To keep alive the flame that was imaginatively lit almost a century ago by Founding Father Harry Culver, for history to unfold, there had to be latter-day residents who would ooze with pride over the community fire that Mr. Culver started .
They came by the crowd-ful yesterday to a special birthday party.
• Joy Jacobs, one of many still active founding members of the Culver City Historical Society from 32 years ago, and often the public face of the Society these days.
• Julie Lugo Cerra, the reigning queen of Culver City and the undisputed steward of all that is factual, dating back to the dawn of her family’s history on this land in the 19th century.
• Fred Iglesias, a very active pillar of the Society, only a decade younger than 95-year-old Culver City.
• Cathy Zermeno, Founding President of the Society, whose life is packed with admirable milestones that include 68 years of marriage.
• Musical maven Stephen Fry and his wife Frances Talbott-White, typical of longtime residents for whom Culver City is not so much an address as an embedded way of life.
• Mayor Andy Weissman, who crowded into the bulging lobby of The Culver Hotel to wish Culver City a Happy 95th not because he is the political leader of the community but because he loves his hometown.
Over the din of yesterday’s birthday party/fundraiser for the Historical Society, beneath the banner, “Meet Me in Culver City,” Ms. Jacobs, the Communications Chair, reported that “the Society is doing very well” in the face of myriad human and structural changes in recent years.
For newcomers to Culver City, Ms. Jacobs said, the Historical Society also has been a magnet.
“We have been blessed also to have a number of younger members,” she said. “In fact, the chair of today’s event is the Vice President of Ways and Means, Michelle Bernardin.”
Such persons as Ms. Bernardin “contribute many good ideas.”
And they keep the blood of the Historical Society fresh and flowing as rapidly as Culver City blood did on a memorable day 95 years ago.
