Venue: Ivy Substation
Town: Los Angeles, US
Capacity: 99

Ivy Substation (also known as the Ivy Park Substation or Culver Substation) is a 99-seat theatre in Palms, Los Angeles, adjacent to the city of Culver City, California. The building was formerly a traction power substation for nearby interurban rail lines, and was converted to a theatre in the 1990s. The building was designated as a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument in 1978, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1981. The former substation is owned by the city of Los Angeles and managed by Culver City. Since 2005, it has been the home of experimental theatre company The Actors' Gang. The Ivy Substation is a single-story, rectangular-shaped building in the Mission Revival style. It was built in 1907 as a traction substation by the Los Angeles Pacific Railway (LAP), which subsequently became part of the Pacific Electric (PE) railway in 1911. The substation was constructed near the intersection of three streetcar and interurban lines: the Venice Short Line, the Redondo Beach via Playa del Rey Line, and the Santa Monica Air Line. The Ivy Substation opened during an era of expansion for the LAP and later the PE, and replaced a smaller substation building. During its service with the PE, the Ivy Substation contained two 1300-kilowatt rotary converters. The substation converted high-voltage alternating current to 600 volts direct current for use by trains, which drew power from overhead lines above the tracks. The three rail lines that drew power from the substation were converted to buses in the 1940s and 1950s. Passenger services on the Santa Monica Air Line, the final line adjacent to the substation, ended in 1953. The few remaining freight trains over the Santa Monica Air Line were hauled by diesel locomotives. After the end of interurban service, the electrical equipment was removed. The building was purchased by the city of Los Angeles in 1977, using funds from gas tax revenue. It was designated as a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument