Creating "Packaged Tours" of Culver City

Darryl Cherness

Culver City takes great pride in referring to itself as the “Heart of Screenland.” Unfortunately, our community has done very little to promote our motion picture and television heritage. The real challenge for the residents of Culver City is how to exploit our heritage to generate revenue and jobs for our City during this difficult economic time. Here are my proposals to address this issue:

Proposal #1

I propose that “packaged tours” be established that focus on Culver City’s motion picture and television heritage (i.e. Gone with the Wind, the Wizard of Oz, Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune, etc.). I call these tours “The Heart of Screenland Tours.” The tours, as I envision it, would consist of a walking tour of Sony Studios, lunch at a downtown restaurant, a taping of “Wheel of Fortune” or “Jeopardy,” and a night’s stay at the historic Culver Hotel.

Financial Advantages to the City

Tours, such as the one I have proposed, would bring multiple sources of revenue to the City. For example, the tour operator would have to pay an initial license fee to operate in Culver City. Moreover, the tour operator would have to pay annual taxes to the City based on gross revenue. In addition, lunches at a downtown restaurant would generate sales tax, and a night’s stay at the Culver Hotel would generate “bed tax” revenue. The City may also want to consider an “entertainment tax” (this is used by some cities for live entertainment) that could be tacked on to the fee charged by Sony Studios for the walking tour.

Political Considerations

The tours that I have proposed cannot be implemented without broad, community based support. While the tours would be privately operated and would not require City Council approval, it would seem to me that the support of 3 members of the City Council would make it easier to “sell” the concept to the community. It is imperative that this plan have the support of all the major stakeholders in the community including the Chamber of Commerce, the Downtown Business Association, the Culver City Historical Society, and, of course, Sony Studios, which is an integral part of the tours. Concerned citizens need to write or phone the members of the City Council as well as these organizations to generate support for the tours concept.

Once consensus is achieved within the City Council, among the stakeholders, and with Sony Studios, the next step would be to establish an organization or committee to negotiate with a tour operator and demonstrate to the operator how establishing these tours would be financially lucrative.

Marketing

The tours could be promoted not only by the commercial tour operator, but could also be promoted by the Chamber of Commerce or some other City organization. Ads, for example, could be run in Westways Magazine. In addition, there will be thousands of people boarding and disembarking from the Expo Line at National and Robertson when the station opens this summer. What’s to prevent the City, the Chamber, or some other organization, or citizen volunteers from passing out brochures about the tour to commuters? With proper marketing, thousands of tourists could be attracted to Culver City annually, creating jobs and revenue for Culver City.

Proposal #2

During the recent City Council campaign, there was a great deal of discussion about creating a “cultural corridor” in Culver City that would consist of the Wende and the Mayme A. Clayton Museums (the Wende consists of “cold war” artifacts, and Mayme A Clayton Museum is an African American Museum).

My proposal, to establish “package tours” of the museums, would be similar to “The Heart of Screenland Tours.” The tours would consist of a tour of the museums, lunch at a downtown restaurant, and a night’s stay at the historic Culver Hotel.

Many of the same financial advantages that apply to “The Heart of Screenland Tours” would apply to the museum tours. In regard to marketing, an integrated approach needs to be employed that focuses on both tours, not just one. The reason why I suggest two tours is for a very simple reason: It’s simply not possible for one tour to do all of the above.

Conclusion

The proposed tours offer a real opportunity to educate tourists all over America and throughout the world about Culver City’s exciting motion picture and television heritage. In addition, tourists will learn about the unique museums located in Culver City. Moreover, the tours offer a real opportunity for the City to generate multiple sources of new revenue at a time when Culver City desperately needs that revenue. The time for the tours is now. With your help, we can make these tours a reality.

Darryl Cherness is the Former President of the Culver City Democratic Club.