Culver City’s fifth annual Pride Ride and Rally drew almost a thousand cyclists around the streets of the city, in a line more than a mile long. The June 28, 2025 celebration has grown larger every year, but this year was more than twice as large as 2024. Parents, partners, children, friends and lovers all waved bubble wands and flags, rang bells, and cheered as the ride wove from Syd Kronenthal Park down to Duquesne and then back up Culver Boulevard to the downtown plaza.
Booths lined the walkway from the picnic tables past the studio gates, offering info on everything from mental health connections to Pride Month Tap cards.
At the microphone, Vice Mayor Freddie Puza welcomed the crowd, and thanked the volunteer event organizers who had worked for many months behind the scenes, making it all possible; Jack Galanty, Jill Young, Phoebe Garfinkel and Chris Michel were all applauded for their work.
The Culver City Pride Community Builder Award went to Shifra Teitelbaum and her spouse Melissa Minkin, for their work in helping to create the Saturday rallies at City Hall that have kept crowds protesting with Indivisible.
Council member Yasmine Imani McMorrin told the crowd how a Girl Scout had asked her what the city did to support the LGBTQ residents,, and McMorrin – who could not think of anything when asked – decided the city could do better. “And so here we are, just five years down the road, with this amazing celebration!”
Hundreds of those who biked in stayed for the party, and the event was an exclamation point at the end of Pride Month that filled the downtown plaza with fun. Freak Nature Puppet Collective got some laughs with a performance of people-sized puppetry, and performances by Warluxe and Moe Roberts capped the evening with music.
Judith Martin-Straw
Photo – Mayor Dan O’Brien with Council members Bubba Fish, Yasmine Imani McMorrin, and Vice Mayor Freddy Puza at the Pride Ride rally
