The Former KCET Studios from “L.A. Story”

While perusing through my extensive backlog of stalking photographs recently, I realized that there were a few L.A. Story locales that I had yet to blog about, one of which was the former site of KCET Studios in Los Feliz, where Harris K. Telemacher (Steve Martin) worked in the 1991 comedy.  I had actually stalked the spot way back in May, but, for whatever reason, never got around to writing about it.  So here goes.

The 4.5-acre lot located at 4401 Sunset Boulevard in Los Feliz has been the site of a moviemaking facility just shy of one hundred years.  The first studio to be established there was Lubin Manufacturing Company in 1912, which was founded by film producer Siegmund Lubin to create educational videos.  After he sold the location in 1913, it changed hands numerous times and then was eventually purchased by an actor named Charles Ray in 1920.  Ray built several red brick structures on the premises, most of which still stand to this day.  He also constructed a cutting-edge soundstage with a glass-enclosed stage, glass roof, removable sides, a water tank, and extensive electrical equipment.  Amazingly, that soundstage, known as Studio A, is still currently in use.  When Charles Ray Productions went bankrupt in 1923, the locale again went through a succession of different owners including Monogram Pictures, Allied Artists, and ColorVision.  In 1971, KCET purchased the facility for $800,000.  The company remained there for the next 40 years.

The studio, which was named a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument in 1978, was acquired by the Church of Scientology to be used as one of their “production of religious and social betterment audiovisual properties” in April 2011.

In L.A. Story, KCET Studios stood in for the KYOY 14 news facilities. The exterior of the structure was shown in one of the movie’s opening scenes, in which Harris arrived at work to give his daily wacky weather report.  In the scene, he drove through the studio’s east entrance, which is located near 1441 North Hoover Street.

I am fairly certain that the area where Harris parked his car in the scene is on the studio’s north side, near the intersection of Sunset Drive and North Commonwealth Avenue.  I could not match the exact angle of the screen capture below being that the spot where Harris parked is located on the studio grounds, but I believe the street visible behind him is North Commonwealth Avenue.

And that the satellite pictured below is the one he parked next to.

The interior of one of the studio’s soundstages was also used as the KYOY 14 news set in the film.

Thanks to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, I learned that the exterior of the former KCET Studios was also featured as the City Emergency Hospital where Dr. Miles J. Bennell (Kevin McCarthy) was evaluated in the 1956 horror flick Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

I believe that the area used as the hospital entrance is the gate located near 4368 Sunset Drive, just east of where Harris parked his car in L.A. Story.

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Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: The former KCET Studios, from L.A. Story, is located at 4401 Sunset Boulevard in Los Feliz.  The entrance that Harris drove through in the flick can be found near 1441 North Hoover Street, in between Fountain Avenue and Sunset Drive.  The area where he parked is located just south of the intersection of Sunset Drive and North Commonwealth Avenue.  The City Emergency Hospital gate from Invasion of the Body Snatchers can be found near 4368 Sunset Drive, slightly east of where Harris parked his car in L.A. Story.

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