Added to the National Register of Historic Places on February 12, 1987

Any film history greenhorn can tell you that Citizen Kane was inspired by the life of newspaper mogul William Randolph Hearst. But did you know that Citizen Kane was shot in part in Culver City, at the historic Culver Studios? And that Culver City had its own hometown Hearst in one Eugene Donovan, publisher of The Citizen newspaper beginning in 1929? 

Donovan and his wife Catherine (affectionately known as “Kitty”) were originally from San Francisco, and moved to Culver City after the great San Francisco earthquake of 1906. They had published a local rag in their adopted home called the Western Citizen since 1923, with their son Roy overseeing a separate business, the imaginatively named News Printing Company. In the late ‘20s, the family decided to bring both companies under one roof. So in 1927 they bought a plot of empty land at 9355 Culver Boulevard, hired architect Orville E. Clark to design them a home base, and brought on the construction firm of O’Hanlon & Flansburg to build it. 

At a time when women rarely participated in building design, the Citizen Publishing Company Building was an exception. Clark based his blueprints on ideas presented to him by Kitty Donovan; they are both credited with the design. Clark and the contractors were instructed to build the Citizen Publishing Company Building according to San Francisco building codes, which had become much more stringent in the wake of the earthquake of 1906. That meant using more expensive reinforced concrete and reinforced brick. Eugene Donovan also stipulated that construction materials should be procured from local businesses wherever possible. The lumber, hardware, paint, metal and Spanish tile all came from companies based in Culver City. Ever the local boosters, the Donovans were!

Orville Clark had previously designed Culver City Hall (now demolished) and the Culver City Fire Station in a monumental beaux arts style. He brought a similar treatment to the Citizen Publishing Company Building, with its two-story arch and imposing stone facade, accented by long bands of decorative floral stonework running up both sides and across the top. Adding some art deco flair is a hanging chandelier that lights the entrance.

Everything I’ve read suggests that the facade was the most ingratiating part of the building by far. Once you got beyond the built-in reception counter and checkerboard floor of the lobby, things got pretty industrial pretty quick – the entire rear space was taken up with printing presses, cutters, linotype machines, trimmers, routers, stitchers and all the accouterments of the printing and binding professions. The western exterior wall is covered in simple brick and metal sash windows.

The Citizen printed its first issue on December 1, 1929, and soon became Culver City’s paper of record. According to the inscription on the plaque next to the front door, it was “Dedicated in perpetuity to the service of the people that no good cause shall lack a champion and that evil shall not thrive unopposed.” Grandiose perhaps, but the paper did champion plenty of civic reform in Culver City, both small and large-scale. Donovan’s staff wrote editorial pieces advocating for better buses, zoning updates, more responsive police and fire departments, improved street lighting, that sort of thing. Donovan also served for years on the Culver City Chamber of Commerce, and put his money where his mouth was. The one-story building just east of the Citizen building, now home to Chicas Tacos, was built by the Donovans as a state employment office during the Great Depression. Eugene Donovan even served as Selective Service Commissioner during WWII.

One of The Citizen’s most passionately fought battles was for increased recognition of Culver City’s role in the film industry. This was the home of bigtime movie studios like MGM, RKO, De Mille Studios, Pathé Studios, Desilu Studios, Sony Pictures and more. In addition to the aforementioned Citizen Kane, classics like Gone with the Wind, The Wizard of Oz and Singin’ in the Rain were shot on sound stages within Culver City’s bounds. 

In 1934, The Citizen started a contest to crowdsource a new name for Culver City that would highlight its role in moviemaking. The campaign failed, and just as well. If the readers had their way, you’d be taking your dates to “downtown Cinema City” or “that great burger joint in Filmville.” No thanks.

But the Citizens Publishing Company did continue to work hand-in-hand with the local film industry, in addition to their weekly newspaper work. If you saw a newspaper spinning towards the camera in a movie made in the ‘30s through the ‘50s, chances are that the Citizen Publishing Company printed it. The Donovans were adept at matching the language and font of any sample paper that a studio required. They knew what they were doing – for 42 years, Eugene was an active member of the International Typographical Union, even serving as the union’s western US rep for a while. 

The Citizen Publishing Company building was the second Culver City site to be added to the National Register of Historic Places (after the Ivy Park Substation, home of the Actors’ Gang since 1981). In 2020 developer RM/d, the same folks behind the Americana at Brand and the revitalization of Grand Central Market, adaptively reused the building into a comfortable, super chic food hall. Thankfully, Rick Moses & crew preserved much of the industrial feel of the building, and some of its distinctive features. You’ll still find black and white checkerboard tiles in the entrance hall, and it looks like the original wrought iron banister is still in place. Except now it leads up to a swank bar and rooftop patio, instead of Donovan’s private offices. 

Sources & Recommended Reading

+ Citizen Publishing Company’s NRHP nomination form

+ Citizen Public Market: Story (CitizenPublicMarket.com)

+ Citizen Public Market (LA Conservancy)

+ CCFoodie: “Long Anticipated Food Hall – Citizen Public Market Opens its Doors” (Culver City Crossroads, November 18, 2020)

+ Elliott, Farley: “Culver City’s Marble-Lined Food Hall Conjures Old World European Charm” (Eater LA, November 12, 2020)

+ Hirabayashi, Bernice: “For Sony Films, a New Ending and Beginning (Los Angeles Times, November 28, 1991 – access via ProQuest)

+ Historic Site #4: The Citizen Building (Culver City Historical Society) 

+ Fletcher, Russell Holmes, ed: Who’s Who in California, Vol. 1, 1942-1943 (Who’s Who Publications Company, 1941 – accessed via Internet Archive)