Profile: The Wende Museum
In the early 1990s, the Cold War came to a dramatic end. Since then, historical landmarks have been torn down, statues have been vandalized and documents have been destroyed throughout Eastern Europe.
Founder and Executive Director Justinian Jampol established The Wende Museum and Archive of the Cold War as a non-profit organization in 2002. His mission has been dedicated to acquiring, preserving, and offering access to these materials of Cold War-era Eastern Europe, providing a unique way for students, scholars, journalists and political observers to investigate life and culture under communist rule.
News from the Costume Chair
by Louise Coffey-Webb
Costume Committee Chair
A “Golden” Costume on Display
Just in time for the holidays and a glitzy new year, we have a golden costume on display in the Archive Resource Center.
Those of you who saw Visiting… with Huell Howser: Culver City this Fall, may remember when he looked at a sparkling costume as I lifted it out of its archival box. This costume dates back to 1939, a year often considered to be the finest in the golden age of cinema releases.
From Broadway Serenade
The costume pictured here was worn by Virginia Grey as the character Pearl in the black and white musical, Broadway Serenade (1939). It starred Jeanette MacDonald and Lew Ayers (Dr. Kildare), and was directed and produced by Robert Z. Leonard. The art direction was by the famous Cedric Gibbons, and the women’s costumes were designed by Adrian, who designed for the men. Busby Berkeley directed the finale musical number that featured all-female musicians and his usual over-the-top style.
The costume is a floor length coat-dress made entirely of gold lamé, fully lined in turquoise silk, and featuring Adrian’s signature large puffed sleeves, which in this case are quilted in a diamond pattern. The quilting continues in lines over the shoulders and forearms, and the center front features large lamé-covered buttons.
Be sparkly and bright throughout 2011!
Notes from Your City Historian
by Julie Lugo Cerra
Legion Building Update
The Jewish Home for the Aging held a second community meeting in November to share their plans for a project on Hughes Avenue – the first was held in Dec., 2009. Three Historical Society members attended, Stu Freeman, Catherine Yanda and myself.
The plans which will be submitted to the city move the Brotman Medical Center Emergency Room (ER) to become a part of a consolidated campus on Delmas Terrace. Plans call for the hospital ER and Tower facing Hughes to be demolished. The architectural drawings show the Legion Building as the centerpiece entry to the new structure.
Bob Wayne and the Sunburst Recording Studio
Bob Wayne, founder, director and chief engineer of Culver City’s premier recording studio – Sunburst Recording – enthralled an audience of more than 50 Historical Society members and friends on Wednesday evening, October 20, 2010, with his exploits as a performer and in recording the celebrities of Los Angeles for more than 30 years.
His career began, he explained, 1977 when he founded Sunburst Recording in a converted two-car garage in Westchester. Five years later, he moved the studio to its present location in Culver City on Jefferson Blvd. He described his work as “encompassing a wide array of media (music, film, television, spoken word) and diverse genres (jazz, swing, ska, rock, folk, comedy and children’s).”
Ceremony Remembers Congressman Julian Dixon
Library Ceremony Commemorates Namesake
Julian Dixon devoted himself to public service for almost forty years. After graduating from UCLA, he was elected to the California State Assembly as a Democrat in 1972, and, after serving in that body for three terms, he was then elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from California’s 28th and 32nd Districts. Dixon won re-election to the 107th U.S. Congress, but died of a heart attack in December 2000.
Many sites and institutions have been named in his honor, including the Culver City Julian Dixon Library. On December 8, 2010, a photo plaque of the Congressman was unveiled in the lobby of the library in his memory. The City of Culver City can be extremely proud not only of Congressman Dixon’s work on behalf of our city, but on the high quality of our library.
Reel Culver City
by Marc Wanamaker
Hal Roach Studios’ “Our Gang” Comedies On Location At Palms Station
Since the founding of Culver City, the motion picture industry, which helped found the small city’s location filmmaking in and around the town, was the closest option for location managers.
The Culver City Pacific Electric Station on Washington Boulevard had been used on-and-off for many years by the nearby studios.
CCHS Works Toward Long-term Historical Preservation
For over thirty years, the Culver City Historical Society has focused on safeguarding the unique heritage of our city through designation of specific Historic Sites as well as collecting, maintaining and displaying our wonderful trove of memorabilia and historic documents.
The Society has long been an advocate for preservation programs and measures to ensure that future generations can continue to learn about and appreciate Culver City’s special history. It now behooves us to ask, “Is Historic Preservation in Culver City on stall?”
The last discussion at the City Council, which had been put off for nearly two years, then another month, is still hanging in the balance. There seems to be concern about doing a new survey, although the Council’s direction to apply for Certified Local Government Status and enable the Mills Act Funding in 1991 has not yet been implemented.
General Membership Meeting – Wednesday, January 19th
The Culver City Historical Society’s Winter General Membership Meeting will be held tomorrow night, Wednesday, January 19 at 7:00 p.m. in the Multi-Purpose Room at the Veterans Memorial Building, 4117 Overland Avenue. Please park and enter from the rear of the building.
Justinian Jampol, founder and Executive Director of the Wende Museum and Archive of the Cold War, will describe the collections and artifacts, the Berlin Wall exhibit, and the goals and purposes of this remarkable Culver City facility established in 2002. The Wende Museum preserves the cultural artifacts and personal histories of Cold War-era Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union to inform and inspire a broad understanding of the period and its enduring legacy.
The public is invited to enjoy the free program and students are encouraged to attend. The CCHS Archives & Resource Center (ARC) will be briefly opened following the meeting. Light refreshments will be served.
A Word from Our President
by Stu Freeman
As 2010 fades into the past, I am very happy to report that it was an especially good year for your Historical Society.
We gained many new members, had outstanding attendance at our quarterly programs–and this year’s annual summer picnic was called the best ever! We’ve also enhanced the ARC, adding new display cabinets along with a movie-viewing section.
CCHS Will Feature Founder of Local Cold War Museum
Justinian Jampol, Founder and Director of the Culver City based Wende Museum and Archive of the Cold War, is the featured speaker at the Culver City Historical Society’s general meeting on Wednesday, January 19, 2011 at 7 p.m. in the Multipurpose Room in Veterans Auditorium. The Wende Museum preserves the cultural artifacts and personal histories of Cold War-era Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union to inform and give understanding of that period and its legacy. Jampol will describe the collections and artifacts, the Berlin Wall Display and the purposes and goals of this museum which was established in 2002. More information about this museum can be seen here. (more…)
A Special Message from the Society’s First President
by Cathy Zermeno
I am very proud of how the Culver City Historical Society was officially organized in 1980 and to see how it’s grown into a strong and vital organization, respected by our community and our sister historical societies as well.
It was not an easy task to persuade the City Officials to support us in forming the Society. There had been some earlier attempts with no success.
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