MEMBERSHIP ORGANIZATION CELEBRATES 70 YEARS OF QUESTIONING AUTHORITY

Los Angeles, CA ??" Thursday, November 15, 2007??" TOWN HALL Los Angeles celebrates 70 years servicing the community as a nonprofit, nonpartisan, open democratic forum promoting free speech and civic pride at three separate events in November. Friday night, Town Hall will honor James F. McNulty, Chairman and CEO of the Parsons Corporation at a sold-out 70^th Anniversary Gala. On November 20, the organization will be honored by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, then by the Los Angeles City Council on November 30, 2007.

In 1936, a dozen business leaders came together and founded what they called the ???no name group. They had a strong belief that the community needed a civic organization and sent out invitations to 400 of their friends and colleagues to participate in ??????a citizen organization for study and exchange of information on matters of general community concern. They received over 100 responses with the requested $10 membership fee creating a paid-up membership. Their goal was to provide a forum for discussion and investigation of major issues of the day and share this learning process with their colleagues as well as lending an Angeleno perspective to matters of national importance during the question and answer sessions.

The first meetings were at the Pasadena Hunt Club and the University Club. A series of principles that later became part of the Town Hall Los Angeles constitution shaped the organization???s mission ??????to realize through study and education, the ideals of democracy, and to aid, through civic education, in the accomplishment of an enlightened and harmonious community. Town Hall shall maintain an impartial position as an open forum for the discussion of public questions, shall diligently develop the relevant facts and report them without bias. At the September 24, 1937 meeting, the constitution was passed.

In the intervening 70 years, Town Hall Los Angeles has presented over 4500 speakers, including 128 Ambassadors, 65 Governors, 50 Senators, 26 Attorneys General, 22 Mayors, 19 Judges, 17 Presidents, 7 Nobel Prize winners, 5 Rabbis, 4 Astronauts, 2 Queens and at least 1 Dominican Monk; as well as hundreds of Professors and dozens of Authors, Entertainers, Publishers, Physicians, Artists, Attorneys, Military Leaders and University Presidents.

For 70 years, TOWN HALL has been a fixture in the ever-changing landscape of Los Angeles. It provides a stage to witness the evolution of LA???s ethnic and cultural identities, as well as its changing business, and political environments. By recording and helping decision makers and the public make sense of short-term trends and long-term changes, Town Hall???s events, on-air programs, and written communications unite and strengthen the community. To continue this tradition, support TOWN HALL Los Angeles.

For more information about TOWN HALL???s 70^th Anniversary celebrations, contact Deborah Weinberg.