Having spent most of his youth in Los Angeles, Kirchner could return to his hometown with a sense of accomplishment. He had not resided there since leaving nine years earlier, and he had good reason to be satisfied with his many achievements in the interim. Above all, he had become a professor at the University of Southern California (USC), one of the state’s leading institutions. Surveying his activities during the four years that he would spend there, it is apparent that he met the challenges of this new environment with great energy and enthusiasm. There is the astounding speed with which he negotiated the ranks of academic promotion. Within a mere four years he moved from assistant, to associate, to full professor. Of course, the apparent ease with which he advanced was directly associated with the fact that he maintained his impressive pace of composing a major work every year: the Sinfonia (1951), his first orchestral work; the Sonata Concertante for Violin and Piano (1952); the Piano Concerto No. 1 (1953); and the Piano Trio No. 1 (1954). Moreover, the first three works were premiered with great success in New York City, with Kirchner himself performing the two works with piano. Also, on the personal front, he and Gertrude became the parents of two children: a son, Paul, was born on October 11, 1950; and a daughter, Lisa, followed on June 10, 1953.

When the Kirchners first arrived in Los Angeles, they lived temporarily with Gertrude’s parents, who had moved to an impressive address on North Roxbury Drive in Beverly Hills. The stereotypes associated with life in this part of the city were true—many movie stars did indeed reside in the neighborhood. Eddie Cantor lived directly across the street; Thomas Mitchell lived next door; and Jack Benny and Ira Gershwin lived on the other side of the street on the same block. Because of the many celebrity residences, tourist buses regularly cruised around the neighborhood, and on occasion Hollywood stars could be sighted on the streets. One day Kirchner was almost run over by Charlie Chaplin, who was pushing one of his children in a stroller.