At work I started writing a story about Culver City's economic development plan, but then some stuff happened and it ended up on the cutting room floor. Since I don't update this hack blog anymore, none of my writing can go to waste so I'm going to publish the lead to this dead story here. And even though I hate Los Angeles, there's a little place in my heart for Culver City. After all, it's the home of Jeopardy, NPR West, and the filming of Citizen Kane.
As the native home of world famous movie studios, Southern California's Culver City played host to the filming of early screen classics, The Wizard of Oz, Gone with the Wind, and Citizen Kane. Culver City remained a hot spot for movie studios throughout most of the century, with more recent films such as, Grease, Raging Bull, and E.T. As the 20th century came to a close, competing cities coaxed the production of films to other locales. Culver City found itself with a depleting film industry and in turn, a stagnant local economy.
Restaurants and shops of the once bustling main drag, Washington Boulevard, were hit hardest by the decrease in the big-spending of movie-studio moguls. With profits shrinking, businesses could devote less money to structural improvements such as building facades, landscape or exterior lighting, signage, paint, and stucco. Many shop owners called it a wrap, while intrepid storefronts grew dingy. Investors shied away, and the trickle-down effect impacted residential areas of the five-square-mile community.
Culver City officials knew they had to implement some type of redesign and area-improvement plan to encourage new investors and businesses. The plan needed to be carefully developed and outlined before it could be pitched to the city council. Yada, yada, yada…
Sadly, this is the most interesting thing I've written for work in months.
No comments:
Post a Comment