The Hobbit's House is just a cute house to see if you are in the area. It is not a must stop. The…read morehouse actually has an owner and there is an apartment there. It was built by a former artist for Disney Studios and the builder, Lawrence Joseph worked on all of it for decades. There are adorable cottages and a view from the street is super. I think some of it may be occupied, I am not sure, so I did not venture far, just the front and back yard and stopped when I saw what looked like an apartment building. It is an LA Historical Landmark and just so cute. It is near Sony pictures. It almost looks like you are walking into a movie set. There is a great garden and a pond and it really does look like a Hobbit house. We were not there long, maybe 15 minutes and did not need to be. So, if you have 15 minutes and want to see a super cool house go take a peek.

When in LA on a rainy bank holiday (dramatically less traffic) do what Angelenos do! See the…read moresights!! These are people's homes aka the Lawrence and Martha Joseph Residence and Apartments, commonly known as the "Hobbit Houses," located in Culver City, California. The structures were designed and built by Lawrence Joseph, a former artist for Walt Disney Studios, starting in the 1940s and continuing construction for decades. Now surrounded by high rises it is difficult to land a parking spot but worth it to get a closer look. For a moment imagine yourself on a walk through emerald green grass & fields of wildflowers. And then look up & see these enchanting cottages.

An annual event for the past two years in Oakland, the Eat Real Festival came to LA for the first…read moretime this weekend for a two-day celebration of regionally-sourced, sustainably-produced and just plain good food. Held at the Helms Bakery District in Culver City, the festival itself was free to attend, with all food costing $5 or less. Part street food festival, state fair and block party, the event featured numerous food trucks and other food vendors, food skills demos and contests, a craft marketplace, music and educational workshops. What I LOVED: * FREE ADMISSION! * Vendors carefully chosen who provide REGIONALLY-SOURCED and SUSTAINABLY-PRODUCED food and drinks. Among the treats we enjoyed: - Hot dog from Let's Be Frank - Goat cheese from Drake Family Farms, drizzled with honey from Backyard Bees - Pulled pork slider and pork candy from Bigmista's BBQ - Burger and watermelon fresca from the Green Truck - Hawaiian shaved ice from A Rockin Ice and a snow cone from Sno-Con Amor - The flatiron, pork slider, grilled squash and fried cauliflower from the Flatiron Truck * Free SHUTTLES to/from the festival from numerous parking lots/locations throughout the area. Also easy to access by PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION. Plus a free BIKE VALET. * Manageable crowds and lines (of course it's better early though). * With lots of food skills WORKSHOPS, DEMOS and even CONTESTS, the event is also very educational and fun to watch. We loved the Chicken Breakdown and the Flying Knives Butchery Contest (two teams of master butchers had to each cut up a 300+ lb steer hindquarter). * Stations well-staffed by FRIENDLY VOLUNTEERS to help you sort your TRASH, RECYCLABLES and COMPOSTABLE items. Also stations for you to refill your water bottles. My friend and I were at the festival on Saturday for most of the day (11 am - 7:30 pm) and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves! Will definitely come again!!!

Checked out the Eat 'Real Fest this weekend. (A bay area event that decided to come to LA!!) Went…read moreon Sat during the first day of the dreaded and blown-out-of-proportion 405 fwy closure! Even w/ the closure there was NO TRAFFIC at all plus there was PLENTY of parking for the event. The event itself was held at the Helms Bakery building (which is now a bunch of stores). NO FOOD/DRINKS were over $5 There were over a dozen food trucks plus many food vendor booths! There were 2 beer gardens in the area. You could purchase a glass mug for $7- and refill for $5- (which I did). They had some great beers on tap.... Orange Wheat , Arrogant Bastard..... (You could only drink alcohol in the designated area so it was better to get food and bring it to the area so you can enjoy your beer too!) Beer Brewers represented: (http://eatrealfest.com/event/Los%20Angeles/California/2011/drink-beer) Ballast Point Brewing Hangar 24 Craft Brewery The Lost Abbey Craftsman Brewing Company Port Brewing Company Eagle Rock Brewery Stone Brewing Co. Firestone Walker Brewing Company The Bruery Wines: MAS Wine Company Palmina SilverTap Wines Inside one of the buildings they had local places that were selling local favorites like Jam/Jellies ...Chocolate.......etc (http://eatrealfest.com/event/Los%20Angeles/California/2011/eat-market) They had a stage where they showed different demonstrations...plus a butcher contest ..music.....etc It was a great day and I had a great time. Lots of people showed up...lots of families...w/ babies...and dogs. They even had a vendor there that was selling backyard set-up chicken coops so that people could raise their own chickens and have fresh eggs.(interesting!) The vendors I tried were: Bigmista BBQ (bigmista.com)- their pork sliders were great (they ran out of their chicken wings) Waffles De Liege (waffledeliege.com) - just waffles ..meh Corn Maiden Foods (cornmaidenfoods.com) - AWESOME TAMALES I would have tried more but the lines were very slow and the portions were very small (guess thats what you get for $5- ) Other vendors/food trucks: (http://eatrealfest.com/event/Los%20Angeles/California/2011/eat-vendors) A Rockin Ice Crepe 'n Around Go Country Chuck Wagon Nom Nom Truck Temaki Truck Anca's Romanian Bowers Gourmet Sausages Drip Bar Komodo Old Vine Cafe The Hungry Nomad Beach Cream CoolHaus Flatiron Truck Let's Be Frank Rokyo Vizzitruck Belcampo Meat. Co. Flying Pig Me So Hungry Truck Sno-Con Amor My only one complaint is that by 4 pm..( the festival was open until 9pm) a lot of places were sold out of food. If I didn't get there early I would have been upset. If the festival hours are from 1030am to 9pm...then you would think that all the vendors would be stocked up and have enough food to make until 9pm !! Even the beer garden ran out of their jars by 4pm which forced people to by the small $5- cups (which wasn't worth it). One of the best things about the event is that it is 100% environment friendly!! They had waste / compost / recycling bins EVERYWHERE..and they had an attendant standing by each area to show people exactly which bin to put the trash. OVERALL .it was a...great day with great friends/family and great food!!

*** I returned this year for my 2nd visit. ***…read more I enjoyed 2011 Walk more than last year. Art walk was scheduled 2-8pm and there were many ppl still perusing when I left at 7:45pm, so I concluded it was successful. Bradford Stewart Gallery remains my fave. He has gotta modern day Jackson Pollock kind of style: paint spillings and platterings to make interesting faux landscape images. *** A nice way to spend a Sat afternoon. ***

The Culver City Art Walk only happens once a year. This year it was Saturday, June 4th. Such a…read moreshame because there were some talented artists. No wannabes, no hipsters, No "starving" artists. Real people with real talent. Let's get things straight. All galleries on La Cienega Blvd. are Los Angeles galleries. All galleries on Washington Blvd. are Culver City galleries. All galleries are apart of the Culver City Art walk. Culver City galleries offer free wine and snacks. I didn't see any of that at the Los Angeles ones. Each gallery had a number in the window so you knew you were at the right place. It was so much fun to gallery "hop" to all the galleries because they were so close to each other. I felt like I was going door to door like on Halloween. Lol. My favorite galleries were George Billis Gallery, JK Gallery, and Bradford Steward gallery. Others were good, but they didn't have the wow factor. The gallery hoppers at this Art Walk were older and lots of families brought their kids. In other words, it's an all ages event. There were a couple of food trucks. I stopped by Coolhaus and there were a few bars and cafes nearby for a quick bite to eat. I didn't see any parking structures. So you can find free parking in the surrounding neighborhoods. :) http://www.ccgalleryguide.com/

A new exterior public art installation in Culver City. It sits in a line of trees in a parking area…read moreof Culver Crossing, a retail and office complex opposite the Culver City Metro Rail Station, adjacent to the Helms Building and Platform. Viewing is free to the public. Don't forget to park and check out the installations' lower information panels, which include, among other things, historic Southern California Edison photographs, including one of a man dressed as an iron, demonstrating one of the many wonders that electricity could provide to households.

I gotta say, Pasta Sisters is my favorite Italian restaurant by far! The pasta is always cooked…read moreperfectly al dente and one of my favorite things about this place is that you can customize your own pasta dish. I always order the smoked salmon pasta and I also love building my own with tagliatelle, mushrooms, and alfredo sauce. It never disappoints! Whether you're looking for a casual dinner or a cozy date night spot, Pasta Sisters is always a solid choice. Highly recommend!

We've been here several times, and it's always busy, so come early if you can. Expect a wait no…read morematter when you go. We've tried three different pasta dishes this time, and they've all been great. The mushroom pasta is my favorite! They also made a simple olive oil pasta for our kid, which we really appreciated. We've never had a bad meal here. My only complaint is that the food is a little too salty--we're always super thirsty afterward. Parking isn't the easiest since the small lot is shared with other businesses, so getting a spot is hit or miss. Overall, we'd definitely come back!

This is in regards to Culver city's public works sanitation department specifically. Had to get rid…read moreof a box spring, mattress and accommodating bed frame. And while there appear to be some hiccups and false starts as a result or at least coming up out of covid that is to be expected. This department is in top of things and running smooth and efficiently which most of the residents are grateful for. A good deal of my neighbors have utilized their free pickup service and it helps to keep the neighborhood in streets free of debris and clutter. I thought I would hop outside to express my appreciation to this gentleman who must have had 8 to 10 mattresses and a host of other things inside the truck even before picking my order up. His attitude and demeanor was solid, and I expressed my appreciation for the hard job that he does. Chris-pictured is most definitely the CSA (customer service All Star) of this experience.

Culver City! Where? Who?…read more Unless you are a native of Southern California, the city of Culver will never come to your mind. It is an older city, quite unassuming, but, filled with many unique, new, iconic, old, you name it and much more things to see. Back in the 1900's Harry Culver moved there and motioned and eventually got the incorporated Culver City (named after him of course) Motion picture industry lives here. Started in the 1900's with silent movie productions. Then came MGM who later became Columbia and of course, Sony followed suit. Today- in the 2020's, you'd go to Culver City for food, fun and fellowship. Tours of old Culver City available for you to absorb its rich history. Many eateries, much shopping, much history! NUFF SAID. Go there or be square. (note- Central to almost all things West LA. about 15 minutes outside of LAX, another 15 minutes north to the Getty Center, Jump on the 10 West and you can visit sister city Santa Monica and I can go on and on and on)

I went on May 3 and it was a beautiful surprise while on my run. It isn't a real zoo, just a home…read morewith magical animals on the yard. Sad to see they have been removed.

This is now mostly empty. I suspect that as part of the sale they needed to be removed or the old…read moreowners took them with them. There's two sheep and a baby tiger left. And one of those weird angels that used to dot the city.

One of the most vibrant food spots in the city. Awesome night spot with people walking the block…read moreand outdoor eating. Interesting shops. One of my favorite streets in LA. Seems safe. Save time for parking. So many choices for food and desert close together within walking. Go to dinner at one spot and desert at another.

I'm originally from Japan. When I need to buy or eat anything Japanese, I always go to Sawtelle…read moreinstead of Little Tokyo in downtown. You can find virtually anything Japanese you want in Sawtelle. It's easy to find parking and often free parking. It feels so much safer than downtown. My two most frequent businesses, Daiso and Nijiya Market, are in the same building. Right across the street from that building is another small strip mall with many restaurants. I highly recommend that you visit Sawtelle if you haven't already to experience Japan while in Southern California.

Love this place..every year the line up of musicians are worth the wait…read more Yayayayayyayay

The Culver City Summer Music Festival is A LOT smaller when you compare it to the Santa Monica…read moreTwilight Dance Series. Both are free concerts that occur on Thursdays in the summer. I prefer the Santa Monica concert more, because it's at the pier. Or, you can also watch the concert on a megascreen on the beach! The Culver City concert is located at city hall. Minimal grass space. Mostly concrete for you to sit on. There is free parking underneath city hall. Or you can park at the nearby Culver City Garages for 2 hours free. We got there at 6:30, when the concert was scheduled to arrive at 7. There was no place to sit. Every inch was taken. There isn't too many places to stand either, without blocking the sea of people sitting down. Luckily we managed to find a tiny spot in between two groups near the stage. If you get there early enough, the city of Culver City puts out chairs right in front of the stage for people to sit on. (About.. 30-40?) I don't know if I would come back. It's nice. And parking was relatively painless. And the concerts in Culver City have better acoustics. I guess I would . . . if there was a good band playing that night. *Two thumbs up*

The quintessential place to go when you're in LA. Such great history here-opened in the 1930s. My…read moreparents used to bring out-of-state guests here when I was a kid. It has changed a lot since then but still has most of its 20th century charm. I remember spotting TV actors very often when we'd be there in the 1960s. I looked in just about every store. There's lots of fresh (and exotic) produce. There's a French store, meat market, empanada store, souvenir store and even an old fashioned camera (with film) store. My favorites, as always, are the baked goods and candy. And I saw a $200 jar of honey! Literally something for everyone. There's a noodle place I'm gonna try next time for sure. I started out at DuPars for a short stack of their famous pancakes and life will never be the same! In LA, parking is hard to find and expensive! But here the first 90 minutes are free if you get validated. I love this market. And I cannot wait to return. When you're in Los Angeles, you should stop in.

The Farmers Market on 3rd and Fairfax is a legendary bazar type of setup with restaurants cafes and…read moreshops galore. There is literally something for everyone here, so if your group has split decisions about what to eat the Farmers Market is a great option.