Olympic footprint seen throughout Culver City

From the 1932 LA Olympic Games, when Culver City's Helms Bakery served as the official bread provider for the Olympians, to the 1984 Olympics, when the LA Organizing Committee built its headquarters in Culver City, and now, in preparation for the 2028 LA Games, the Heart of Screenland has been a trailblazer in the modern history of the Olympic movement.

Local families and officials have housed, trained, counseled, and sponsored Olympians for the past century, promoting the Games' ideals of blending sport with culture and education and respect for universal fundamental ethical principles.

Led by Vice Mayor Dan O'Brien and Councilmember Freddy Puza and coordinated by Assistant City Manager Jesse Mays, Culver City will hold a viewing party for the closing ceremonies of the Paris Games on Aug. 11 at Town Plaza as part of the citywide campaign to commemorate the upcoming 2028 Games.

O'Brien is Grand Marshal of the 2025 Screenland 5K, which courses parallel to the two-mile stretch in Culver City of the 1984 LA Olympic Games marathon. He won his age division in the 2024 race.

Culver City Parks and Recreation Director Syd Kronenthal, the Culver City Council, and the LA Olympics Organizing Committee converted a former helicopter assembly plant and dog track on the western tip of Culver City into the sprawling 1984 Olympic headquarters, marking the only time a non-host city housed the Olympic command center in the modern era.

The LA Games employed 5,000 and engaged 34,000 volunteers, many of whom worked at the Washington Blvd. site that is now the Culver City Costco.

The familiar Olympic symbols stand atop the Helms Building in Culver City, where founder Paul Helms championed amateur sports and won the contract to supply baked goods to the 1932 Olympic village. The Helms building housed the Athletic Foundation Hall of Fame, which featured Olympic accomplishments, an Olympic library, and a social hall for Olympians.

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, now Sony Pictures Entertainment, hosted events for Olympic athletes and officials during the 1932 Los Angeles Games. Famous Culver City studio actors, such as Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks, promoted the LA Games.

From the 1940s into the 1990s, Kronenthal, a pioneer of the modern Olympic movement, mentored international Olympic officials, assisted foreign Olympic athlete refugees in their relocation to the United States, and counseled numerous celebrated local Olympians, many of whom trained or lived in Culver City.

Called "The Father of Wheelchair Sports," Kronenthal introduced paralympic programs in basketball, track and field, and tennis.

Culver City families hosted Asian and Australian Olympic teams, which trained at local recreational amenities. The city became a miniature Olympic Village when it accommodated Japanese and Korean athletes during the 1968 Mexico Olympics.

Beginning and finishing in front of the Veterans Memorial Building and marked by a permanent foot-wide strip embedded on Overland Ave., the Western Hemisphere Marathon was among the first marathons in the nation to qualify runners for the Olympics.

The men's and women's marathon routes in the 1984 Games paraded through Culver City.

Olympic gold medalist Rafer Johnson, who lit the torch in the Opening Ceremonies of the 1984 Games, presided over the Southern California Special Olympics headquartered in Culver City for many years.

Culver City resident Tom Mills headed the Southern California Olympians & Paralympians, teaching Olympic ideals to students and raising funds to help local athletes fulfill their dreams of participating in the Games. Mills and LA Olympic Committee General Manager Harry Usher worked on the global ad campaign for the 1984 games at the Olympic headquarters in Culver City.

Walk or run on streets where your favorite shows were filmed and on the path parallel to the 1984 LA Olympic Games marathon. Jog past the former $250,000 MGM swimming pool on Stage 30, built in 1940, where Olympian Esther Williams starred in numerous musicals. Celebrate Culver City's 100 cinematic history of glitz, glamour, glory & Olympic gold in the Screenland 5K on Mar. 2, 2025. Sign up at runsignup.com/race/ca/culvercity/screenland5K

PHOTOS

PoolMarker-International Olympic athletes have trained at the Culver City Municipal Plunge's Olympic-sized pool since the 1950s. Beyond the pool on Overland Ave., across from the entrance to Veterans Auditorium, is a permanent foot-wide marker to indicate the start and finish of the former Western Hemisphere Marathon, an Olympic qualifying race.

Photo by Mike Cohen

HelmsOlympic-The Helms Olympic bread sign for the 1932 LA Olympic Games rises beyond the Helm's building in Culver City at right. This building housed the Helm's Athletic Foundation Hall of Fame, which featured Olympic accomplishments, an Olympic library, and a social hall for Olympians.

Photo by Mike Cohen

HelmsBread-The Helms Bakery sign in Culver City boasts that its bread was the choice of Olympic champions for the 1932 LA Olympic Games.

Photo by Mike Cohen

HelmsHall-Helms Hall is seen in the foreground, and the Helms Olympic bread sign for the 1932 LA Olympic Games is seen in the background. The Culver City building housed the Helm's Athletic Foundation Hall of Fame, which featured Olympic accomplishments, an Olympic library, and a social hall for Olympians.

Photo by Mike Cohen

HelmsBakery--The neon-lit Helms Bakery sign in Culver City boasts that its bread was the choice of Olympic champions for the 1932 LA Olympic Games.