Motorcycle Cop Stopped

Culver City Graffiti #4

Culver City Graffiti #3

Culver City Graffiti #2

Culver City Graffiti #1

Kirk Douglas Theatre

Built in 1947, as a Streamline Moderne movie palace with a seating capacity of 1,160 (on a stadium plan with no overhanging balcony), the Culver was located near the Columbia Pictures studio lot (then the lot for MGM).

Originally, much like surrounding downtown Culver City, the Culver was a key part of classic Hollywood's thriving entertainment community. But, eventually, much of the entertainment industry moved to points north and the theater grew tired and worn over the years.

Today, the Culver, now renamed the Kirk Douglas Theatre, operates as a performing arts center and playhouse. An $8 million restoration project, with a $1.25 million grant from the City of Culver, included the addition of two new stages, one with 100 seats and another with over 300 seats. Most of the exterior has been preserved, including the box office and the signature mezzanine tile.

Kirk Douglas Theatre

The Kirk Douglas Theatre is located in Culver City, California and in 2004, was acquired by the famed Center Theatre Group. The theatre is the most intimate of the group's three stages and seats 317 patrons at max occupancy.

THE BIG LEBOWSKI's Dude's Enemys Ate Breakfast Here

The Dude is enjoying a relaxing bath when he receives a message that his car has been found. Mid-message, three German nihilists invade the Dude's apartment, identifying themselves as the kidnappers. They interrogate and threaten him for the ransom money. The Dude returns to Maude's studio, where she identifies the German nihilists as Bunny's friends (including her pornographic co-star Uli Kunkel AKA "Karl Hungus")... Meanwhile, it is now clear that the kidnapping was itself a ruse: While Bunny took an unannounced trip, the nihilists (her friends) alleged a kidnapping in order to get money from her husband. The Dude and Walter arrive at the Big Lebowski residence, finding Bunny back at home, having returned from her trip. They confront the Big Lebowski with their version of the events, which he counters but does not deny. The affair apparently over, the Dude and his bowling teammates are once again confronted by the nihilists, who have set the Dude's car on fire. They are still demanding the million dollars. After telling the nihilists they know that they never kidnapped Bunny and that the Big Lebowski never gave him any money, the nihilists demand all the money in their pockets. Walter viciously fights them off, going so far as to bite off one nihilist's ear. However, their third teammate, Donny, suffers a fatal heart attack.

-- wiki

The nihilists are seen in a diner ordering pancakes. Peter Stormare, who plays the lead nihilist also appears in another Coen brothers movie (Fargo (1996)) where his character of Gaear Grimsrud loves pancakes (noted by the line to Steve Buscemi's character, "Where is the pancakes house?" during the drive from Fargo to Brainerd).

-- imdb trivia

Dinah's Family Restaurant
6521 S. Sepulveda Blvd.
Westchester, Los Angeles, California

PERSONAL NOTE: I've sent dozens of hungry friends to eat at Dinah's. Great eats. Talk about COMFORT FOOD. Classic "tough broad" service.

THE BIG LEBOWSKI (1998) Dinah's

40th Anniversary of the Sharon Tate Murders

Sharon and Roman fell in love. They were married on January 20, 1968. Later that year, Sharon learned she was pregnant. She and Roman found a larger house to live in with the baby at 10050 Cielo Drive in Benedict Canyon, a beautiful ranch style home with a pool and guesthouse. The previous tenants had been Terry Melcher, son of Doris Day, and his girlfriend Candice Bergen. In February 1969, Sharon and Roman moved in. Sharon called the home her "love house."

-- Poe Forward

On the evening of August 8, 1969, Sharon Tate, Jay Sebring, Wojciech Frykowski and Frykowski's girlfriend, coffee heiress Abigail Folger, ate their last meal at El Coyote on Beverly Boulevard. They returned to the Cielo Drive home in Benedict Canyon about 10:30 p.m.

During the night they were murdered by members of Charles Manson's "Family" and their bodies discovered the following morning by Tate's housekeeper, Winifred Chapman. Police arrived at the scene to find the body of a young man, later identified as Steven Parent, shot to death in his car, which was in the driveway. Inside the house, the bodies of Tate and Sebring were found in the living room; a long rope tied around each of their necks connected them. On the front lawn lay the bodies of Frykowski and Folger. All of the victims, except Parent, had been stabbed numerous times. The coroner's report for Tate noted that she had been stabbed sixteen times, and that "five of the wounds were in and of themselves fatal".

-- wiki

Police took the only survivor at the address, the caretaker William Garretson, for questioning. Garretson lived in the guest house which was located on the property, but a short distance from the house, and not immediately visible. As the first suspect, he was questioned and submitted to a polygraph test. He said that Parent had visited him at approximately 11:30 p.m. and left after a few minutes. Garretson said he had no involvement in the murders and did not know anything that could help the investigation. Police accepted his explanation and he was allowed to leave.

-- wiki

Cult leader Charles Manson and his group went on to kill the La Bianca's the next day. Eventually, Manson and company were arrested, found guilty and sent to prison. They cheated the hangman when capital punishment was briefly outlawed in California. The Cielo Drive house was razed and a new mansion built in its place.

Sharon Tate was interred at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California. She was buried with her son in her arms. Her grave is just a short distance from Bela Lugosi, Bing Crosby, and Rita Hayworth.

Holy Cross Cemetery - Culver City - Pt. 2

Holy Cross Cemetery - Culver City - Pt. 1

View From A Culver City Hospital

Culver City Halloween

Dead End at Sony

Hope Found at Beethoven and Washington Blvd.

Is it me or does Culver City have more of these income producing cameras than any other city in L.A. County? On the positive side, I love the historical banners they've put up along Washington Blvd. (These one word banners, as pictured above, they can lose.) Well, they gotta pay for urban redevelopment and all those banners somehow.

From Dinah's to the Alibi Room and North on Inglewood Boulevard

Heat Relief: Images of a Cold January Day in Culver City