You Made It This Far
The only public dog park in Culver City. It came together as a result of collective action taken by a handful of pooch lovers. See our story below but we encourage everyone to chip in via the Donation link to support the upkeep and upgrades to the park.
Our Story
It started back in July 2001 when six people meet at Culver City Park to discuss forming a group to bring a dog park to Culver City. A month or so later representatives of this group appeared before the Human Services and Parks Commission. The group started the official process of establishing their name as 'Friends of the Culver City Dog Park (FCCDP)' and all the legalities that go with registering itself as a non-profit. Over the next couple months the group met with the city's Human Services Commissioners to discuss options for sites, requirements, and ideas. Over the subsequent 6 months FCCDP met with local groups, business community members, and the city engineer to strengthen support and collect ideas for the park.
In April 2002 the group made a presentation to the city's Human Services and Parks Commission which passes a resolution to go to City Council "reserving" the Boneyard as the site for development of an off-leash Dog Park. A few days later is when 'culvercitydogpark.org' was made public.
Partial view of proposed site April, 2002
A year later, in April 2003, the City Council voted 5-0 to officially designate The Bone Yard area of Culver City Park for development of a Dog Park. A few weeks later the "Future Home of Dog Park" sign got unveiled at City Hall, and posted at The Boneyard.
Many council meetings, EPA inspections, fundraisers, cleanups, oil pipe removal, and meetings later, Valleycrest was given the contract in July 2005 and build the park.
Fundraising for the park at Fiesta La Ballona
Craig Sperber, Jim Hellinger and their crew at ValleyCrest that made this possible
Volunteers at the Park Bash, circa 2004
Permits are issued and work begins in October 2005. Testing of the park is done in December, and the final City inspections occur in February 2006 for opening.
Partial view of the park, circa Dec 2005
The park officially opened in April 2006.
Opening day, circa April 2006
Grand Opening flyer
Click here for the archived detailed history of events leading to the park's opening
Click here to see our bylaws
The People
Pictures of people that made the park a reality
Past and present Board members
Friends of the Culver City Dog Park Board Members, October, 2004
Front row: Rich Kissel, Vicki Daly Redholtz, Michael Whitaker, Amy Morgenstern
Back Row: Peter Vogel, Dean Gebroe, Peggy Okuneff, Jeff Cooper
Missing in Action: Emily MacRae
Speaker of the Assembly Emeritus Herb Wesson presenting a Certificate of Appreciation from the Assembly and from State Senator Kevin Murray to Friends of the Culver City Dog Park Chair, Vicki Daly Redholtz at Boneyard Bash on 2nd October 2004.
Members of the past and present Friends of the Culver City Dog Park Board of Directors