As for my cookie, I opted to stay traditional with the oatmeal raisin. Also, very good. My selection was excellent, but I think I will be more adventurous next time. There are some pretty adventurous flavors that include olive, chipotle or balsamic vinegar. I also liked the fact that they were obviously being environmentally conscious, but without being obnoxious about it. The sample spoons were all actual metal spoons that are washed and reused. The ice cream sandwich comes in a small wrapper that is actually edible and just sort of melts in with the sandwich as you eat it (apparently, it is made mostly of potato). Overall, I really like Coolhaus and will definitely go back. I am also happy that something nice has cropped up in that part of the city. There are some stretches there on Washington that have yet to be revitalized. I am hopeful that Coolhaus will be the first of many new shops and restaurants in the area.

A Thousand Words

I was watching TV this afternoon and was excited to see downtown Culver City prominently displayed in the preview for the new Eddie Murphy film, A Thousand Words. The Starbucks inside the Washington Building at 9720 Washington Blvd. appears twice in the preview. Murphy is along side Jack McBrayer (AKA Kenneth from 30 Rock). He is also seen outside Starbucks walking John Witherspoon (AKA the dad from Friday) across the street. The Hull Building and Meralta Plaza are also both clearly visible in the preview.

Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook

One of my favorite workouts in Culver City is the stairs at the Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook.

The hike takes you up 282 stairs (by my count) to the top of one of the Baldwin Hills.

It is a vigirous work out in a beautiful setting. There is also a path that takes you up and down, if you prefer to skip the stairs. We usually take the stairs up and the trail down and try to get three repitions in for a solid workout. All they way up and down there are great views of downtown LA, Hollywood, West LA and the ocean. Yesterday wasn't too clear, but the views are still pretty good.

It is generally fairly crowded on the weekends. I like to go on a weekday evening in the spring or summer. There is also a free museum at the top of the hill that discusses the history of the area and the surrounding ecology.

The Museum of Jurrasic Technology

I have probably driven by the Museum of Jurrasic Technology at 9341 Venice Blvd 200 times.

The building is understated and the museum often looks closed, so it is easy to miss. From the first time I spotted it, the name perplexed me. "Jurrasic" obviously implies something to do with the Jurassic period or dinosaurs. "Technology" obviously does not. As it turns out, the museum has nothing to do with either. We spent about an hour there on Sunday and I can't honestly say what it is about. If you are going expecting to see a Rembrandt, you will be disappointed. If, however, you are interested in seeing an LED display of the world showing the distribution of trailer parks globally in 1938, this place is for you! The museum seems to house random oddities from a howling fox head in a glass case to a minuature figureen of Goofie on the head of a pin. There are also a number of bizzare videos about obscure historical figures that I honestly cannot say are real or imagined.

Mainly, the museum is quirky and fun. And, very well done. Creator David Wilson was even given a MacArthur Grant for achievements in portraying "life in the Jurrasic" My favorite exhibit was a series of portraits of the dogs that the Soviet space program sent into orbit never to return in the early days of space flight. The portrait of Laika was the feature of the exhibit. I learned that Laika actually became the first animal to orbit the earth (and the first animal to die in orbit) in 1957.

At only a recommended donation of $5 ($3 for seniors), the museum is a bargain. Don't miss the upstairs lounge complete with complimentary cookies and tea. If you go around the corner and up from where the tea is served, there is a lovely rooftop zen garden complete with live doves and seating. When we were there, it looked like people were enjoying this area just to do some Sunday reading.

One note: The Museum of Jurrasic Technology is not actually in Culver City, but directly across the street. Additionally, there is an excellent New York Times article about the museum that is worth a read.

Thrillist's Culver City Cocktail Crawl

Since we visited Peru three years ago, I have enjoyed cocktails with pisco, especially the pisco sour. I was very excited when a friend emailed me about Thrillist's Culver City Cocktail Crawl featuring five pisco cocktails at five bars in downtown Culver City. The event will be held from 3 PM to 7 PM on Saturday, February 25th, with Ford's Filling Station, Seventy7, Rocco's Tavern, Fraiche and City Tavern participating.

Acclaimed mixologists Joel Black, Josh Curtis, Jeremy Back, Gia St. George and Matthew Goldberg will be mixing up the drinks using ORO Pisco. At $25, this a real bargain considering a single cocktail at these places is $10 - $14.

Old Home Update

From doing some research on the internet, it appears the house at 9814 Washington Blvd is called the Paskan House. It was, at some point in the recent past, a doctor's office owned by Dr. Julius Paskan, MD. Dr. Paskan was born March 6, 1915 and died on April 22, 2010. He was a Culver City resident. I assume he may have left the home to the city, as it is currently city owned. A portion has been converted into a staging area for the Kirk Douglas Theater and it will soon be home to the new Jazz Bakery.

Old Home

I took a few photos of the old home located at 9814 Washington Blvd in downtown Culver City (basically right between the Kirk Douglas Theater and City Tavern). This will soon be demolished to make way for the new Gehry designed Jazz Bakery. The Jazz Bakery should be awesome, but it is too bad about this old house. I have done a little research on the web, but have been unable to find out the back story on it. From the looks of it, it must date from the 1920s or 1930s. The fact that it stands as the lone home in this part of downtown Culver City makes me think it must hold some historical importance. I will keep investigating. If anyone knows the backstory on this home, please comment.

Kiefer Sutherland and Jason Patric at Backstage

One of the cool things about living in Culver City (and LA in general), is the fact that we get to see so many celebrities. Laura and I were at one of our favorite Culver City watering holes, Backstage, on Thursday night and were seated next to Kiefer Sutherland and Jason Patric. They were both really cool, fun guys. We talked to them for quite awhile and they were generous enough to take a picture. Good times.

Just Tires

I took my car to Just Tires at 5547 Sepulveda Blvd in Culver City today. I have to say, it was an positive experience overall. The clerk, John, was very knowledgeable about tires and was a friendly guy. The prices were reasonsable, although I am sure you can get a better deal at Costco. One of the benefits is that they are open on Sundays, while a lot of the local auto repair shops are closed on the weekends. Even on a busy weekend day, they had my car ready in about an hour and a half. I would recommend Just Tires Culver City.

New Culver City Jazz Venue

I'm pretty excited about the new Jazz Bakery that will be opening up in Culver City at 9814 Washington Blvd. The Jazz Bakery was a long time Culver City standard at the Helms Bakery complex. Unfortunately, the original closed its doors to make way for a furniture store before we moved to the area.

The new Jazz Bakery, set to open in late 2012, is going to have a 250 seat theater and a cafe. Frank Gehry is designing the facility, so I have to think it will be an architectural masterpiece. He was generous enough to design the building at no cost. Culver City is getting its own little Disney Concert hall of sorts!

The best part is that it is supposed to have a rooftop deck (hopefully, with a bar!). I was commenting to my wife that a wish Culver City had a place with a rooftop deck, and now we are getting one. With 250 performances per year, this should bring a lot of additonal business to the restaurants in the area, as well.

I pulled the attached architectural drawing from Culver City Times which, incidentally, is the best website for information about Culver City, in my opinion.

The only downer is that they are going to have to tear down the old home that currently sits there. Does anyone know the history of this place? I will have to do some research.

Downtown Culver City Parking Fees to Rise

Starting May 1st, parking fees in Culver City are set to rise from $1 per our to $1.50 per hour. Additionally, parking fees will also be enforced on Sundays, which are currently free. $1.50 per hour still seems very reasonable to me, especially when compared to downtown LA and other nearby areas. I am supportive of this change, as it will bring more revenues to the city.

Another parking fee change under consideration is the elimination of the two hours of free parking for the Watseka, Cardif and Ince parking structures. I go to downtown Culver City frequently for lunch, and pop down to pick up dinner at Daphne's, Tender Greens or Honey Kettle. One of the big attractions is the fact that parking is convenient and free. If parking was not free, I would be less likely to visit the downtown restaurants when I am looking to pick up. I have spoken to a few other Culver City residents, and they share my sentiments.

I am hopeful that the Culver City Council will take the potential negative impact that the parking change may have on shops and restaurants. I believe the city will more than make up for the parking fees through increased taxes from successful local businesses.

Culver City: The Heart of Screenland

My wife and I moved to Culver City in February of 2010. Since we moved in, we have been constantly amazed by the wealth of fantastic activities, eateries, historical sites and great neighborhoods in Culver City. I am convinced that Culver City is the best place to live in the LA area, and it continues to get better and better. My goal with this blog is to explore the great things to see and do in Culver City, share my opinions, and hopefully, uncover some unsung treasures. I hope you enjoy the blog.