By Lynne Bronstein
Observer Reporter
A former county courthouse across the street from Veteran’s Memorial Park in Culver City may be converted into a cultural center, if County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas can turn his vision for the building into something concrete.
Ridley-Thomas is in talks with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), as well as Sony, to convert the 30,000 square foot courthouse into a gallery that might be an auxiliary venue for LACMA. At this point, nothing has been finalized but LACMA director Michael Govan says the courthouse site is “an interesting place, a beautiful mid-century building with a courtyard that's closed in. It needs a little TLC."
The Sony connection would involve Sony sponsoring the venue as a “media-arts education hub.”
At this time, the building is not entirely vacant. Part of it constitutes the Mayme A. Clayton Library and Museum, a venue that archives a private collection of written documents on African-American history and culture.
A spokesperson for Ridley-Thomas says that the planned cultural center would not eliminate the Mayme A. Clayton collection. An attempt would be made to keep the library at the center or if necessary, find a new space for it. The project for now is called the Second District Art and Cultural Center and it has received a six million dollar grant from the County Board of Supervisors.
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