The Gabrielino Indians were Culver City's first residents. They were of Shoshonean linguistic stock, and their tribes occupied the Los Angeles area, north of Ventura, down to Riverside and San Bernardino, Orange County and across to the San Clemente Islands. They were a peaceful people, loving to one another and who do not believe in the destruction of human beings, and consequently do not have things to hurt bodies or minds.

Long ago the Gabrielino lived in huts called jacals, or wicki-ups, and used asphaltum (tar) from what is now known as the La Brea Tar Pits to waterproof their baskets and board boats. They were experts in basket making. The Gabrielinos were, and still are, a ceremonious people, the children of Mother Earth. Their religion is monotheistic.

The land offered both food and water. They ate small game, like birds, rats and rabbits, dug for edible roots, and gathered berries and seeds along the creek. They fished using harpoons, spears, bats, or abalone hooks attached to yucca, tule weed or gut strings. They had a monetary system in place before the Spaniards arrived, and a sophisticated vocabulary. Although the Gabrielinos were named because of their proximity to the San Gabriel Mission, their descendants live as far as they can from it, because they felt enslaved by the missions.

Flying Spanish colors, Cabrillo entered the bay of San Diego in 1542, but it was not until 1769 that King Carlos III called for the colonization of California. As Father Junipero trekked north establishing missions, the settlement of Alta California began. It was enhanced by Gov. Felipe de Neve y Perea, who called for pueblos, agricultural communities along rivers, to provide food for the isolated frontier.

One of the "soldados" who helped found the Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de Los Angeles was Jose Manuel Machdo y Yanez. Jose Manuel was stationed at San Gabriel when his first son was born, and later at other locations in southern California. But he returned to Los Angeles, where he lived with his wife and eight of nine children until his death in 1810. Nine years later, his fifth son, Jose Agustin, along with Felipe Talamantes, had difficulty getting a permit to graze cattle. They turned their attention west of the growing pueblo. The 14,000-acre Rancho La Ballona was the result.

The area that later became Culver City was nurtured by Agustin Machado, his brother Ignacio, and Felipe Talamantes and his son, Tomas. They lived first under Spanish, then under Mexican rule (1822) with California becoming part of the United States in 1850.

Land grants were confusing, at best, with boundary disputes unsettled until 1873, three years after Agustin Machado's death. The California Gold Rush had a tremendous effect of this area as new lending practices were introduced. In fact, Tomas Talamantes lost his one-quarter share of Rancho La Ballona due to exorbitant interest rates. The Talamantes family had moved to Rancho Rincon de los Bueyes (Cattle Corner), which became part of the eastern end of Culver City. Ignacio Machado settled with his wife at nearby Canada de Centinela, and Don Agustin Machado became a famous and prosperous rancher and horse trader.

During the Civil War, Camp Latham was established along the Ballona Creek, where the Gabrielino Indians used to fish, and what is now Overland Avenue. As the old ranchos were divided, the population increased, and in 1865-66, La Ballona School celebrated its first school year, a mere seven months of classroom time. Miss Craft, a teacher from Boston, was hired at $50 a month to teach an average daily attendance of 19. In 1874, one could trade with the Saenz Family Dry Goods Store at Overland and Washington, and use the Machado Post Office found inside. The Halfway House, to the east on Washington, offered fine wines and pickles.

In 1883, J. Francisco Figueroa offered land to the Catholic Church, and in 1887, the first church was completed. The locals traditionally attended services at the Old Soldier's Home on Sawtelle or St. Monica's, and so the new church was named St. Augustine's, for St. Monica's son. The little wooden structure has twice been replaced.

The main mode of transportation those days was the horse and buggy. The sleepy little pueblo of Los Angeles had grown from 11 families in 1781, to 2,000 in 1850, and the 1900 census recorded more than 102,000 residents. The spectacular growth in the area was attributed to climate, transportation (the railroad), publicity, and the development of aqueducts to carry water from the interior regions. The transcontinental railroad, linked east to west in 1769, then Los Angeles to San Francisco in 1876. Real estate developers started the "short lines," inter-urban trolleys became a familiar sight downtown, and Pacific Electric became the largest inter-urban system in the United States.

Culver City was founded on one of its junctions.

"The Palms" subdivision was recorded in 1886. There was competition for Los Angeles' harbor, and at the turn of the century, Long Beach/San Pedro was the choice over "Port Ballona," which became Playa del Rey in 1902. Two years later, Abbot Kinney began acquiring land and mapped out a strategy for his resort, Venice in America. Venice's amusement pier drew large crowds for entertainment.