KCET Studios - KCET

KCET

In July 1970, the 3.5-acre (14,000 m2) site was purchased by Los Angeles public television station KCET for $800,000. In November 1971, KCET dedicated its renovated $3.2 million studio facilities. At the time, the studios were the largest in public television and were intended to be used as the West Coast production center for public television. In 1975, KCET announced plans to build a new $1.5 million brick administration building on the site. KCET has used the Sunset Boulevard studio facilities to create numerous productions, including Carl Sagan's acclaimed series "Cosmos", Steve Allen's "Meeting of Minds", "California's Gold", and "Visiting...with Huell Howser".

In 1979, while demonstrating a karate kick, a KCET employee kicked a hole in the wall. A maintenance manager assigned to repair the hole noticed an arched brick wall and column behind the wallboard. The wallboard was removed and uncovered the ornate exterior of a little theater built in the 1920s. The exterior, consisting of two brick facades and six columns, had been built in the silent era and was later covered with wallboard to improve the acoustics for screening sound pictures.

In March 2011, the Los Angeles Times reported that KCET was in negotiations to sell the studio to the Church of Scientology. ON April 25, 2011, KCET confirmed the sale, at an undisclosed price, and with an expectation that KCET would relocate to other production facilities in about one year. The Church of Scientology said that it expected to use the facilities to produce videos and internet content, and would use its satellite uplink facilities for high definition video transmissions.