Hollywood Blog

KTLA 70th Anniversary Celebration with Tom Hatten

SPECIAL! SPECIAL! SPECIAL
Thursday, January 26that 7:30 p.m.

Please join Hollywood Heritage for a tribute to 
L.A.'s first television station. 

In January of 1947, Paramount Pictures and engineer Klaus Landsberg launched commercial television in Los Angeles. KTLA was the first station to hit the airwaves and set the course for T.V. in L.A. with a mix of talk shows, wrestling, game shows, and standout music and children's programming. The pioneering station was an early showcase for Lawrence Welk, Jack LaLanne, and Beany & Cecil, and to this day is the home of L.A.'s most watched news.

Our panel of guests includes Tom Hatten, who started at the station in the early 1950s and hosted Popeye and Friends and the Family Film Festival, endearing him to generations of young Angelenos. Landsberg's first wife, journalist Evelyn De Wolfe, and longtime KTLA newsman Joel Tator will join us for a discussion moderated by Hollywood Heritage board member and Los Angeles magazine columnist Chris Nichols. Clips from early programming will be screened. tickets available at brownpapertickets.com or at the door

De Wolfe and George Lewis, authors of Line of Sight: Klaus Landsberg His Life and Vision, and Tator, author of Los Angeles Television will have books available for purchase.