📬 Councilmember Dan O'Brien | Culver City | March 30, 2026

Hello Culver City,

The LA Times called it on Friday: Culver City is becoming a magnet. Apple, Amazon, IKEA, Pinterest, Pop Mart, and more are all planting flags here, and the energy is real. But here's what the headline doesn't capture: the same week a national paper writes about global brands choosing us, a new sushi spot at Ivy Station has a line out the door, the Independent Cities Association holds its board meeting at Amazon Studios right here in town, and hundreds of neighbors fill the Wende Museum garden for a free Book Festival. That's the full picture. The big investment and the small, local moments happening at the same time. That balance is what makes this city worth fighting for.

🏪 Economic Development

🔹 LA Times Feature: Culver City as a Business Magnet: On Friday, the LA Times published a piece on how Culver City has become a destination for major companies and consumers alike. Apple, Amazon, IKEA, Pinterest, and Pop Mart all have a growing presence here, bringing jobs and foot traffic to corridors like Helms and the Hayden Tract. City leadership is working to pair that growth with more housing, stronger support for small businesses, and street redesigns that serve residents and commuters.

→ 🎯 My take: I've been feeling this resurgence for about a year now. Momentum is building, and it's exciting. But as someone who also leads the Chamber, my focus stays on one thing: making sure the independent businesses that built this city's character thrive alongside the new arrivals, not in spite of them. Growth means nothing if it only benefits the biggest names in the room.

👉 Read the Culver City Today coverage

👉 City business resources

🔹 ICA Board Meeting at Amazon Studios: On Friday, I had the privilege of welcoming the Independent Cities Association to Culver City for their first in-person board meeting of the year, hosted at Amazon Studios. The ICA represents 42 member cities across California, and hosting them here was a chance to showcase what Culver City offers at the regional level. Amazon walked us through their plans for expanding Whole Foods into more communities, launching cost-saving pharmacy services, and developing robotaxi technology. The studios themselves are remarkable, and they're made available at no cost to Amazon's sister companies like Audible, Amazon Music, and Prime Video.

→ 💡 What this means: Regional collaboration is how cities our size punch above their weight. When council members and staff from across the state see our city firsthand, those relationships come back around in shared strategies, joint advocacy, and a stronger voice in Sacramento. I'm proud Culver City was the host.

🔹 Sushi Nigiriba Opens at Ivy Station: A new sushi spot has landed at Ivy Station, and it arrived with a full house and a line out the door on its first weekend. Ivy Station continues to fill in as a mixed-use anchor near the E Line, and every new opening adds to the energy of that node. If you haven't checked it out yet, it's worth the visit.

→ 🎯 My take: Restaurants don't just serve food. They create reasons for people to show up, linger, and discover what else is around them. That's exactly what we want happening near transit.

🎨 Arts, Culture & Community

🔹 4th Annual Culver City Book Festival Recap: Yesterday, the Wende Museum garden was packed for the 4th Annual Culver City Book Festival. Free and open to everyone, the event brought together local authors, small presses, literary nonprofits, panel discussions, storytimes for families, and a Women's History Month Poetry River organized by El Martillo Press. Village Well Books & Coffee organized this year's festival, with support from the Culver City Arts Foundation, Beyond Baroque, and the City of Culver City.

→ 🎯 My take: The Wende has been a community anchor for years, and this festival is one of the best things that happens there. Seeing families, readers, and writers fill that courtyard on a Sunday afternoon is a reminder that Culver City's creative depth runs well beyond the studio lots. Thank you to every organizer, volunteer, and attendee who made it happen.

👉 Learn more about the Wende Museum

🔹 Andy Scott: "Monumental" at VEFA Gallery: I had a wonderful time Saturday evening at sculptor Andy Scott's opening night reception in Torrance. Scott is best known for his massive public installations, including the 100-foot-tall Kelpies in Scotland. This exhibit is a more human-sized collection of works, but the craftsmanship and vision are still awe-inspiring. The show runs through May 16.

→ 💡 What this means: Supporting artists and creative spaces, even beyond our city borders, is part of what keeps our region culturally vibrant. If you appreciate sculpture, engineering, or both, this one is worth the drive to Torrance.

👉 View exhibit details at VEFA Gallery

🔹 Women's History Month: As March closes, so does Women's History Month. This year's theme honored women shaping a sustainable future, and Culver City showed up for it, from the Chamber's 10th Annual Women in Business Awards earlier this month to yesterday's Poetry River at the Book Festival. The contributions of women in our community aren't confined to one month, but it matters that we take the time to name them and celebrate them.

📅 Dates & What's Ahead

🔹 Cesar Chavez Day is tomorrow, Tuesday, March 31. A day to honor the legacy of Cesar Chavez and the farmworkers' movement that reshaped labor rights in California and across the country. Culver City's connection to that history runs through our values: equity, community voice, and showing up for the work that needs doing.

🔹 Next City Council Meeting: Monday, April 13 at 7 PM. Agendas post the Wednesday or Thursday prior. Whether you attend in person or tune in virtually, your voice matters.

🔹 Earth Day Elenda Street Activation: Wednesday, April 22. The second annual open-streets event along Elenda between Culver Boulevard and Farragut Drive. Students biking and rolling to school on a car-free street, with community groups and Earth Day education activities. Council approved this earlier in March.

🔹 CCFD Girls Camp: April 18-19. Registration is open. A weekend with our fire department for young women interested in learning firsthand what our firefighters do. Details at culvercity.gov.

👉 City events calendar

🔹 Compost Hub at Syd Kronenthal Park: Next session is Wednesday, April 8, 10 AM to noon. Every 2nd and 4th Wednesday, in partnership with LA Compost. Bring your food scraps. Ten minutes. Real impact.

👉 Environmental programs

🔹 Every Tuesday, 2-7 PM — Downtown Farmers Market. Main Street. Grab produce, support local growers, and say hello to neighbors.

👉 Visit the Farmers Market page

🔹 How to watch and participate in meetings. Agendas post Wednesdays before Monday meetings. You can attend in person or virtually.

👉 How to watch meetings

👉 View Meetings Agendas

🙏 Closing Thought

On a personal note: this past Saturday I completed my first summit hike since my double-meniscus repair surgery. It's only my second since the injury over a year ago. If you've been through anything similar, you know the moment when your body starts giving back what it took. I've learned not to take good health for granted, not because I didn't exercise before, but because I never thought twice about whether I could. Getting almost all the way back has been a lesson in patience and gratitude.

This week reminded me why I do this work. A national paper recognizing what's happening here. Regional leaders touring our city and seeing what we've built. A free book festival in a museum garden. A new restaurant drawing a crowd at a transit hub. None of it happens by accident. It happens because people in this community keep showing up, keep investing, and keep caring.

If something's on your mind, hit reply. That's one of the best ways I stay connected to what's actually happening on the ground.

Together, we can build a stronger, more connected Culver City. Thank you for being part of our community.

Dan O'Brien
Councilmember, Culver City
dan.obrien@culvercity.org