Lawyer-turned-radio talk show host Larry Elder received a unique present for his 63rd birthday today, the 2,548th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Elder thanked a long list of people, including then-KABC-AM (790) general manager George Green, “who hired me with five days of experience” in radio.
“He had to override the objections of people in New York, who thought I was too inexperienced,” Elder said at the late-morning ceremony next to the W Hollywood Hotel on Hollywood Boulevard.
Elder thanked three teachers from high school “all of whom gave me confidence and told me that I was going to go places if I stuck to the knitting.”
Elder also thanked his “beautiful, beautiful Elderado fans.”
“I remember when I first came to L.A., it was kind of rough,” Elder said. “I was walking down … Fairfax (Avenue) one day and two guys were sitting on the corner.
“One of them said ‘Larry Elder, come over here.’
“I started not to come. He looked a little scary, but I went over.
“He said, ‘I love you and I hate you. You’re like castor oil. It don’t taste good going down, but it’s good for you.”
Oscar-winning actor Jon Voight called Elder “a great patriot” who “understands freedom and love of America.”
Elder “is an American success story,” actor Dean Cain said.
Elder was born and raised in South Los Angeles. He graduated from Crenshaw High School in 1970, Brown University in 1974 and the University of Michigan Law School in 1977.
Elder initially worked for a Cleveland law firm, then opened a business which recruited experienced attorneys. He began his broadcasting career in the late 1980s hosting a show on WVIZ, Cleveland’s Public Broadcasting Service station, then moved to WOIO, the Fox affiliate in Cleveland.
Elder joined KABC in 1994, remaining with the station until 2008. He rejoined the station in 2010 and was fired in December.
Elder also hosted two television shows, “Moral Court” and “The Larry Elder Show.” He has written four books, “The 10 Things You Can’t Say in America”; “Showdown: Confronting Bias, Lies and the Special Interests That Divide America”; “What’s Race Got to Do With It? Why it’s Time to Stop the Stupidest Argument in America”; and “Dear Father, Dear Son: Two Lives, Eight Hours.”
Elder now hosts an Internet show that can be heard on his website, LarryElder.com, and writes a nationally syndicated column.
—City News Service