FOX Hills Mall in Culver City is a great place to shop close to LMU. However, I have heard people here call it "ghetto." I do not think this perception of the mall is meant to be hurtful toward the people who regularly go there. Rather, I think the derogatory word comes from the total vibe around Fox Hills Mall. It seems old and run down, the streets are unpaved and the department store buildings like Macy's and JCPenney look like they've been there for decades. The mall had a face lift, or a renovation, a couple years back that made it more appealing to many shoppers in the area. I personally did not know what it was like before the renovation, but now I see a mall that is halfway decent. I say this because it seems as if they only renovated one half of the mall and let the other half be. Why not fix the whole thing so it could lose the stereotype of "ghetto" and get a lot more business? Why does it seem like a mix between old and new, arcadia and utopia?
I happen to be a frequent visitor of this mall. My friends and I like it because it's close, convenient and has a few of the stores we like to shop at. It is the perfect mall for a last minute outfit or if you need to find something fun for a themed event. The mall has popular stores like H&M, Forever 21, Target, Victoria's Secret and recently BCBGeneration, but is also has a ton of fun stores to find items like costumes, fake eyelashes, make-up, jewelry, shoes, etc. Some people who go to the mall just for the main attractions (Target, H&M, Forever 21) miss out on these awesome finds. However, if you ignore the negatives about the mall you can find some interesting and cheap stuff.
Besides the stores and the amazing food court, there is something about the place that makes me want to observe and soak it all in. I believe this is because of the fact that I have often felt as if I was starkly out of place and thrust into a whole new world. I feel like an outsider looking in on a community because many Culver City families frequent the mall. Once I wrote a Lay of the Land piece about sitting in the Starbucks inside of the Target in the mall. I sat there and quietly observed the people coming in and out, ordering coffee or sitting and talking on the phone. What I found, essentially, was family. I get the feeling that some parts of L.A. are not that family-oriented, but this is not the case with Culver City. Whether it was a mother with small children, a whole family together, or someone on the phone with a loved one--I felt a strong sense of family. Not only that, but very diverse families. Within 15 minutes I saw an Indian family, a mother with a child of a different skin tone, black and white families and more.
The intriguing nature of the place, cultural and communal, mixed with the amenities have brought me back here many times. I've been interested in Culver City as a whole for awhile because I'm not from there and I know nothing about the residents, but I want to figure it out. I want to know why there is old and new, different and separated cultures and still a strong community.
Obviously a fan of the mall, I still see many faults and wonder why there is something off about it. Like I said before, I wonder why only a part of the mall has been renovated. They added new stores without fixing the old part of the mall, and the old part is really old. Besides that, the mall is not very welcoming to LMU students. It doesn't need to be because it already has a strong economy backed by the people I have witnessed shopping there all the time. Every time I've been here it is crowded with people, but they all seem to be residents of Culver City who have been going there forever. I've never been scared to be here alone, as I have heard other girls say they felt uncomfortable. It has always been safe regardless of the crowd that hangs out there.
I wish the mall would be less of a "hang out" and more of a mall. If they advertised more to students by having good deals, renovating the old half and adding a movie theater, it could be perfect. But then, would it still be the same cultural meeting place, family oriented and meant for the residents of it's own city. I can't help but think about the sense of the Arcadia/Utopia I get every time I go to Fox Hills. It is more than a mall, in fact it doesn't feel like a mall at all. The only way I can describe it is the feeling of home. It doesn't remind me of my home or hometown particularly, but I can tell it is someone else's home. The same way that the mall at home is my mall, my home, a place I am familiar with; I see with the people at Fox Hills. It's their home. I have found this phenomenon in many of the little communities within Los Angeles. As a new resident of Los Angeles and someone who is thinking about living here even after college, I wonder which community I will fit into and feel at home in.
--Claire Ensey
caption: One Westfield Culver City (Fox Hills) Entrance
credit: Los Angeles Times
Obviously a fan of the mall, I still see many faults and wonder why there is something off about it. Like I said before, I wonder why only a part of the mall has been renovated. They added new stores without fixing the old part of the mall, and the old part is really old. Besides that, the mall is not very welcoming to LMU students. It doesn't need to be because it already has a strong economy backed by the people I have witnessed shopping there all the time. Every time I've been here it is crowded with people, but they all seem to be residents of Culver City who have been going there forever. I've never been scared to be here alone, as I have heard other girls say they felt uncomfortable. It has always been safe regardless of the crowd that hangs out there.
I wish the mall would be less of a "hang out" and more of a mall. If they advertised more to students by having good deals, renovating the old half and adding a movie theater, it could be perfect. But then, would it still be the same cultural meeting place, family oriented and meant for the residents of it's own city. I can't help but think about the sense of the Arcadia/Utopia I get every time I go to Fox Hills. It is more than a mall, in fact it doesn't feel like a mall at all. The only way I can describe it is the feeling of home. It doesn't remind me of my home or hometown particularly, but I can tell it is someone else's home. The same way that the mall at home is my mall, my home, a place I am familiar with; I see with the people at Fox Hills. It's their home. I have found this phenomenon in many of the little communities within Los Angeles. As a new resident of Los Angeles and someone who is thinking about living here even after college, I wonder which community I will fit into and feel at home in.
--Claire Ensey
caption: One Westfield Culver City (Fox Hills) Entrance
credit: Los Angeles Times
