The recent visit of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge last week served as a reminder that Culver City has acted as a magnet for distinguished visitors from early times. Even before the city was known as the Heart of Screenland(1930s), Thomas Ince, who built the first two major studios in Culver City, hosted many who were exploring the movie industry as an economic tool.
Ince, who began as a stage actor at age six, frowned upon the movie industry early in his career. It was economics that made him change his mind. He took to the emerging film industry in 1910 when he began to make a name for himself in a variety of areas, from producer, director and screenwriter to actor. His wife, Elinor, told of his hands-on approach that included film editing at home on their kitchen table.
Ince was headquartered at his Inceville Studio along the coast when Harry Culver saw him filming on location at Ballona Creek. Culver enticed Ince to move to Culver City. Ince’s first local studio broke ground in 1915 as Ince/Triangle Studios (now Sony Pictures Studios), followed by his Thomas H. Ince Studios in 1919, further east on Washington Boulevard. That studio, now The Culver Studios, hosted royal visitors in its first year. The first royal guests were from Belgium – Queen Elisabeth, King Albert I and their son, Prince Leopold III.
And so history repeats itself. On their whirlwind trip, the newlywed royal visitors from England took time to socialize with British and local movie industry folks last week. On Sunday, Prince William and Duchess Kate stopped by historic Stage 15 (The Wizard of Oz, High Society, Air Force One) at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City in support of a Service Nation job fair for veterans.