Culver City LA: Art, Film History & the Best Neighbourhood You're Not Visiting Yet

Culver City, straddling the gap between Santa Monica and Downtown, has quietly assembled one of Los Angeles's most interesting collections of galleries, restaurants, and creative institutions. The Museum of Art and History at MOCA Grand Avenue is excellent, but Culver City's gallery row on La Cienega and Washington Boulevards is what draws the art world — several significant commercial galleries have made this district their home, and the openings on the first Friday of each month draw a genuine art crowd. The Hayden Tract, a cluster of buildings designed by architect Eric Owen Moss, represents some of the most interesting experimental architecture built in LA in the past three decades.

Culver City's film history runs deep. The city has been a production hub since the silent era — the Sony Pictures lot (formerly MGM) is open for studio tours, and the Culver Studios (now Amazon Studios) has been a centre of filmmaking since the 1910s. The Culver Hotel, a triangular 1924 building that housed the munchkins during Wizard of Oz production, is worth a drink even if you're not staying. The dining scene has followed the creative industries: Destroyer, Jon & Vinny's, and the Citizen Public Market all draw serious food attention. Culver City rewards the traveller willing to venture slightly beyond the Santa Monica beachfront — it offers a denser, more interesting version of West LA life.