When Redevelopment Plans Work

"Factories, oil derricks and houses were sprouting all over Southern California in 1913 when Harry H. Culver outlined his plan for a city midway between Los Angeles and Abbot Kinney's seaside resort. "If you draw a straight line from [downtown's] Story building to the oceanfront at Venice," he told the gentlemen of the private California Club, "at the halfway mark you will find three intersecting electric lines -- the logical center for . . . a town site."

His Culver Investment Co. bused potential lot buyers to free picnics, awarded parcels to the parents of pretty babies and placed newspaper ads reading "All roads lead to Culver City."

Nearly a century later, the electric rail lines are long gone, but Culver City, denigrated in years past as a backwater on the Westside, is starting to live up to its founder's hype.

In recent years, dozens of galleries, design houses and architecture firms have moved in. Wine bars and upscale eateries -- many with alfresco dining -- are garnering raves, and more restaurants are in the works.

Young families and singles are replacing retirees, and developers are demolishing duplexes to build condos. Rising office rents reflect the discovery by high-tech, media and creative employers -- Symantec, National Public Radio, the Tennis Channel, Ogilvy & Mather -- of a well-situated alternative to pricier Santa Monica or Beverly Hills.

City officials and many residents cheer the cultural and culinary renaissance in the city's downtown and the ongoing commercial revival there and in other pockets. But detractors contend that the once sleepy hamlet is paying a steep price in increased traffic, congestion and competition for parking spots that not long ago seemed plentiful. Downtown businesses are clamoring for a valet parking plan.

"We've become a victim of our own success," said Andrew Weissman, a Culver City planning commissioner who is among nine candidates vying in Tuesday's election for three City Council seats."