Notes From Your City Historian
by Julie Lugo Cerra
• The John Battle family, after the death of John’s mom Pat Culver Battle, have been working to catalog family photos of our favorite first city family. Pat’s grandson Robert is quite the technical guy, and he has sent me a disk with photos, from early ancestors to Harry Culver, Pat Culver and her children. I look forward to sharing them.
• I was pleased to spend some time with Stan Abrams, another wonderful local resource. Not only was he a designer of restaurant interiors, like Ships, but he shared some great memories about times he delivered produce to local restaurants, like the King’s Tropical Inn. Many of you, like Stan, help to make history come alive. Putting all these tidbits of memories together will be the foundation for making our Living History Project successful.
• The last large piece of Ygnacio Machado’s original Culver City property was sold by the Machado cousins recently. It is located in the Baldwin Hills, near the Raintree development.
• Remember that the Machado night is celebrated every September at the Centinela Adobe’s Potluck dinner.
• Watch for information on a September Town Hall meeting where public information will be solicited on a Cultural Plan for our city. Help the city plan public art and move on with historic preservation. The Cultural Affairs Commission meets on the second Tuesday of the month at 7pm, generally in the Mike Balkman Council Chambers.
“CULVER CITY COLLECTIBLES CLINIC” SEPT. 21ST
The Historical Society, in association with West Los Angeles Community College, will be hosting the first, “Culver City Collectibles Clinic” on Saturday, September 21, 2002.
Please mark your calendars for our local version of the popular public television’s “Antiques Roadshow” which will be held from 10:00am – 6:00pm at the WLAC campus in its Fine Arts Gallery and adjoining Quad. Film historian and archivist Marc Wanamaker and actor/collectibles specialist Michael Goodrow will be conducting the clinic.
Wanamaker, CCHS Vice President, Museum, is the owner of Bison Archives and has worked as technical advisor on several major motion pictures including Blade Runner, The Last Tycoon, and the AMC cable TV series, “The Lot.” He is currently researching a book on the history of motion picture studios in the U.S. Michael Goodrow appeared as a regular on the TV series, “Eight is Enough.” He grew up in Culver City, not far from the Culver Studios. Also on hand to assist will be Culver City Historian Julie Lugo Cerra.
Such items as photo albums, recordings, old movies, paintings, movie posters, scrapbooks, cartoon cells, vintage documents, etc. will be assessed. While the emphasis will focus on Culver City memorabilia, other film and local area items will also be viewed.
For additional information, call the Culver City Historical Society office at the West Los Angeles College at (310) 287-4558.