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Many Olympic athletes and representatives from diverse backgrounds and life experiences since the early 1900s have called Culver City their home in recognition of a community that embraces the 2024 Paris Olympic Games theme: “Worlds we share, where individuals from a variety of cultures and backgrounds reach new heights together...” Embodying that message of Olympic spirit and sportsmanship, Culver City High School alumnus Isaiah Jewett and a Botswana challenger helped each other to their fee...
Summer breezes… an intimate courtyard… free parking… and great music. Escape to Culver City for the 2018 Culver City’s Boulevard Music Summer Festival. Boulevard Music presents 6 free concerts on Thursday evenings at 7 pm from July 12 through August 16 in the palm-lined Dale Jones Courtyard of Culver City City Hall. Curated by producer Gary Mandell of Culver City’s Boulevard Music, Culver City’s Boulevard Music Summer Festival offers something for everyone: The sounds of Choro with great vocals from Kátia Moraes and Brazilian Hearts plus...
Culver City’s Boulevard Music Summer Festival Summer breezes. . . an intimate courtyard. . . free parking. . . and great music 6 free concerts July 7—August 11 Summer breezes… an intimate courtyard… free parking… and great music. Escape to Culver City for the 2016 Culver City’s Boulevard Music Summer Festival. Boulevard Music presents 6 free concerts on Thursday evenings at 7 pm from July 7 through August 11 in the palm-lined courtyard of Culver City City Hall. Curated by producer Gary Mandell of Culver City’s Boulevard Music, Culver City’s...
By Stephen Hadland Observer Publisher In Huntington Beach there is a shopping center that was built in 1969 and designed by Frank Lloyd Wright Jr., son of the famed American architect, to design the Westfair Shopping Center. The center was to include a 92-foot tower resembling an oil derrick which in the early part of the century populated the landscape in Huntington Beach. It was ugly and resembled a futuristic communications tower from Star War than an oil derrick. The residents protested and...
Hi Steve, How appropriate that your editorial regarding the demise of a valuable recreational resource, the Culver City Ice Arena, coincided with John Hartmire's loving tribute to Syd Kronenthal, the father of recreation in Culver City. Kronenthal said "Our city has lost two golf courses, horseback riding trails, go kart and auto racing tracks, a rollerdrome, numerous play fields and in general has wasted opportunities to save much needed open space. Once somebody takes away a recreational...
By Stephen Hadland Observer Publisher When the Culver City Ice Arena closed last year residents showed up in force at city council meetings looking for a way to save a valuable recreation facility for families in Culver City and the entire Westside. City Council members wrung their hands and gnashed their teeth but in the end did nothing and took none of the suggestions to save the rink. Now with a year gone by, the original entitlements requiring the property be used for an ice rink have...
By Fred Altieri Sports Reporter The practical simplicity of Ocean League scheduling insures that the Culver City High girls and boys basketball team seasons synchronize once league play begins. The girls are usually scheduled to play at 6 p.m. and the boys immediately follow at 7:30 every Wednesday and Friday throughout the league season. Their victories synched up for the first time this year on Friday, Jan. 23, as both teams won at Hawthorne High... both in tightly fought contests. The...
By Lynne Bronstein Observer Reporter January The Culver City Expo Line station was closed for almost two hours on January 7 due to a security threat involving what police called "a suspicious package" on the station platform. The Culver City Police were alerted and dogs from the County's K-9 division sniffed out the package, which was wrapped in duct tape and appeared to be merely a cushion. On January 17 Culver City police shot and wounded a man outside a 7-11 store at Washington Boulevard and...
City Manager’s Office • Culver City Unified School District Backpacks for Kids Program - More than 39% of CCUSD students receive free or reduced price lunches at their schools daily. For many students, this vital resource includes free breakfast. In some circumstances, reliable meals on the weekends are not a guarantee. The City Manager’s Office is proud to announce the City’s partnership with the Culver City Unified School District in the District’s Backpacks for Kids Program. The City will...
By Neil Rubenstein Observer Columnist Can anyone help me understand what is going on with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and the deputies who man the central jail? I know some deputies who are truly good people with ethics and a caring personality, and yet we hear of alleged violent beatings, “gladiator” type fights – and sometimes the deputies film them. Six deputies and a sergeant went on trial at the federal courthouse in downtown Los Angeles. I have been told the first job dep...
After a lengthy session featuring more than a dozen speakers and a detailed historical presentation, the City Council on July 28 made supporters of the Culver City Ice Arena happy by designating it as a "cultural resource" at a "significant" level. The Council's vote was 5-0 in favor of the designation. Jennifer Troteux, an associate with the firm, Architectural Resources Group, presented a report on the group's exhaustive research into the Culver Ice Arena and ice "palaces" in Los Angeles over...
Here are some highlights from the City Council meeting of July 28, 2014. At this meeting, the City Council: • Presented the Government Finance Officers Association's Certificate of Achievement plaque for excellence in finance reporting to Chief Financial Officer Jeff Muir. • Presented commendations to the following retired commission, committee, and/or board members in recognition of their service to the Culver City community: Rhonda Wolf, Michael Whitaker, Allen Azran, Michelle Bernardin, and A...
By Lynne Bronstein Observer Reporter Since the Culver City Ice Arena was closed in March, Culver City ice skating enthusiasts have been organizing in the hope of restoring the arena. To this end, the Culver City Save the Rink Committee has been organized. The committee's chair is onetime Olympic ice skating champion Tai Babilonia, who got her career started by skating at the Culver Arena. The Observer recently chatted with Babilonia about the committee and the future of ice skating in Culver...
By Lynne Bronstein Observer Reporter Jeff Cooper After spending the most recent year of his council membership as Mayor, Jeff Cooper considers his first term in office as one of many accomplishments. In his recent address at the Mayor's luncheon, Cooper noted: "Just a short time ago, we were on pace to out-spend our reserves in just three years....our city is socking away more reserves and pre-funding our pension liabilities, something we have never done before." He lists among some of his...
Culver Ice Foundation (CIF) was recently formed as a nonprofit corporation to raise significant funds towards a "nonprofit ice rink business model" to help save and operate the historic Culver City Ice rink. The ambitious multimillion dollar goal is inspired by community spirit. The CIF hopes this will result in the future nonprofit lease, operation and or ownership of the historic ice rink by CIF for the community benefit. A primary objective is to retain the historic ice rink as a legacy...
The City would like to update the community about the status of the implementation of the Culver Ice Arena's Facility Closure Plan. The Culver City Fire Department, which is monitoring the decommissioning process, witnessed the safe removal of all the anhydrous ammonia from the Culver Ice Arena refrigeration system. The ammonia was removed from the property by Hill Brothers Chemical. Work continues at the site as contractors remove the brine solution from the pipes under the ice. Brine, a salt...
Culver City Fire Chief Curt Sellers issued the Following press release on Friday morning: Ammonia Removal at the Culver Ice Arena at 4545 Sepulveda Boulevard is Complete The City would like to update the community about the status of the implementation of the Culver Ice Arena's Facility Closure Plan. The Culver City Fire Department, which is monitoring the decommissioning process, witnessed the safe removal of all of the anhydrous ammonia from the Culver Ice Arena refrigeration system. The...
By Lynne Bronstein Observer Reporter The Culver City Manager and the Fire Department released a status report on March 10 on the conditions at 4545 Sepulveda Boulevard, better known as the Culver City Ice Arena. The report on the environmental safety hazards of the facility, which its owner, Michael Karagozian, closed last week, concludes that "the current ammonia refrigeration system constitutes an imminent hazard to any occupants within the building and to the neighboring community." The...
By Lynne Bronstein Observer Reporter The Culver City Council met twice on Monday, with a special afternoon meeting as well as its regular Monday evening meeting. The afternoon meeting, held for the Council, the Successor Agency to the Redevelopment Agency, the Housing Authority, and the Parking Authority, was a study session that presented proposed work plans by the city departments. Among the proposals submitted by the departments were: Fire Department: Formalize plans and obtain funding to...
By Stephen Hadland Observer Publisher After city contractors and inspectors crawled all over the Culver Ice Arena last Friday, Michael Karagozian, owner of the ice rink property, has decided to turn off the compressors and shutter the now- closed facility. The family made this announcement through their attorney Nadine Lewis of Pacific Palisades. "It is with a heavy heart that the Karagozian family has decided to decommission the rink that it has owned for the past 52 years," she said. The lates...
By Marcus G. Tiggs Special to the Observer Unless one has been hiding under a rock over the last month, Culver City Ice Arena is still temporarily shut down or to the dismay of its thousands of fans, maybe permanently? As of last week there was what appeared to be a city imposed gag-order for any official to comment on the negotiations between the city, the landowner and presumptive a new operator to lift the yellow tag on the building for the rink to re-open. The official position of the city...
By Lynne Bronstein Observer Reporter Is the Culver City Ice Arena safe to reopen and operate? No, according to the city's report on the facility. Yes, according to a letter that was posted last week on the ice rink supporter's Facebook page. Yes in the short term, No in the long term, according to a letter sent to the city by the same consultant who wrote the letter that found the rink safe. Hope for the arena's future sprung up last week following a contentious City Council meeting at which...
(EDITOR'S NOTE: This is Part 2 of a series) By Marcus G. Tiggs Special to the Observer After over two weeks the closing of Culver Ice Arena has not ended the Culver Ice dilemma (or better called "cliff hanger"). At this point it seems the optimistic tide may be overcoming the pragmatist commentaries. Planet Granite fell off the cliff when it announced in a press release last week, "we decided to cancel our lease for the Culver City location". Planet Granite's departure from Culver City came as n...
By Marcus Tiggs Special to the Observer Over the last couple of months the media/public has been in a frenzy over the Culver City Ice Arena story or better described as saga. The latest turn was at Monday's City Council meeting, where it looked like there would be a six month re-opening after an 11th hour interim deal was reached with the landowner (Mike Karagozian) and the a few rink employees (the Takahashi family), only to be doused by the Fire Chef and company revealing a sincere and...
The Culver City Police Department has stationed a patrol car at the now closed Culver City Ice Arena. According to the Police Department the units are stationed there pending arrangements being made by the property owner and operators of the rink. A police official said that closed commercial buildings are targets for vandals and squatters and with the chemicals inside the building the department did not want to take any chances on and accidental release of chemicals into the community....
