Burkhalter made his first bid for local office in 1939, when he finished third in a field of four candidates for the Los Angeles City Council District 1 seat held by Jim Wilson. At that time, the district covered the San Fernando Valley, the Los Feliz section east of Griffith Park Drive and north of Franklin Avenue, the section between Vermont and Talmadge avenues south to Santa Monica Boulevard, and the Riverside Drive area west of Glendale Boulevard. But Burkhalter was elected in his second attempt, in 1953, replacing Leland S. Warburton in the district, which then covered only the San Fernando Valley, having given up the Los Feliz and Atwater areas. It was still the Valley's only councilmanic district.