After standing, or lying down, at parade rest for a quarter century, the Natatorium is saying goodbye to Culver City.

School District Supt. Josh Arnold announced that – mercifully, in the view of many – the low-slung former swimming emporium will be torn down this summer.

Next summer, the almost legendary Natatorium will be replaced by a gleaming eight-room, two-story science building.

It will serve students from the Middle School and Culver City High School, Dr. Arnold said.

A relative relic from the 1970s, the Natatorium dried up as a swimming venue in the early 1990s.

Its usefulness never fully evaporated.

In the absence of a bank, birds hoping to make deposits, found the Natatorium a friendly, if silent, recipient.

The Natatorium has packed a low-profile most but not all of the time.

Former School Board candidate Robert Zirgulis tirelessly championed its resurrection during his campaigns.

Otherwise, few community members have produced