Mr. Culver’s urban vision

Culver City’s Gateway area embodies the old and the new. It contains some of the area’s earliest houses, and in recent years residents have banded together to form an association of homeowners and renters alike.

Beginnings

One of Culver City’s original homes still stands in the Gateway neighborhood on Madison Avenue. The former home of Marie and Camillo Cereghino, owner of the Washington Improvement Co. and an early developer of Culver City, is a historical landmark. The single-story California bungalow, built around 1913, sits on a 200-by-200-foot lot and serves as a reminder of the vision of city founder Harry Culver: a piece of paradise in a growing urban setting.

The native of Nebraska planned Culver City around railroad lines and knew his city would benefit as a stop on the route between Venice and Los Angeles, according to a speech he gave at a dinner in Los Angeles a few years before Culver City incorporated in 1917.

What it’s about

The Gateway neighborhood sits southwest of downtown Culver City and is bounded by La Salle Avenue, Culver Boulevard, Duquesne Avenue and Ballona Creek. A neighborhood association sprang up two years ago and named the area after the Gateway Post Office on Culver Boulevard.

The designation also alludes to an old advertisement that referred to the city as the “gateway to the stars,” because of the movie studios that once defined the area. Some Gateway residents simply refer to where they live as Culver City.

People walking their dogs are a common sight. Children’s toys lie on the sidewalk, and the neighborhood’s ficus-lined streets convey a sense of calm. The ordinary is perhaps what is most extraordinary.

“I tell people I live at the quiet end of a quiet street,” said Ted Thompson, a resident of 10 years. “It’s always like this.”

Karen Kurokawa, an architect who moved here from Ocean Park in Santa Monica seven years ago, likes the diversity of her neighbors, the vibrancy of the high-density apartment complexes and the balance of renters and homeowners. Kurokawa, communications coordinator for the Gateway Neighborhood Assn., says there are renters who have been in the area for 30 years and have become part of the neighborhood association. She said the area felt “old-fashioned,” but there was definitely a “live and let live” vibe.

New wine bars, restaurants and a Trader Joe’s that are within walking distance add to Gateway’s appeal.

Insider’s viewpoint

Julie Lugo Cerra, a Culver City historian since 1996, has lived in her home on Lincoln Avenue her entire life, almost 63 years. Her father’s great-great-grandfather was Francisco Salvador Lugo, a Spanish soldier present at the founding of El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de Los Angeles.

“Culver City is a perfect place, just as Harry Culver planned,” Cerra said. “It’s an oasis within an urban metropolis.”

She said she liked its location between the beach and L.A. and the proximity to the mountains. Because of that, she said, Culver’s early advertising slogan could not be more true today: “All roads lead to Culver City.”

Housing stock

Home prices range from the low $600,000s to more than $1 million, said Michele Walman of Re/Max Westside Properties in Los Angeles.

A 1,500-square-foot home with four bedrooms and three bathrooms on a 4,418-square-foot lot located on Irving Place recently sold for $940,000, Walman said.

Report card

The Gateway area is served by the Culver City Unified School District’s five elementary schools, middle school, high school and continuation school.

El Marino Language School scored 905 out of a possible 1,000 on the 2007 Academic Performance Index Base Report; El Rincon Elementary scored 827; Farragut Elementary, 858; Linwood E. Howe Elementary, 792; La Ballona Elementary, 784. Culver City Middle School scored 770; Culver City High School, 751; and Culver Park Continuation scored 564.

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maria.hsin@latimes.com

Sources: cde.ca.gov, culvercity.org; thewalmans.com.