October 1971 - KCET Moves to Historic Sunset Blvd Studio Lot

In October 1971, KCET completed the move from its leased facility on 1313 North Vine Street in Hollywood to a 3.5 acre historic studio lot on 4401 Sunset Boulevard, located on the cusp of the East Hollywood and Los Feliz communities.

With a need for more soundstage space for productions such as "Hollywood Television Theater" and a new network affiliation, KCET sought a new home two and a half miles due east, in a studio lot that had been producing film productions since the silent movie era in 1912, most notably the home of Monogram/Allied Artists Pictures from the 1930s to the 1950s.

The new studio featured two large soundstages, for all of KCET's productions, which were also available to outside production companies to rent. The lot also contained ample real estate for broadcasting infrastructure, expansion, and on-site parking.

The purchase of the new studio was made possible with a $2.5 million loan from the Ford Foundation and a $500,000 grant from the Michael J. Connell Foundation.

From 1975 to 1977, a new administration building was constructed on the west side of the lot for the station's offices. In 1978, the lot was declared a Historic-Cultural Monument by the City of Los Angeles, and in the 1990s, the lot went under a major landscaping/renovation project, and the construction of the Educational Telecommunications Center. KCET sold the Sunset Boulevard Studios in 2011 to the Church of Scientology and moved to a new state-of-the-art facility in Burbank after it ended its affiliation with the Public Broadcasting Service.