One Square Mile: The Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook

If you could choose one square mile of your town to report on in all of its minutia, which square mile would it be?

Sunday marks the beginning of  "One Square Mile," a collaboration between Culver City Patch and the Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism at USC. 

Today we begin a three-day competition in which teams of USC graduate students fan out across town to find the perfect patch of Culver City to focus on.

We'll be sharing their findings here, and on Wednesday, Patch readers can vote for their favorite.

The winning square mile (chosen by Patch readers and editors and the teams themselves) will become the focus of the project -- a range of Patch stories that examine key community concerns and  contributions.  

Check back throughout the day on Monday and Tuesday for more One Square Mile proposals, and vote for your favorite on Wednesday.  We'll post the results late that same day. 

Your vote wins you an invitation to the One Square Mile launch reception in Culver City later this fall.

Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook Square Mile

One of Culver City's brightest and most popular square miles stretches west of the beautiful Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook, which is on Culver City's northeast border. A number of the area's top attractions are in this square mile, such as the famous Culver Studios, the historic Culver Hotel, the Kirk Douglas Theatre, a restaurant-studded downtown and the breathtaking Baldwin Hills Overlook. Within these borders also resides the bulk of the city's services, including City Hall, the Culver City Police Department, Fire Department Headquarters, Culver City Sanitation and the Culver City Unified School District office.

This square mile offers visitors a nice taste of Culver City with a well-balanced commercial and residential community as the city's founder, Harry Culver, strived for in the early 1900s.

Many residents and people from surrounding areas come every day to hike and walk the zigzag trail of the Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook—and dare to try out the daunting and very steep stairs. Here is where people can capture a bird's-eye and picturesque view of the entire city of Los Angeles at more than 500 feet elevation.

The renowned Culver Studios is the place where films such as Gone With the Wind, Citizen Kane, Armageddon and ET were shot. Recording stars such as Madonna, Ricky Martin, Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson have also used the site to rehearse and produce music videos.

The studios are currently serving as the location for such TV programs as The Bonnie Hunt Show, America's Next Top Model and Courtney Cox's Cougar Town.

The historic Culver Hotel houses Harry Culver's old office on the first floor and serves as the city's gem, as it has been around since 1924. This newly renovated hotel came under new management four years ago, and displaced tenants that had lived there for years. We would like to ask: Where are these residents now? How was this accomplished? Has it caused bitterness among the locals?

The popular and recently redeveloped downtown area includes many restaurants, bars and a movie theater. With many of these new locales being in business for only a little more than year, this area is rich with stories to tell, including the intersection of the new and old and the effect it has had on Culver City residents.

The restaurants range from privately owned French bistros to well-known chains like Chipotle. However, these newer establishments have caused several mom and pop places to shut their doors, while putting others—like La Ballona, a "hole-in-the-wall" Mexican restaurant—on the verge of closing down.

In addition, there are also issues with traffic. One resident and Sony Studios employee, Kacy Boccumini, complained that there are too many red lights in such a short span of streets, which makes  commuting in the area a hassle.

"Culver, Washington and Venice between Sawtelle and La Brea probably has about 20 traffic lights. I don't mind traffic since I'm from LA, but this is insane," Boccumini said.  

Residents also complained about bad signage, expensive parking tickets (from $55 on up) and old-fashioned coin-operated meters. Sony Studios employee Vincenza Marquez said she could not believe how she got a ticket for making an illegal right turn when the sign was totally covered by a tree.

Physical boundaries

Our square mile runs from Jefferson and Duquesne, north to Culver and Duquesne, east to Culver and Ince, then further east along Washington to National, south along National to Eastham, then west on Eastham—ending again on Jefferson and Duquesne.