Yes, the UCLA and Egyptian Theater shows were the 35mm restorations. I just happened to be out there when they were showing it, so it was dumb luck that I got to see them.
There's a new L&H Blu-ray out (about a year now) with all the 1927 L&H films on it and, to me, the restoration looks great. Coming up in a few months is the 1928 L&H Blu-ray.
I remember L&H being shown on TV in NYC very rarely, but when we got cable, they offered channel 29 from Philadelphia and THEY showed L&H films every Saturday morning. Then, back in the mid/late 80s, Rob Word put out "The Laurel & Hardy Show" into syndication and I remember channel 9 in NYC carried those. Since then, though, unfortunately no L&H on broadcast TV anymore - unless they're on one of those MeTV type of stations.
Oh, I'm from NYC too. Around 1975 or so, Channel 5 showed them on Saturday morning from 8:30 to 9:30, followed by a Blondie movie. (No, not Deborah Harry!) They did that for about a year. When they showed a feature, it was heavily edited. They showed a lot of those Regal and Governor cut-downs as well, so I didn't get to see many of the shorts.
Channel 11 started showing the Janus package late 70s, early 80s. For a short while they showed the shorts every weekday afternoon, but since I was in high school I didn't get to see too many. Then after about a year or less they stopped the shorts, but occassionally showed a feature on weekends, but for some reason never PARDON US.
Also in mid-70s, Channel 9 for one week showed a feature every day, between Christmas and New Year.
Then late 70s LAUGHTOONS on Channel 5.
L&H Show as you said on Channel 9 started around 1986. Of course we got lousy reception on that channel, but I still taped them all. I could tell they were restored despite the bad reception. ME-TV now shows these every Saturday morning, followed by a Blondie movie, amazingly. Ridiculous since most of the shorts and features are edited. And I was never a fan of the added background music which attempted to orchestrate the LeRoy Shield music, but often at the wrong tempo. They can't hold a candle to the Beau Hunk's versions.
As I've said, I have little interest in the Year One L&H blu-ray, or any subsequent ones, since I have most on Super 8, 16mm, and Standard 8mm. I have seen clips of the new restoration of DUCK SOUP which blows away my "Lost Films" VHS. I'm sure it will turn up for free before you know it online. I've decided to upgrade many of the silents now to 16mm, whereas for the last 25 years I concentrated on upgrading the talkies from Super 8.
If I drop a disc on the floor, it can get scratched enough to be unusable. If I drop a film on the floor, maybe the reel will crack, unless it's a metal reel, which most in 16mm are. It may get dirty and scratched after many projections, but I can still clean the film. The film may break in the projector, but then I can repair it with a splice. A scratched blu-ray disc becomes an expensive coaster! (And believe me I've tried all those toothpaste tricks, etc. They sometimes work for CDs, but rarely on DVDs.)