Retro Friday: Christmas in Los Angeles

Hollywood Blvd. decked out for Christmas in the 1940s



Studio City Christmas Parade, circa 1965. Among the celebrities in this amateur film: Jayne Mansfield and children (including daughter Mariska Hargitay as a child).



From Los Angeles' KNXT-TV Channel 2 in 1957, it's "The Music of Christmas," featuring "Bill Hollingsworth and His Teen-Age Orchestra"

Retro Friday: 1979 L.A. TV Remembers The Red Cars

As we celebrate the opening of the Metro's Expo Line next weekend, L.A. finally gets light rail service to West L.A. for the first time since the Red Cars were shut down. Here's Channel 2's "Two on the Town" in 1979, remembering the old Pacific Electric Red Car system and lamenting the lack of a rapid transit system (and visiting the Orange Empire Railway Museum in Perris). (Things have improved, obviously.)

Retro Friday: L.A. TV I.D.s Over the Years

For the TV geek in all of us... the IdentChannel page on YouTube has compiled the logos through the years for local TV stations across the country. Above, the logos from 1939 to now for KTLA Channel 5.



KABC-Channel 7.



KNBC-Channel 4.



KTTV- Channel 11.



KCOP-Channel 13.



KCAL-Channel 9.



KCBS-Channel 2.

Wait, Who's That Interchange Named After? 'Ida Know.'

Like me, you may have been stuck inching along the 110, approaching the Four-Level Interchange with the 101 when you see this sign: Bill Keene Memorial Interchange.

What? Why would Caltrans name a freeway interchange after the creator of one of the least funny comic strips in history, "Family Circus"?

What again? Oh. Apparently the creator of "Family Cirus" is actually a guy named Bil Keane.

The Bill Keene Memorial Interchange was actually named after a former KNXT-TV and KNX radio reporter, who applied several nicknames to it over the years. Kind of an unusual choice to name an interchange, complete with sign (above) -- after someone in the media.

Retro Friday: 1950s L.A. TV, Including Johnny Carson

Before hosting "The Tonight Show," Johnny Carson's resume included hosting a show here in L.A. on local KNXT-TV (Channel 2, now known as KCBS) in 1951 and 1952: "Carson's Cellar."

Here's how the Museum of Broadcast Communication's Encyclopedia of Television describes the show: "Relocating to Hollywood in the early 1950s, Carson's television career took a step forward with his weekly low budget series, Carson's Cellar, on CBS' KNXT. Performing monologues and satirical sketches reminiscent of his later work, Carson attracted the attention of such stars as Fred Allen, Groucho Marx and Red Skelton--all of whom dropped by to appear on the local show at no charge. Based on his work with Carson's Cellar, a more sophisticated Johnny Carson Show was created for regional broadcasts in the western United States. This proved unsuccessful and Carson subsequently began work for the Red Skelton Show as a writer."



And speaking of KNXT, here's the Memorial Day edition of the station's 1961 morning program "Panorama Pacific."



Another cool find: A promo from 1954, when KECA-TV Channel 7 changed its call letters to KABC.