In 1917, Harry Culver incorporated an area roughly midway between downtown L.A. and the ocean and gave it a slogan: “All roads lead to Culver City.” That’s true, assuming the roads you’re referring to are the 405, the 90 or Venice Boulevard.

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In many ways, Culver City does feel like L.A.’s point of intersection — and not just in a geographic sense. Considering Culver City’s distance from actual Hollywood, there’s a lot of Hollywood history in this town. “Gone With the Wind,” “Citizen Kane” and “The Wizard of Oz” were filmed here. Now that the writers’ and actors’ strikes are over, the studios are buzzing again. “Jeopardy!” and “Wheel of Fortune” tape at Sony Pictures Studios.

The future of Hollywood is in Culver City too: TikTok HQ is up the street from the Westfield mall. Apple and Amazon Studios have taken up residence in recent years, agitating some longtime residents and worsening the housing crunch.

Locals love that despite its glitzy history, Culver City maintains a bit of a small-town feel with its winsome downtown and hyper-local newspaper. I’m not saying the way of life is a bit slower here, but the police sent me a press release about a birthday party they were throwing for a dog.

Still, any resident, old or new, could tell you things are changing. The Westside cool of Venice is creeping in with spots like Roberta’s Pizza, Etta and Simonette. The Silicon Beach young professional crowd is spilling over from Playa Vista, taking up tables at independent coffee shops between meetings at the WeWork. Culver City has long been considered a good spot for families, thanks to an abundance of high-quality public parks and schools, and we have the boutique children’s gyms and family friendly brunch spots to prove it. It’s not exactly an L.A. nightlife hot spot, but there are lots of good places to get a drink with friends. The city has an Erewhon — “the ultimate sign that an L.A. neighborhood has arrived,” per my colleague Josh Rottenberg — and a meme Instagram account.

“All roads lead to Culver City” is also true for me, personally. After 11 years in a tiny, rent-controlled apartment in West Hollywood, I was ready to spread out. I wanted a place in a good public school district with lots of green space that wasn’t too far from the L.A. Times office in El Segundo. And so my family and I moved to Culver City in the summer of 2020. We couldn’t swing a single-family home here, where those public perks command a sky-high premium. But squarely within budget was an updated condo in Fox Hills, a charming neighborhood hugging a 10-acre park with pickleball courts, a playground, soccer fields and a walking trail. Is it a glamorous neighborhood? You tell me: Leonard Nimoy, Jack Benny, Eydie Gorme, Shelley Winters and Monty Hall are some of my neighbors.

Getting to report this story was really a treat, talking to the owners of some of my favorite local spots about why they chose this area and love being here. Phrases like “walkable” and “community” came up a lot. There are so many great places that I couldn’t put all of them on this map. I’ve tried to include some of the city’s most iconic locales as well as smaller places that deserve your attention.

This is the heart of screenland. And, increasingly, streamland. This must be Culver City.

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