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 After
California achieved statehood in 1850, the expansive
rancho was subdivided and owned by many different families.
With more families came the founding of the La Ballona
School District, a post office and storefronts. A city
was in the wings, just waiting to be "born."
Harry Culver moved to Southern California in 1910, worked
for a real estate developer for a short time, then set
out on his own to scout various locations to develop
in the Los Angeles area. He announced his plan for a
 city
that would lie halfway between the pueblo of Los Angeles
and Abbot Kinney's resort of Venice in 1913. It was
on the banks of La Ballona Creek that Harry Culver spotted
noted filmmaker, Thomas
Ince, making one of his famous westerns, with
painted Indians in canoes. Culver studied the area,
its climate, and location for a year before he successfully
enticed Ince to move his studios to the city that would
soon bear his name.
Ince's
Triangle Studios was built in 1915, a formal colonnade
defining the entrance (the landmark colonnade is still
a historic part of today's Sony Pictures Studio lot).
Harry Culver, who was enamored with the movie industry,
had found a viable economic base. He brought busloads
of people in for a "free lunch" to see the
new city and show them what it had to offer. He employed
a huge sales force, equipped the city with Kleig lights,
and ran ads that read "All
Roads Lead to Culver City."
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