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  Child-actor
Fatty Arbuckle enlisted the help of studio artists to
open his Plantation Café across the street from
La Ballona School where he had been a young student.
Other noted nightspots included the Casa Manana, Gladys'
Hot Spot, and the King's Tropical Inn. The City boundaries
were so irregular they often cut through buildings.
Cash registers were equipped with wheels so that police
raids could be thwarted by changing from Los Angeles
to Culver City jurisdiction and vice versa.
Ince's
Triangle studio became Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1924,
and in the following decade MGM acquired five back lots.
Location filming was the norm, so locals were not surprised
to see Stan Laurel dressed in kilts on Main Street for
PUTTING PANTS ON PHILLIP. Oliver Hardy was seen hanging
out of a City Hall window as they filmed COUNTY HOSPITAL,
and Spanky and the OUR GANG rascals engaged in their
antics with Pete the Pup for many films.
Locals
enjoyed participating as extras in movies like BEN HUR,
and THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS. It is fitting that the
official city seal adopted in 1936 reads, "Culver
City, the Heart of Screenland."
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