Culver City

Culver City
Author: Julie Lugo Cerra
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
Total Pages: 134
Release: 2004
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780738528939

Part Mayberry and part Peyton Place, Culver City has provided the backdrop for Gone with the Wind, Citizen Kane, The Wizard of Oz, Men In Black, Jerry Maguire, "The Andy Griffith Show," "Batman," "Lassie," and the films of Laurel & Hardy. Gwen Verdon grew up here, and so did The Little Rascals. Gene Kelly sang in the rain. Harrison Ford commanded Air Force One. But before glitz and glamour set up shop, the open fields of Culver City were peacefully inhabited by the Gabrielino Indians. Spanish grazing grants of 1819 set the stage for development, and in 1913, Harry Culver announced his ambition to found a city. Two years later, Thomas Ince broke ground on Culver City's first major studio. A star was born. Images of America: Culver City guides you on a VIP back lot tour of a movie town's pioneering moments.

Movie Studios of Culver City

Movie Studios of Culver City
Author: Julie Lugo Cerra
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
Total Pages: 132
Release: 2011
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780738582009

After watching pioneer filmmaker Thomas Ince film one of his famous Westerns on Ballona Creek, city founder Harry Culver saw the economic base for his city. Culver announced plans for the city in 1913 and attracted three major movie studios to Culver City, along with smaller production companies. "The Heart of Screenland" is fittingly etched across the Culver City seal. These vintage images are a tour through the storied past of this company town on the legendary movie lots bearing the names of Thomas Ince, Hal Roach, Goldwyn, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Lorimar, MGM-UA, Columbia, Sony Pictures, DeMille, RKO-Pathe, Selznick, Desilu, Culver City Studios, Laird International, the Culver Studios, and such nearly forgotten mini-factories as the Willat Studios. On these premises, Gone With the Wind, The Wizard of Oz, Citizen Kane, E.T: The Extra-Terrestrial, and other classics were filmed, along with tens of thousands of television shows and commercials featuring Elvis Presley, the Beatles, Michael Jackson, and many others.

Hollywood's Lost Backlot

Hollywood's Lost Backlot
Author: Steven Bingen
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 265
Release: 2018-12-01
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 149303362X

Hollywood is a transitory place. Stars and studios rise and fall. Genres and careers wax and wane. Movies and movie moguls and movie makers and movie palaces are acclaimed and patronized and loved and beloved, and then forgotten. And yet… And yet one place in Southern California, built in the 1920s by (allegedly murdered) producer Thomas Ince, acquired by Cecil B. DeMille, now occupied by Amazon.com, has been the home for hundreds of the most iconic and legendary films and television shows in the world for a remarkable and star-studded fifty years. This bizarre, magical place was the location for Tara in Gone with The Wind, the home of King Kong and Superman, of Tarzan and Batman, of the Green Hornet, of Elliot Ness, of Barney Fife, of Tarzan, of Rebecca, of Citizen Kane, of Hogan’s Heroes and Gomer Pyle, of Lasse, of A Star is Born and Star Trek, and at least twice, of Jesus Christ. For decades, every conceivable star in Hollywood, from Clark Gable to Warren Beatty, worked and loved and gave indelible performances on the site. And yet, today, it is completely forgotten. Pretty much anyone alive today, from college professors to longshoremen, have probably heard of Paramount and of MGM, of Warner Bros. and of Universal, and of Disney and Fox and Columbia, but the place where many of these studio’s beloved classics were minted is today as mysterious and unknowable as the sphinx. Hollywood’s Lost Backlot: 40 Acres of Glamour and Mystery will, for the first time ever, unwind the colorful and convoluted threads that make for the tale of one of the most influential and photographed places in the world. A place which most have visited, at least on screen, and which has contributed significantly and unexpectedly to the world’s popular culture, and yet which few people today, paradoxically, have ever heard of.

The Art of the Hollywood Backdrop

The Art of the Hollywood Backdrop
Author: Richard M. Isackes
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 352
Release: 2016-11
Genre: Art
ISBN: 194139308X

"Once a guarded cinematic secret, this definitive history reveals for the first time the art and craft of Hollywood's hand painted-backdrops, and pays homage to the scenic artists who brought them to the big screen." -- Slipcase.

Culver City Chronicles

Culver City Chronicles
Author: Julie Lugo Cerra
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
Total Pages: 180
Release: 2013-04-02
Genre: History
ISBN: 1614238766

Culver City has rivaled Hollywood for nearly a century as the "Heart of Screenland"--a center of the movie and television trades. Here, the giant Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer evolved into Sony Pictures, and the Ince and Selznick movie empires became today's Culver Studios. But the same lands along Ballona Creek had been a wilderness traversed by Native Americans and settled by hardy Spanish pioneers named Machado, Talamantes and Higuera. Union soldiers occupied the area's Civil War-era Camp Latham. By 1910, visionary Harry H. Culver saw possibilities for these ranchlands and led Culver City to incorporate in 1917. Join official city historian Julie Lugo Cerra, a descendant of early settlers, as she relates the fascinating stories of how and why Culver City grew and prospered.

The Night Santa Got Lost

The Night Santa Got Lost
Author: Michael Keane
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 40
Release: 2012-10-09
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 1621570045

Every Christmas millions of kids and adults track Santa on the NORAD Santa Tracker. Now, author Michael Keane brings to life this fun tradition with his new children’s book The Night Santa Got Lost: How NORAD Saved Christmas. Written in the iconic style of “The Night Before Christmas,” The Night Santa Got Lost begins on a blustery and treacherous Christmas Eve as Santa sets off to deliver toys to good little boys and girls everywhere. As always, NORAD is faithfully tracking him to make sure no harm comes his way. But when Santa disappears from their radar screen, NORAD’s skills and resources are put to the test as they scramble to find Santa and save Christmas. Entertaining and educational, The Night Santa Got Lost will delight parents and children alike while teaching kids about our military, team work, and the true spirit of Christmas.

Sundown Towns

Sundown Towns
Author: James W. Loewen
Publisher: The New Press
Total Pages: 594
Release: 2018-07-17
Genre: History
ISBN: 1620974541

"Powerful and important . . . an instant classic." —The Washington Post Book World The award-winning look at an ugly aspect of American racism by the bestselling author of Lies My Teacher Told Me, reissued with a new preface by the author In this groundbreaking work, sociologist James W. Loewen, author of the classic bestseller Lies My Teacher Told Me, brings to light decades of hidden racial exclusion in America. In a provocative, sweeping analysis of American residential patterns, Loewen uncovers the thousands of "sundown towns"—almost exclusively white towns where it was an unspoken rule that blacks weren't welcome—that cropped up throughout the twentieth century, most of them located outside of the South. Written with Loewen's trademark honesty and thoroughness, Sundown Towns won the Gustavus Myers Outstanding Book Award, received starred reviews in Publishers Weekly and Booklist, and launched a nationwide online effort to track down and catalog sundown towns across America. In a new preface, Loewen puts this history in the context of current controversies around white supremacy and the Black Lives Matter movement. He revisits sundown towns and finds the number way down, but with notable exceptions in exclusive all-white suburbs such as Kenilworth, Illinois, which as of 2010 had not a single black household. And, although many former sundown towns are now integrated, they often face "second-generation sundown town issues," such as in Ferguson, Missouri, a former sundown town that is now majority black, but with a majority-white police force.

Movie Studios of Culver City

Movie Studios of Culver City
Author: Julie Lugo Cerra
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
Total Pages: 132
Release: 2011-03-14
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1439640645

After watching pioneer filmmaker Thomas Ince film one of his famous Westerns on Ballona Creek, city founder Harry Culver saw the economic base for his city. Culver announced plans for the city in 1913 and attracted three major movie studios to Culver City, along with smaller production companies. The Heart of Screenland is fittingly etched across the Culver City seal. These vintage images are a tour through the storied past of this company town on the legendary movie lots bearing the names of Thomas Ince, Hal Roach, Goldwyn, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Lorimar, MGM-UA, Columbia, Sony Pictures, DeMille, RKO-Pathe, Selznick, Desilu, Culver City Studios, Laird International, the Culver Studios, and such nearly forgotten mini-factories as the Willat Studios. On these premises, Gone With the Wind, The Wizard of Oz, Citizen Kane, E.T: The Extra-Terrestrial, and other classics were filmed, along with tens of thousands of television shows and commercials featuring Elvis Presley, the Beatles, Michael Jackson, and many others.

Our Urban Resources

Our Urban Resources
Author: Culver City (Calif.). Department of Planning
Publisher:
Total Pages: 618
Release: 1959
Genre: Culver City (Calif.)
ISBN:

Forgotten Secrets of the Culver City Westside Barbell Club Revealed

Forgotten Secrets of the Culver City Westside Barbell Club Revealed
Author: Dave Yarnell
Publisher: Dave Yarnell
Total Pages: 408
Release: 2011-09-14
Genre: Health & Fitness
ISBN: 1466291095

The secrets of the most influential group of strength trainers of the 20th century are unveiled. The book is jam-packed with pictures, actual training programs and awesome stories about the original, Culver City Westside Barbell club, the Wild Bunch of West Virginia and the men that trained with them. This is a must-read for every serious strength athlete and a real treat for fans of Old School, Hard-Core strength training!!