Clarkdale

Clarkdale is the Culver City neighborhood that stretches to the southeast of the Venice Blvd./405 junction. Clarkdale is a company neighborhood as they say, with the headquarters for LA Weekly and the NFL Network.

You can roughly divide Clarkdale into two haves along West Washington Boulevard. To the north of West Washington, you have several boxes filled mostly with apartment buildings--somewhat run down near the freeway but becoming progressively better kept as you go farther into Culver City. Eventually you will run into the newer planned communities that characterize Culver City these days but that is not until you cross into the next neighborhood to the east. Because there are so many older buildings here, rents still remain reasonable in this northern area. To the south of West Washington you have middle class houses mostly, mostly in the Ranch Style. Rents are perhaps a touch higher here but not extravagant.

West Washington Boulevard is home to La Ballona Elementary School, a well thought of school that is home to a fairly diverse student body. That is just one sign of the diversity of the neighborhood. Another can be measured by the many different kinds of religious institutions that are present or nearby. You get everything from Gospel Churches to Catholic. There is even the King Fahad Mosque with it lovely minaret, a mosque sponsored by the Saudi Government in the Wahabi strain of Islam.

Other services are present here as well, from assisted living facility on West Washington to a good, clean (though rather dull) recreation area, Tellefson Park.Several restaurants dot the main drags with great Thai food on Venice to Mexican food on West Washington.

Although the Clarkdale is not well known for its nightlife, it actually has a lot to offer on this front. For live music, one could check out the Cinema Bar, for example, a country bar whose claim to fame is knowing being Culver City’s oldest bar. There are also the Cozy Inn, Joxer Daly’s Irish Pub, and Saints and Sinners (on the same street where you will eventually run the St. Augustine Cathloic Church.

Overall, it is a fairly good place to live, with low rents and interesting nightlife.