Later Landau would reflect on the differences between her work in the league and in the centers. She explained, the “stage was set in Germany.” Audiences were ready for the league and its diverse musical programs. But in Los Angeles she would have “to create the very stage.” To that end, she decided, “A greater interest in music had to be awakened in Los Angeles,” through music education for all ages. This was her self-prescribed initial task. But she asked herself, “Could this be done at a Community Center without any funds, even without the support of those who had a vague idea that one day a community center could become a stage for good music?”

Her early efforts included various informal sessions devoted to discussions of music, which she herself would lead. At the Soto-Michigan Center, she offered listening hours, the playing of music in a group setting. Anyone could “dropin- for-a-while and listen.” At the Menorah Center, she established the “Your Request Program,” which allowed members to choose the topics up for discussion and often enthusiastic debate. Beverly-Fairfax, however, would be the main “stage.” In western Los Angeles, it was perhaps the most Zionist of the centers. With a more elite Jewish clientele than the other centers, Beverly-Fairfax also had a reputation for its devotion to the arts. There she held music study groups and a seminar-style class on music, set as a series of eight to ten weeks. A letter of October 24, 1945, announced Landau's plan to friends of Beverly-Fairfax: lecture- discussions every second Wednesday of the month. The focus would initially be on the Viennese musical masters. In cooperation with the center's music committee, she would complement the series with evening concerts, chamber music, and solo performances during the regular concert season and “pop” offerings in the summer. While center membership fees paid for Landau's programs, she also invited nonmembers to participate free of charge.

Central to her plans would be new music, specifically the music of newly arrived émigrés in Los Angeles. There were so many. Gottfried Reinhardt (son of the stage director Max Reinhardt) recalled of his brief time living in the city: “When I think back, I don't believe it myself.