Culver City may be as close to Oz as you can get. Over there at Sony Pictures Studios is where “The Wizard of Oz” was filmed in 1938. Over here is the century-old Culver Hotel, where the Munchkins stayed.
Sometimes you don’t know where the movie lot ends and the real city begins. To stroll through downtown is to navigate strollers and leashes in this land of babies and dogs. A cup of Philz coffee will set you back $7. A strawberry probiotic smoothie at Erewhon requires a more serious financial commitment of $22.
Amazon, Apple, Pinterest and other tech companies have offices here, but at the start of the workday late Thursday morning in the outdoor plaza known as the Culver Steps, it was hard to find anyone working very hard in the sunshine. Soft jazz played from a speaker on the exterior of the Culver Hotel as more people read books than stared at laptops.
Crime? In a city of nearly 40,000 in the heart of Los Angeles County, surely some of it was happening somewhere at that moment. But amid the smoothies and the waddling toddlers, criminality seemed as real as a Munchkin.
Culver City’s crime rates were thrust into the national spotlight on Wednesday during Attorney General Pam Bondi’s fiery hearing with lawmakers who wanted to press her on her handling of the Epstein files. As Representative Sydney Kamlager-Dove criticized Ms. Bondi, the attorney general went on the attack and suggested that the Democratic congresswoman focus on her district instead.
“Her district includes Culver City, and she’s not talking about any crime in her districts,” Ms. Bondi said to the House Judiciary Committee. “Nothing about helping crime in her district. She’s not even worth getting into the details.”
Clips of the exchange went viral, particularly among Angelenos. Local officials and residents expressed confusion and surprise. Some took to social media to share their scenes from the purported suburban hellscape: overpriced burritos, congested rush-hour traffic, sky-high home values.
“The first thing I thought was, ‘What is she talking about?’” said Bryan Fish, the vice mayor of Culver City, whom everyone calls Bubba but doesn’t look like someone whom everyone calls Bubba. “The only crime here,” he added, “is like the $18 strawberry at Erewhon.”
Holly Mitchell, a county supervisor whose district includes Culver City, said she had been at home with her dog when the exchange popped up on Instagram, where the city’s mayor had posted it. She did a double take.
“I said, ‘Wait, did she just say Culver City?’” Ms. Mitchell said. “That’s funny as hell.”
Crime, of course, is not nonexistent here.
The city reported two murders from January 2022 through September 2025, according to the most recently available data from the Culver City Police Department, and in December, a man was shot and killed near the Sony lot early one morning as he sat in a parked car. In 2024, the last full year of data, there were 25 reported sexual assaults and 115 robberies. And in January, the police arrested a young person accused of an armed robbery near the entrance of a store.
But residents and local leaders said that overall, Culver City feels like a safe place to live, especially for young children and families.
“We’re surrounded by the megatropolis of L.A. city, but we offer so much,” said Freddy Puza, Culver City’s mayor.
In a statement on Thursday, a spokesperson for the Department of Justice said Ms. Bondi had been hoping to talk about crime at the hearing and to discuss an August 2025 case. That case involved a former Culver City after-school recreation employee who was indicted on federal charges of producing sexually explicit photographs of a 7-year-old girl.
“Rep. Kamlager-Dove unfortunately showed no interest in discussing public safety in and around her district, where the DOJ also recently charged 11 people with operating a minor sex trafficking ring on the Figueroa Corridor,” the Justice Department statement read.
In an interview, Ms. Kamlager-Dove used an expletive to describe her surprise at hearing Ms. Bondi’s eagerness to discuss crime in Culver City.
“It is one of the chillest, quietest parts of the district,” Ms. Kamlager-Dove said. “And I thought, this is a lady who’s never been to my district.”
Back on the Culver Steps on Thursday, the rising temperatures commanded locals to shed their outer layers as they milled about the plaza.
Luke Dennerline, a 36-year-old talent agent, lives in Malibu but often spends time in Culver City with his family. He sat beneath an umbrella on a patch of faux grass. “I mean, everyone is smiling and happy,” Mr. Dennerline said, surveying the scene.
He was nearly done with his crushed iced coffee from Erewhon. “We doctored it up a little bit, too,” he said.
The doctoring wasn’t from any booze. There was a carton of pistachio milk on the table.
“It just makes it so creamy,” he explained.
It was that kind of day, on the mean streets of Culver City.
Shawn Hubler contributed reporting.
Nicole Stock reports on internet culture and other lifestyle news for the Style section of The Times.
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