Culver City station is an elevated light rail station on the E Line of the

Los Angeles Metro Rail The Los Angeles Metro Rail is an urban rail transit system serving Los Angeles County, California, United States. It consists of seven lines, including five light rail lines (the A Line (Los Angeles Metro), A, C Line (Los Angeles Metro), C, E Li ...

system. The station is located on a dedicated right-of-way alongside Exposition Boulevard — between the intersection of

Venice Boulevard Venice Boulevard is a major east–west thoroughfare in Los Angeles, running from the ocean in the Venice, Los Angeles, Venice district, past the I-10 (CA), I-10 intersection, into downtown Los Angeles. It was originally known as West 16th Street ...

and

Robertson Boulevard Robertson Boulevard is a street in Los Angeles, in the U.S. state of California, that also passes through the incorporated cities of West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, and Culver City. Location Robertson Boulevard is a major north–south thoroughfa ...

on the west and the intersection of Washington Boulevard and National Boulevard on the east. The station is located in the city of

Culver City, California Culver City is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 40,779. Founded in 1917 as a "whites only" sundown town, it is now an ethnically diverse city with what was called the "third-most d ...

, after which the station is named. The station served as the western terminus of the line from its opening on June 20, 2012, until the opening of the extension of the line to Santa Monica on May 20, 2016.

History

Originally named Ivy, this station was established by the steam-powered

Los Angeles and Independence Railroad The Los Angeles and Independence Railroad, opened on October 17, 1875, was a steam-powered rail line which ran between the Santa Monica Long Wharf (north of the current Santa Monica Pier) and 5th and San Pedro streets in downtown Los Angeles. ...

. Los Angeles-Pacific Railroad built the

Venice Short Line The Venice Short Line was a Pacific Electric interurban railway line in Los Angeles which traveled from downtown Los Angeles to Venice, Ocean Park, and Santa Monica via Venice Boulevard. History The part of the line from the Hill Street sta ...

though the area in 1903. The

interurban The Interurban (or radial railway in Europe and Canada) is a type of electric railway, with streetcar-like electric self-propelled rail cars which run within and between cities or towns. They were very prevalent in North America between 1900 a ...

railway was grade-separated from the steam railroad via an underpass. When The LAP began running cars over the Santa Monica Air Line in 1908, the tracks were connected to allow interchanges. The point was later renamed Culver Junction to reflect its new role. The Venice line closed in September 1950, making it no longer a junction; finally, all passenger service ended on September 30, 1953. The name "Culver Junction" remained on maps, referring to the immediate surrounding area. With service restoration along the corridor in June 2012, the new light rail station was named Culver City.

Ivy Substation Ivy Substation (also known as the Ivy Park Substation or Culver Substation) is a 99-seat theatre in Culver City, California which formerly housed power equipment for the nearby electric railways and Ivy station. It was listed on the National Re ...

, a

traction substation A traction substation, traction current converter plant, rectifier station or traction power substation (TPSS) is an electrical substation that converts electric power from the form provided by the electrical power industry for public utility ...

building which housed mechanical

rotary converter A rotary converter is a type of electrical machine which acts as a mechanical rectifier, inverter or frequency converter. Rotary converters were used to convert alternating current (AC) to direct current (DC), or DC to AC power, before the adven ...

s used to supply DC current to the line until 1953, is still standing near this station and has been converted into the popular Actor's Gang Theater. (Train power now comes from a much smaller building beneath the elevated platform.)

Service

Station layout

Hours and frequency

E Line trains run every day between approximately 4:30 a.m. and 12:30 am. Trains operate every ten minutes during peak hours Monday through Friday, every twelve minutes during the daytime on weekdays and all day on the weekends after approximately 8 a.m. (with 15 to 20-minute headways early Saturday and Sunday mornings). Night service is every 20 minutes.

Connections

, the following connections are available: *

Big Blue Bus Big Blue Bus (stylized, big blue bus) is a municipal bus service serving the city of Santa Monica and the greater Westside region of Los Angeles County. The service, operated by the city of Santa Monica, was founded on April 14, 1928 and thro ...

(Santa Monica): Rapid 12 *

Culver CityBus Culver CityBus is a public transport agency operating in Culver City, California, currently serving Culver City, the unincorporated community of Marina del Rey, and the adjacent Los Angeles neighborhoods. Its regular fleet is painted bright gr ...

: 1 * LADOT Commuter Express: *

Los Angeles Metro Bus Los Angeles Metro Bus is the transit bus service in Los Angeles County, California operated by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro). In , the system had a ridership of , or about per weekday as of . , there are ...

: ,

Notable places nearby

Los Angeles Pacific Company Ivy Park Substation

At the northeast edge of Downtown Culver City, a major retail, entertainment and arts district, the station is within walking distance of several notable places: *

Helms Bakery The Helms Bakery on the border of Los Angeles and Culver City, California, was a notable industrial bakery of Southern California that operated from 1931 to 1969. The buildings have now been adapted for reuse as retail shops, restaurants, and fur ...

* Ballona Creek Bike Path *Hayden Tract *

Museum of Jurassic Technology The Museum of Jurassic Technology at 9341 Venice Boulevard in the Palms district of Los Angeles, California, was founded by David Hildebrand Wilson and Diana Drake Wilson in 1988.Tony Perrottet" The Museum of Jurassic Technology: A throwback to t ...

* Kirk Douglas Theater *

(a former power building for this station) *Ivy Station (apartments, retail, a hotel, and the west coast headquarters of

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

)

Station artwork

The station's art was created by artist Tom LaDuke. Entitled ''Unknowable Origins'', the installation depicts softly rendered views of Culver City as seen from surrounding hillside viewpoints, with abstracted face shapes of notable people from Culver City appearing in each panel.

References

*Electric Railway Historical Association of Southern California
Pacific Electric
accessed January 2008 *Electric Railway Historical Association of Southern California

accessed January 2008 *Line names mostly come from th
McGraw Transit Directory
1920, p. 11.

External links

{{Culver City, California E Line (Los Angeles Metro) stations Los Angeles Metro Rail stations located above ground Buildings and structures in Culver City, California Railway stations in the United States opened in 2012 2012 establishments in California Pacific Electric stations