Looking back, my happy childhood memories on the Fourth of July in Culver City began with snakes. While moms were cooking for the neighborhood potluck, dads got the ice cream makers and barbecues in order. We were engrossed with anxious anticipation but our saving grace was the little box of pellets in the Safe and Sane Fireworks box. We gathered at the end of the driveway with a responsible young person, whose charge was to light the match that set off the fat pill-shaped lumps. One at a time, we delighted in the thick, growing, cylindrical charcoal-colored snakes. They blew away as fast as they grew. That was the first sign of celebration on my block.
Dinner was next, followed by our fireworks display, supervised by parents, which meant waving our sparklers in the dark as the elders coordinated the lighting of one cone or firework at a time. At that time, American Legion fireworks stood at busy intersections and, appropriately, Veterans organizations benefitted from the sales. This was long after Culver City Fireworks, Inc. was managed at the home of Dr. Bell’s mother, at 4068a La Fayette Place.
In the mid 1960s, three members of the Culver City Exchange Club – Charles Pratty, Earl Eskridge and John McNally – spearheaded an effort to start an annual community fireworks show at Culver City High’s Helms Field. This was very much in keeping with a major focus of that service club, patriotism. Exchange Club member and former Mayor Richard Alexander purchased his home in the late 1960s across from Helms Field to enjoy the fireworks. At first, the club charged admission, but to better serve the community at large, they now accept donations and sell ads in a commemorative program. Originally, the American Legion financed the pyrotechnics for the show because it had the permits for the fireworks stands.
In the mid-1980s, the Culver City City Council, in response to safety concerns, placed fireworks sales on the ballot, which the public chose to ban for private use. The Exchange Club then turned to the city to finance the fireworks for the free community show.
Today, the fireworks show continues as a partnership. The gates open at 5 p.m. on Monday July 4, with entertainment starting at 6:30 p.m. Fireworks begin at 9 p.m. Attendees can bring a picnic or buy food that will benefit a charitable organization.
Whether it’s a potluck, a newer annual tradition like the kiddie parade on Berryman Avenue or the fireworks show at the high school, here’s hoping for a safe Fourth of July in Culver City in 2011.