Park East

Park East is the residential neighborhood just west of Jefferson. You can roughly divide Park East into two sections: a standard grid like section from Duquesne to Jackson, and a curving section from Jackson to Overland. The northern section is made up of broad leafy lanes splattered with Tudor style homes whose pointed roofs suggest an upper middle class neighborhood. The Mission Revival styles provide a nice bit of contrast here, and the old style stone lampposts, of the kind common in Beverly Hills, also add an air of quaintness and wealth.

On the southern end, streets branching off Culver Blvd. head for Ballona Creek that forms the border with Jefferson but then curve back to end up at Culver again, taking on a new names at Le Bouget Ave., the bisecting lane. Homes are firmly middle class here with several 1970’s style Ranch and Prairie homes lining the curving, willow shaded lanes. This part of the neighborhood has a very quiet and mostly unused park, Dr. Paul Carlson Park with its unusually curved tree, barbecue areas and long set of restricted behaviors (no pets, loud music or baseball, for example). The vast majority of residents here own their homes as is evident by the renovations that seem to be constantly underway on virtually every street. This section has thus been largely unaffected by the gentrification that is underway throughout other parts of Culver City—except for the bump in property prices they felt during the Housing Bubble. Although 98% of the neighborhood is made up houses, there are a few nice condos along Overland Blvd.

Overland and Culver are the major through ways along the border of Park East, both containing a number of offices and stores. Overland, for example, has the public library, the House upon the Rock and the Lutheran Churches, and dentists’ offices and pharmacies. It also has a couple of boutiques and eateries. Culver is a touch more classy, with flower shops and boutiques, but the feel is not uptight for the most part. A handful of companies also head quarter themselves at the edge of this neighborhood, such as the restaurant centered advertising firm, Menu Dynamics and Avalon Limousine Service. The Backstage Bar and Grill, just across the street from the Sony Studios is a major watering hole and eatery for industry employees. A great little location that mostly only locals know about because of its residential street location is Jackson Market. The little bakery has a nice backyard patio that is perfect for weekend brunch when cyclists fresh from the Ballona Creek bike trail detour for a nice morning meal or excellent deli sandwich. A quaint little spot—the sort of place that makes people fall in love with neighborhoods like this.

With its great location and quiet neighborhood feel, this is one of the reasons why Culver City has grown in popularity over the last two decades.