Senior Center moves to reopen alongside California

With the state’s plan to reopen next Tuesday holding steady, the Culver City Senior Center has begun to move towards reopening, starting with limited activities. Seniors are able to pre register for these activities now, which will begin Monday.

In it’s June newsletter, the Senior Center admitted that even after the state fully reopens on June 15, the process of reopening the center fully will not happen overnight.

“In many ways, the reopening process is more like a dimmer than a traditional light switch,” the newsletter read.

The center will start with three in-person programs over the month of June alongside the virtual slate that has been running during the pandemic.

The first is the return of Senior Movie Nights, starting on June 15 with ‘Little Women’ (2019). The two hour, 15 minute feature is based on a story of the same name published in two volumes 1868 and 1869 by American novelist Louisa May Alcott. It follows the story of Jo March and her three sisters as they grow up and become women, and stars Saorise Ronan as Jo March and Emma Watson as her sister Meg.

Movies will be played on Tuesdays and Thursdays every week, but seniors are only allowed to sign up for a single screening each week. Screenings will be limited to 50 people, and will begin at 1 p.m., with staff asking that patrons not arrive for movies before 12:30. Entrance to the movie will be through the doors closest to the parking lot.

Additionally, there will be general safety measures in place for all in-person programs as a precaution against COVID-19, including a temperature check before entering the building.

Social distancing and mask wearing protocols will continue to be enforced, and there will be marked doors and pathways inside the building for seniors to follow

The second program is a “social hour” that will be held Mondays, Wednesdays, and Friday from 10 a.m. to noon and 1 to 3 p.m. As the name suggests, the social hour will serve as a place for seniors to see their friends face to face in a safe environment after many have been stuck inside for over a year.

Participants will be allowed to bring a snack and refreshment with them to this event, and seniors will be allowed to play cards, as long as they are wearing gloves.

This event will be limited to 20 people per time slot, and seniors can only sign up for one time slot each day. With this event being held on the patio, seniors will enter through the large metal gates that lead to the patio.

Finally, ‘Car Bingo’ will be held in the Senior Center Parking Lot on Wednesday, June 30 from 2 to 3 p.m. This unique, socially distanced approach to bingo will assign cards to individual vehicles by their parking space numbers. To hear the numbers being called, participants will tune in to a particular radio channel given at the event to hear the numbers being broadcast by Senior Center staff.

This ‘Car Bingo’ will be limited to 25 vehicles participating, with no more than two people in each vehicle. This event, like the other in-person programs planned at the center, requires pre-registration through the city’s new ActiveNet system.

In order to register with ActiveNet:

Go to anc.apm.activecommunities.com/culvercity/signin

Click ‘Create Account’ in the upper right corner

Enter your email address in the box

Click ‘Next’ in the green box

Enter your first and last name and your date of birth, then create and confirm a password

Click ‘Next’ in the green box

Enter your gender, address, and phone number

Create a security question and answer, then confirm your answer

Check the box next to ‘I am not a robot’

Click ‘Submit’ in the green box.