LOCALmotion – Jozelle Smith

You can start planning your summer fun in Our Town, for sure: nine performing arts companies are presenting music, dance and theatre in Culver City from June to August! Enjoy concerts from the Jazz Bakery, Culver City Symphony Orchestra and Culver City Chamber Orchestra as well as new work from No Limits Theater Group at the Kirk Douglas Theatre. Be the first to see a new dance concert from Lineage Dance Company or experience profound solo performances from the Los Angeles Women’s Theatre Festival at the intimate Ivy Substation. And take your children to see the tales spun by We Tell Stories at Veterans Memorial Building, The Actors’ Gang at Media Park and Culver City Public Theatre at Carlson Park. These free and affordable performances are made possible in part by the Culver City Performing Arts Grant Program with support from Sony Pictures Entertainment.
This sounds like fun: a family bike ride to the Tuesday afternoon Culver City Farmers’ Market! How about adventuring to the Farmers Market in downtown Culver City, famous among local chefs looking for the best items for their restaurants? Shopping local is a great way to support our community and be more sustainable. Arriving by bike is even better. No cars, traffic, pollution or parking issues. Stock up on treats and sweets with all kinds of fresh items for your pantry. Learn how to make this a regular visit for you and your family! Meet at Carlson Park (Braddock & Le Bourget) at 5:15 p.m. and be ready to roll by 5:30. For more information call Jim Shanman at (310) 204-4346 or visit www.ccwalkandroll.com.
School’s out, and are you wondering just how you can get your kids involved in summer reading? Reading just a little bit everyday can prevent the “summer slide” of reading comprehension that happens between June and September. Taking a trip? Have your child search the internet for things to do at the destination and make a list of their top three activities. Better yet, make them defend their choices to you. Traveling by car? Having your child follow along with a map can not only teach them map reading skills, it might even make them less frustrated with long car rides! Experts agree that one of the best ways to encourage summer reading is to involve your child in the selection of the books that they want to read. Whether it is an addictive book series, comic books, or how-to books (even a sports blog), having your child develop their own list (and then check it off when complete) engages and encourages them to complete summer reading.
If you’re looking for something a little more active for your child over the next couple of months, how about experiencing “Summer at The Plunge” – The Culver City Plunge Summer 2015 schedule started on June 15th, and community recreation swimming hours have been expanded to include the following schedule: Monday – Friday, 12:30 p.m. – 2:45 p.m.; Friday 7:30 p.m. – 8:45 p.m.; Saturday 12:15 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.; and Sunday 1:30 p.m. – 3:45 p.m. The Aquatics staff will be teaching swimming to over 300 adults, infants, and children each day, meeting for two-week sessions Monday-Friday. The cost per session is $50.00 for Culver City residents and $60.00 for non-residents. You can start now with Session II, running from June 29-July 10; Session III July 13-July 24; Session IV from July 27-August 7. For more information, contact the Plunge office at (310) 253-6680. The Culver City Municipal Plunge is located at 4175 Overland Avenue (Veterans Park).
Dr. Janet Hoult, Professor Emerita, CSULA, the author of award-winning poetry books, will be teaching a new class at the Culver City Senior Citizen’s Center titled “Word Painting with Poetry” beginning this Wednesday, July 1. Students will learn about different kinds of poetry and how to write their own poems, discovering “…how to express what’s in your poetic heart and soul” in the class, meeting in the Conference Room on Wednesdays from 3:00 – 4:00 p.m. The Culver City Senior Center is located at the corner of Culver Blvd. and Overland Avenue. As Dr. Hoult expresses, “Come join us on Wednesday, July 1, Class number one will be lots of fun…!”
It’s this Saturday: July 4th , that is – and the gates for the Exchange Club’s 4th of July at West LA College will open at 4:00 with a Midway and Carnival Games. There’ll also be great live music by “Cover 2Cover,” raffle (prizes include a big screen TV, luxury hotel stay, and aerial tour of Los Angeles), and 15+ food trucks. The fireworks will begin at dusk, firing from multiple locations and the “Firefall” is back! Parking on adjacent residential streets will be prohibited but there are spaces on site. Suggested donation to see the show is $5.00 (kids five and under are free), and parking is $10.00, but there’s a special carpool deal: the suggested donation for a carload of four or more guests is $30.00, which covers parking and entrance. If you can squeeze six in your car, you SAVE $10.00 on entrance. Plus CulverCityBus has set up a special route for the day with service from Westfield Culver City Mall right to campus for just $1 per ride!
Enjoying birthday fireworks this week are Linda Thieben, Lucas Case, Kyle Jones, William Sick, Hayden O’Brien, Joe Porrazzo, Vicki Grimsland, Dower Jai Gervais, Heather Barber and Janet Louie. If you’d like to have your (or a friend, neighbor or family member’s) birthday noted here, just send the info to [email protected] and we’ll post it!