Can’t believe it took me 5 years of living in this area to finally make it to this particular artwalk last night (9/10/11). I’ve hit up the nearby Culver City Arts District Washington Blvd. gallery openings many times, but somehow didn’t strike out onto the hip, emerging or venerable galleries dotting the La Cienega Blvd. curve between Venice and Washington yet. The Culver City Fall Season Inaugural was my maiden voyage. And if you’re gonna get introduced to this stretch of galleries, doing them all at once through a packed, meandering, illuminated (and yes, slightly inebriated!) ‘happening’ event, this is the way to do it!

Not sure when all this started but if its taken me 5 years to get here I’ll guess that it all started about 10 years ago. Probably gallery owners were seeking alternatives to other gallery nabe high rents. Welcome industrial La Cienega in Culver City, a town that welcomes creative people and their spaces and may issue incentives to arts-based bizness owners. 

Drive by this stretch on any weekday and you’ll speed past what looks like humdrum storefronts with all but invisible signage. But through events like last night’s artwalk I was astounded by how each gallery opens up to its own stunningingly designed space. Galleries that abut each other open up to conjoined patios or courtyards where they hold mutual receptions. So a bar, food or DJ truck entertains and satiates gallery-goers at up to 3 conjoined galleries at once. This encourages socialization and revelry, all of which are a big part of this art crawl.

Living less than 1.5 miles away in a pocket of the city known for its religious Jews, the Culver City arts district is eons away in sensibility. And it was so liberating to extricate myself from this prickly bastion of faith, conservatism and nail-driving halacha to the progressiveness of fine art and the people who love it.

And how could I not harken back to the La Cienega art walks of the 1960’s, when our artist-father took us to enjoy them in their “original” form and place (same street but based northward about 3 miles to an area between Santa Monica and Beverly Blvds.) As memorable as that era was from my then 12-year old eyes, it was likewise important enough for media to memorialize it through books, photos, literature and film.

New millennial art world has brought us La Cienega Blvd. Art Crawl 2.0. And I’m thrilled to be a part of it!