CULVER CITY, Calif. â€" Once best known for hosting the Munchkins during the "Wizard of Oz" filming, the Culver Hotel offers a unique, affordable alternative to the dreary cookie-cutter chains surrounding
Disneyland or other attractions of the Los Angeles area. In the bargain, you stay in a place steeped in Hollywood history.
The 1924 hotel is seven miles from Los Angeles International Airport, in the middle of a melange of old and new Hollywood, including the historic Sony Pictures Studios, site of the Yellow Brick Road and offering daily tours. Savvy civic redevelopment has created a theater district on Washington Boulevard, and restaurants of every price range are in walking distance.
Those wary of driving on freeways can take surface streets to Santa Monica Bay (shown weekly in the opening montage of ABC's "Private Practice"). You can walk from the hotel to the Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook and get a stunning view.
The hotel's history is rife with rumors and legends, some of them true. Most of the 124 "little people" playing Munchkins stayed there in 1938 while "Wizard of Oz" was filmed. In that same year, "Gone With the Wind" was shot at the same studio.
Stars from the affable Ronald Reagan to the reclusive Greta Garbo had extended stays there, but the hotel fell into disrepair as the studio system economy declined. A full renovation was finished in 1997, and the hotel was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Today it is a beautiful mix of antiques, burnished wood and historic photos.
"The Culver transports the traveler back in time," said producer Jon Katzman, who is more than familiar with the hotel's history as the third generation of his family in the movie business. "Throughout the hotel's idiosyncratic nooks and crannies, one can feel the history as if stars and starlets were sipping mint juleps across the hallway."
Culver Hotel, 9400 Culver Blvd., 888-328-5837, culverhotel.com.
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