Los Angeles High School is the oldest

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

in the Southern California Region and in the

Los Angeles Unified School District Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) is a public school district in Los Angeles, California, United States. It is the largest public school system in California in terms of number of students and the 2nd largest public school district in ...

. Its colors are royal blue and white and the teams are called the Romans. Los Angeles High School is a public secondary high school, enrolling an estimated 2,000 students in grades 9–12. After operating on a year-round basis consisting of three tracks for ten years, it was restored to a traditional calendar in 2010. Los Angeles High School receives accreditation approval from the

Western Association of Schools and Colleges The Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) was an organization providing School accreditation, accreditation of public and private universities, colleges, secondary school, secondary and elementary schools in California and Hawaii, ...

(WASC). Concurrent enrollment programs, provided in large by the Los Angeles Unified School District and the

Los Angeles Community College District The Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD) is the community college district serving Los Angeles, California, and some of its neighboring cities and certain unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County. Its headquarters are in Downtown Lo ...

, are offered with

West Los Angeles College West Los Angeles College (West L.A. College or WLAC) is a public community college in Ladera Heights, Los Angeles County, California. It is part of the California Community Colleges System and the Los Angeles Community College District. It is ac ...

Los Angeles Trade–Technical College Los Angeles Trade–Technical College (L.A. Trade–Tech, LATTC) is a public community college in Los Angeles, California. It is part of the Los Angeles Community College District and is accredited by the Accrediting Commission for Community and ...

Los Angeles City College Los Angeles City College (LACC) is a public community college in East Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. A part of the Los Angeles Community College District, it is located on Vermont Avenue south of Santa Monica Boulevard on the former campus ...

, or

Santa Monica College Santa Monica College (SMC) is a Public university, public, community college in Santa Monica, California. Founded as a Junior college#United States, junior college in 1929, SMC enrolls over 30,000 students in more than 90 fields of study. Althoug ...

. Los Angeles High School is a large,

urban Urban means "related to a city". In that sense, the term may refer to: * Urban area, geographical area distinct from rural areas * Urban culture, the culture of towns and cities Urban may also refer to: General * Urban (name), a list of people ...

inner-city The term ''inner city'' has been used, especially in the United States, as a euphemism for majority-minority lower-income residential districts that often refer to rundown neighborhoods, in a downtown or city centre area. Sociologists sometim ...

school located in the

Mid-Wilshire Mid-Wilshire is a neighborhood in the central region of Los Angeles, California. It is known for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Petersen Automotive Museum, and the Miracle Mile shopping district. Geography City of Los Angeles bound ...

District of Los Angeles. The attendance boundary consists of a contrasting spectrum of economic diversity ranging from affluent

Hancock Park Hancock Park is a city park in the Miracle Mile section of the Mid-Wilshire neighborhood in Los Angeles, California. The park's destinations include the La Brea Tar Pits; the adjacent George C. Page Museum of La Brea Discoveries, which display ...

and Lafayette Square to the low-income, densely populated

immigrant Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...

community of

Koreatown A Koreatown (Korean: 코리아타운), also known as a Little Korea or Little Seoul, is a Korean-dominated ethnic enclave within a city or metropolitan area outside the Korean Peninsula. History Koreatowns as an East Asian ethnic enclave have ...

. Within the school is a College Incentive Magnet Program. Forty-four percent of the student population is identified as LEP, or Limited English Proficient. Currently, 66% of the students are identified as eligible to receive supplemental instructional services and materials through the Federal

Title I The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) was passed by the 89th United States Congress and signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on April 11, 1965. Part of Johnson's "War on Poverty", the act has been one of the most far-re ...

Program. The

magnet A magnet is a material or object that produces a magnetic field. This magnetic field is invisible but is responsible for the most notable property of a magnet: a force that pulls on other ferromagnetic materials, such as iron, steel, nickel, ...

high school has a

university preparatory A college-preparatory school (usually shortened to preparatory school or prep school) is a type of secondary school. The term refers to public, private independent or parochial schools primarily designed to prepare students for higher education ...

secondary high school program and a "school within a school." First established as a part of student

integration Integration may refer to: Biology *Multisensory integration *Path integration * Pre-integration complex, viral genetic material used to insert a viral genome into a host genome *DNA integration, by means of site-specific recombinase technology, ...

services in the 1970s, the Los Angeles High School Math/Science/Technology magnet prepares students with an intensive, rigorous course load in order to better prepare them for university entrance. There are 317 students enrolled in the magnet program, grades 9-12. Typically, the

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

class has approximately 50% of seniors entering into four-year universities and schools. The magnet senior class typically has 90% of its senior class entering into four-year colleges and universities.

History

Early buildings commissioned to house the Los Angeles High School were among the architectural jewels of the city, and were strategically placed at the summit of a hill, the easier to be pointed to with pride. One of the school's long standing mottos is "Always a hill, always a tower, always a timepiece." Construction on Los Angeles' first public high school, (the Jesuit Loyola High School is older) began on July 19, 1872, at the former site of Central School on what was then known as Poundcake Hill, at the southeast corner of Fort Street (later

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

), which the front of the school faced, and

Temple Street A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called church (building), churches), Hindui ...

, with the back of the school to New High Street (later Spring Street). The approximate

coordinates In geometry, a coordinate system is a system that uses one or more numbers, or coordinates, to uniquely determine the position of the points or other geometric elements on a manifold such as Euclidean space. The order of the coordinates is sig ...

are . As it was on the hill, a few hundred feet from the streets below, steep wooden stairways led up to the schoolyard. The two-story wooden structure was so big and grand, the finest school south of

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

at that time, with classic lines and a tower with a clock in it, that people traveled from miles around to see it."Rediscovering Los Angeles." ''Los Angeles Times''. Apr. 13, 1936. p. A 1. The teachers liked the wide corridors, walnut banisters, generous windows and the transoms over the doors. The schoolhouse was completed at a cost of $20,000 in 1873 (). Nearby, in succession, was the Court House, the City Hall, the Jones-Lindley Market and the Post Office. The first principal was Rev. Dr. William T. Lucky (1821–1876) and the first graduating class, in 1875, consisted of seven students. In 1879, a

natural science Natural science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer review and repeatab ...

club Club may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Club'' (magazine) * Club, a ''Yie Ar Kung-Fu'' character * Clubs (suit), a suit of playing cards * Club music * "Club", by Kelsea Ballerini from the album ''kelsea'' Brands and enterprises ...

, the Star and Crescent Society, was founded at LAHS and consisted then of the entire student body. It soon left its specific focus on

science Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...

and became a

de facto ''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with ''de jure'' ("by la ...

student government A students' union, also known by many other names, is a student organization present in many colleges, universities, and high schools. In higher education, the students' union is often accorded its own building on the campus, dedicated to social, ...

and organizational body. In 1887, the decision was made to move the high school building to Sand Street (later California Street, now part of the

Hollywood Freeway The Hollywood Freeway is one of the principal freeways of Los Angeles, California (the boundaries of which it does not leave) and one of the busiest in the United States. It is the principal route through the Cahuenga Pass, the primary shortcut ...

), just to the west of North Hill Street and below the south side of

Fort Moore Hill A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

, in order for the Los Angeles County Courthouse to be built on Poundcake Hill. The contractor, Mr. Hickam, said he could do the job with scaffolding, rollers, horses and workmen. But his bid turned out to be too low. He lost a considerable amount of money because of his elaborate preparations, including the high wooden trestle which carried the building over the intersection of Temple and Fort Street. Hickam managed to get the schoolhouse halfway up Temple Street when he ran out of money and left it right in the middle of the street. It was there for a good while. They jacked it up on scaffolding high enough for the Temple Street

street cars A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...

to run under it. Finally, they got it moved up to its new location on Sand Street, where LAHS students and faculty remained until the second high school was built a few years later. LAHS-2ndlocation-1891

The original schoolhouse remained at the Sand Street (California Street) site for many years, while in continuous use. After the high school moved out, it became a school for the lower grades. It went completely unharmed by the Long Beach earthquake in 1933, which did a lot of damage to the newer buildings in

downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...

. By April 1936, nearly 300 children attended school there. In 1890, construction began on a new red brick schoolhouse facing North Hill Street on

,"Rediscovering Los Angeles." ''Los Angeles Times''. Mar. 23, 1936. p. A 1. between Sand Street and Bellevue Avenue (later

Sunset Boulevard Sunset Boulevard is a boulevard in the central and western part of Los Angeles, California, that stretches from the Pacific Coast Highway in Pacific Palisades east to Figueroa Street in Downtown Los Angeles. It is a major thoroughfare in t ...

, now

Cesar Chavez Avenue Cesar Chavez Avenue (Spanish: Avenida César Chávez) is a major east–west thoroughfare in Downtown Los Angeles, the Eastside and East Los Angeles, measuring 6.19 miles (9.96 km) in length. Named in honor of union leader César Chávez, t ...

), at coordinates , which was a short distance from the older wooden one then facing Sand Street below. BroadwayTunnel L

That same year, the

Los Angeles City High School District Los Angeles City High School District (known in its last year as West County Union High School District) was a school district that served high school-aged residents of western Los Angeles County, California from 1890 to 1962. At times the distr ...

was formed. It served students of LAHS while the

Los Angeles City School District The Los Angeles City School District was a school district that served Los Angeles, California, and some adjoining areas between 1870 and 1961. History The district was formed on May 2, 1870, with the same boundaries as the city of Los Angeles. In ...

and various other elementary school districts served elementary and junior high school students. This second location atop a hill was completed in 1891 and LAHS moved in. It was an enormous building for its time. The new high school was built on part of the site of the abandoned Fort Moore Hill Cemetery, the first Protestant cemetery in Los Angeles, which was spread over the slopes of the hill. It had become neglected, practically unattended and desecrated by grave robbing vandals. The

Board of Education A board of education, school committee or school board is the board of directors or board of trustees of a school, local school district or an equivalent institution. The elected council determines the educational policy in a small regional are ...

purchased the property from the city in 1884, and other portions of land were sold as residential lots. The city neglected to remove the remains and clear away the grave sites and some LAHS students in the 1890s thought it was "fun" to sit and eat their lunch while they leaned against a tombstone. 1894 Los Angeles High School Football team

1894 Los Angeles High School Football team

At a meeting regarding the improvement of the school grounds on June 4, 1896, the committee was directed to wait on the Board of Education the following Monday evening to secure the cooperation of the board in having dirt being taken from the Hill Street

cut Cut may refer to: Common uses * The act of cutting, the separation of an object into two through acutely-directed force ** A type of wound ** Cut (archaeology), a hole dug in the past ** Cut (clothing), the style or shape of a garment ** Cut (ea ...

used in filling up the grounds of the high school, so that shrubbery could be grown about the building. LAHS was the only high school in Los Angeles until 1905. Los Angeles HS Night

In 1917, the school moved to its current location on Olympic Boulevard, and Rimpau, with 1,937 students. An edifice was erected that became an international cultural landmark for the famed school. To insure a permanently beautiful vista for their contemplation, and to honor classmates who had fallen in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, the students purchased the land across the street for the creation of a tree-filled memorial park. Los Angeles High School Graduating Class of Summer 1940

Los Angeles High School Graduating Class of Summer 1940

Actual student government was instituted at LAHS in the early 1900s, eliminating one of the main reasons for Star and Crescent's existence. Meanwhile, as the size of the student body increased over years, the lower grades were successively dropped from Star and Crescent until by 1935 only seniors were members. Star and Crescent probably disappeared after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, but it is difficult to determine the exact year since no one at the school today can say when it ended. In particular,

yearbook A yearbook, also known as an annual, is a type of a book published annually. One use is to record, highlight, and commemorate the past year of a school. The term also refers to a book of statistics or facts published annually. A yearbook often ...

s were published during the years of America's involvement in that war, so it seems likely it might have disappeared after the war years. In the S'42 yearbook a page was devoted to Star and Crescent with its Officers and Faculty sponsors listed. The graduating class of 1970 received their Star & Crescent pins at a special ceremony. The second high school, on Fort Moore Hill, eventually became a school for problem students, a lot of them

truancy Truancy is any intentional, unjustified, unauthorised, or illegal absence from compulsory education. It is a deliberate absence by a student's own free will (though sometimes adults or parents will allow and/or ignore it) and usually does not refe ...

cases."Problem Boys All Won't Be Sent to Belmont High School." ''Los Angeles Times''. Sep. 3, 1948. p. A 1. By September 1948, when preparing for the school to be razed for the construction of the

, plans were made to transfer the students to Belmont High School, in the

Echo Park Echo Park is a neighborhood in the east-central region of Los Angeles, California. Located to the northwest of Downtown, it is bordered by Silver Lake to the west and Chinatown to the east. The culturally diverse neighborhood has become known fo ...

area of Los Angeles. As Belmont students and parents protested the transfers, an alternative plan provided that 12 persons be assigned to the senior and junior high schools in the six attendance areas to carry out the program. The headquarters of the

was later built on the property. Most of Fort Moore Hill itself was removed in 1949 for the construction of the freeway, which opened in December 1950. Also located on what remains of the hill is the

Fort Moore Pioneer Memorial The Fort Moore Pioneer Memorial is a large stone memorial wall built in 1957 on part of the original location of Fort Moore facing North Hill Street (Los Angeles), Hill Street, in Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California. Description and history Th ...

, which was opened to the public in 1957. On July 1, 1961, the Los Angeles City High School District and the elementary school districts were merged into the

. For many years, ''The Blue and White Daily'' was one of the few high school newspapers to be published Tuesday through Friday mornings during the school year except for holidays and the first 11 and last 5 days of the semester. It was a 4-page paper. In 1962, "Daily" was dropped from the name and the publication became a weekly. It is currently published monthly. Los Angeles High School is shown in the opening credits of the 1940s movie "Strike Up The Band" and the 1943 movie "Henry Aldrich Gets Glamour". The popular late 1960s and early 1970s television series ''

Room 222 ''Room 222'' is an American comedy-drama television series produced by 20th Century Fox Television that aired on ABC for 112 episodes, from September 17, 1969 until January 11, 1974. The show was broadcast on Wednesday evenings at 8:30 ( EST) fo ...

'' was filmed at LAHS. The 1917 building sustained moderate cosmetic damage, principally in the tower area, during the

Sylmar earthquake The 1971 San Fernando earthquake (also known as the 1971 Sylmar earthquake) occurred in the early morning of February 9 in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains in southern California. The unanticipated thrust earthquake had a magnitude of ...

in 1971. Efforts spearheaded by the Alumni Association, founded in 1876, to repair and preserve the iconic structure were opposed by certain commercial interests, who lobbied for its demolition, and finally decisively thwarted when it was gutted by a fire of mysterious origin. The replacement structure has been universally decried and finds no champions among either current or former students and faculty, or residents of the neighboring community. The school population peaked at 10,800, but overcrowding at the school has been relieved by

West Adams Preparatory High School West Adams Preparatory High School is a secondary school in the Pico-Union neighborhood of Central Los Angeles, California. The school is a part of the Los Angeles Unified School District and is operated by a nonprofit organization working in c ...

, which opened in the 2007–2008 school year. In 2009, some territory of Los Angeles High School's attendance boundary was transferred to Fairfax High School. In February 2012, a gunman shot at teens near the high school. Two were wounded.

Neighborhoods served by LAHS

Neighborhoods zoned to LAHS include:

Brookside Brookside may refer to: Geography Canada * Brookside, Edmonton * Brookside, Newfoundland and Labrador * Brookside, Nova Scotia United Kingdom * Brookside, Berkshire, England * Brookside, Telford, an area of Telford, England United States * Br ...

, Harvard Heights,

, Lafayette Square, and Little Ethiopia, and portions of

and the Pico-Union District.

Demographics

As of 2001, 75% of the student body was Hispanic and Latino. 14% was black and 7% was Asian. Other ethnic groups made up the remainder.Kang, Connie K.
Greeting Another Language
" ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

''. April 7, 2001. Retrieved on January 7, 2016.

Academics

As of 2001 the school has the only full-time

Korean language Korean ( South Korean: , ''hangugeo''; North Korean: , ''chosŏnmal'') is the native language for about 80 million people, mostly of Korean descent. It is the official and national language of both North Korea and South Korea (geographic ...

classes in LAUSD. As of that year there were over 100 students in these classes, and 80% of them were not of Korean heritage.

Advanced Placement Program

Students are accepted into the

Advanced Placement Program Advanced Placement (AP) is a program in the United States and Canada created by the College Board which offers college-level curricula and examinations to high school students. American colleges and universities may grant placement and course ...

and individual advanced placement classes based on faculty and counselor recommendations. A student may be admitted into an AP class by request if the AP instructor has approved the request. *

Biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary i ...

* Calculus AB and BC *

Chemistry Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the Chemical element, elements that make up matter to the chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions ...

* English Language and Composition * English Literature and Composition *

Environmental Science Environmental science is an interdisciplinary academic field that integrates physics, biology, and geography (including ecology, chemistry, plant science, zoology, mineralogy, oceanography, limnology, soil science, geology and physical geograp ...

Macroeconomics Macroeconomics (from the Greek prefix ''makro-'' meaning "large" + ''economics'') is a branch of economics dealing with performance, structure, behavior, and decision-making of an economy as a whole. For example, using interest rates, taxes, and ...

Microeconomics Microeconomics is a branch of mainstream economics that studies the behavior of individuals and firms in making decisions regarding the allocation of scarce resources and the interactions among these individuals and firms. Microeconomics fo ...

* Physics C: Mechanics *

Psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...

Spanish Language Spanish ( or , Castilian) is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from colloquial Latin spoken on the Iberian peninsula. Today, it is a world language, global language with more than 500 millio ...

Spanish Literature Spanish literature generally refers to literature ( Spanish poetry, prose, and drama) written in the Spanish language within the territory that presently constitutes the Kingdom of Spain. Its development coincides and frequently intersects wit ...

Statistics Statistics (from German language, German: ''wikt:Statistik#German, Statistik'', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that concerns the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of ...

* Studio Art Drawing, 2-D, and 3-D *

United States History The history of the lands that became the United States began with the arrival of the first people in the Americas around 15,000 BC. Numerous indigenous cultures formed, and many saw transformations in the 16th century away from more densely ...

* United States Government and Politics

English Learners and Standard English Learners Program

The focus of this program is the implementation of the LAUSD 2018 Master Plan for English Learners and Standard English Learners with fidelity, so that student achievement is realized. During 2018–2019 school year 19% of the total student enrollment are students identified as English Learners, and 23% are students classified as AEA Probable Standard English Learners. At LAHS all content teachers use ELD standards. The PLDs (proficiency level descriptors) represent English language development as a part of a continuum from native language competencies to lifelong language learning. The CA ELD Standards are organized in two main sections: Section 1 provides a foundation for an orientation to the standards; Section 2 provides detailed grade level ELD standards with the corresponding CCSS-ELA. The CA ELD Standards are not taught in isolation but are used in the context of developing meaningful, intellectual interaction. The role of the Title III Coach is to collaborate with school staff in building capacity to design and deliver professional development that utilizes and aligns standards-based content with effective classroom pedagogy to increase proficiency in the area of English language arts for all students through effective first teaching.

Notable alumni

George Takei - Los Angeles High School - 1956

* Margaret Q. Adams, first female deputy sheriff in United States *

Pauline Betz Pauline may refer to: Religion *An adjective referring to St Paul the Apostle or a follower of his doctrines *An adjective referring to St Paul of Thebes, also called St Paul the First Hermit *An adjective referring to the Paulines, various relig ...

, tennis champion *

Yda Hillis Addis Yda Hillis Addis, (born 1857, disappeared 1902 in California, U.S.) was the first American writer to translate ancient Mexican oral stories and histories into English, some of which she submitted to San Francisco-based newspaper ''The Argonaut' ...

, translator who mysteriously disappeared *

Lou Almada Louis J. Almada (born José Luis Almada, September 7, 1907 – September 16, 2005) was a Mexican-American professional baseball outfielder. Almada played for the Hollywood Stars, the Seattle Indians, and the Mission Reds of the Pacific Coast Lea ...

, baseball player *

Mel Almada Baldomero "Mel" Almada Quirós (February 7, 1913 – August 13, 1988) was a Mexican center fielder in Major League Baseball who played from 1933 through 1939 for the Boston Red Sox (1933–37), Washington Senators (1937–38), St. Louis Browns ...

, first Mexican-American in Major League Baseball *

Gene LeBell Ivan “Judo” Gene LeBell (October 9, 1932 – August 9, 2022) was an American martial artist, stunt performer, actor, and professional wrestler. Nicknamed "The Godfather of Grappling", he popularized grappling in professional fighting circ ...

, stuntman * Jimmy Allen, NFL player, 1972–73 UCLA, 1974–77 Pittsburgh Steelers, 1978–81 Detroit Lions *

Tod Andrews Tod Andrews (born Theodore Edwin Anderson; November 9, 1914 – November 7, 1972) was an American stage, screen, and television actor. Early years Tod Andrews was born as Theodore Edwin Anderson in El Paso, Texas, to Henry Anderson and Lydia ...

, actor * Jack Banta, NFL player * Anne Baxter, Oscar-winning actress *

Scotty Beckett Scott Hastings Beckett (October 4, 1929 – May 10, 1968) was an American actor. He began his career as a child actor in the ''Our Gang'' shorts and later costarred on ''Rocky Jones, Space Ranger''. Early life and career Born in Oakland, Califo ...

, actor *

Fletcher Bowron Fletcher Bowron (August 13, 1887 – September 11, 1968) was an American lawyer, judge, and politician. He was the 35th mayor of Los Angeles, California, from September 26, 1938, until June 30, 1953. He was at the time the city's longest-serving ...

, four-term mayor of Los Angeles 1938–53 *

Ray Bradbury Ray Douglas Bradbury (; August 22, 1920June 5, 2012) was an American author and screenwriter. One of the most celebrated 20th-century American writers, he worked in a variety of modes, including fantasy, science fiction, horror, mystery, and r ...

, science-fiction author * Larry Brown, Dallas Cowboys, Oakland Raiders cornerback,

Super Bowl XXX Super Bowl XXX was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Dallas Cowboys and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Pittsburgh Steelers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion ...

MVP *

Charles Bukowski Henry Charles Bukowski ( ; born Heinrich Karl Bukowski, ; August 16, 1920 – March 9, 1994) was a German-American poet, novelist, and short story writer. His writing was influenced by the social, cultural, and economic ambience of his adopted ...

, writer, poet *

John Cage John Milton Cage Jr. (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American composer and music theorist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading fi ...

, composer * John P. Cassidy, Los Angeles City Council member, 1962–67 *

Richard Chew Richard Franklin Chew (born June 28, 1940) is an American film editor, best known for his Academy Award-winning work on ''Star Wars'' (1977), alongside Paul Hirsch and Marcia Lucas. Other notable films include '' One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' ...

, film editor *

Frank Chuman Frank Fujio Chuman ( ja, 中馬藤男, born April 29, 1917) is a Japanese-American former civil rights attorney and author, involved in several important Japanese American civil rights cases and in the redress movement. Early life Frank Fujio Chu ...

, civil rights attorney and author *

Johnnie Cochran Johnnie Lee Cochran Jr.Adam Bernstei ''The Washington Post'', March 30, 2005; retrieved April 17, 2006. (; October 2, 1937 – March 29, 2005) was an American lawyer best known for his leadership role in the defense and criminal acquittal ...

, attorney who defended O. J. Simpson *

Lillian Copeland Lillian Copeland (born Lillian Drossin; November 24, 1904 – July 7, 1964) was an American track and field Olympic champion athlete, who excelled in discus, javelin throwing, and shot put, setting multiple world records. She has been called ...

(1904–1964), Olympic discus champion; set world records in discus, javelin, and shot put * Lynn "Buck" Compton,

veteran portrayed in '' Band of Brothers'', Deputy DA of Los Angeles County who convicted

Sirhan Sirhan Sirhan Bishara Sirhan (; ar, سرحان بشارة سرحان ''Sirḥān Bišāra Sirḥān'', born March 19, 1944) is a Palestinian Jordanian man who was convicted for the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy. Kennedy, a United States Sena ...

Gary Conway Gary Conway (born February 4, 1936) is an American actor and screenwriter. His notable credits include a co-starring role with Gene Barry in the detective series '' Burke's Law'' from 1963 to 1965. In addition, he starred in the Irwin Allen sci ...

, actor *

Harry Danning Harry Danning (nicknamed Harry the Horse; September 6, 1911 – November 29, 2004) was an American professional baseball player. He played his entire Major League Baseball career as a catcher for the New York Giants, and was considered to be both ...

, 4x MLB All Star baseball player *

Vernon Dean Wellington Vernon Dean (born May 5, 1959) is an American football coach and former player who is the defensive backs coach for the DC Defenders of the XFL. He played professionally as a cornerback in the National Football League (NFL), prima ...

, NFL player *

Mel Durslag Melvin Durslag (April 29, 1921 – July 17, 2016) was an American sportswriter. Durslag began writing for the ''Los Angeles Herald-Express'' in 1939, while he was a senior at Los Angeles High School, and joined the staff full-time in 1940, w ...

, sportswriter *

Aileen Eaton Aileen LeBell Eaton (February 5, 1909 – November 15, 1987) was a boxing and professional wrestling promoter who was influential in the United States' west coast's boxing and wrestling scene for five decades. In 2002, she was the first woman ind ...

, boxing promoter * Bruce Edwards, actor * Mike Evans, actor *

Robert C. Farrell Robert C. Farrell (born October 1, 1936) is a politician who was a member of the Los Angeles City Council from 1974 until 1991. Previously, he was a journalist and newspaper publisher. Biography Farrell was born in Natchez, Mississippi, on Octob ...

(born 1936), journalist and member of the Los Angeles City Council, 1974–91 *

Louise Fazenda Louise Fazenda (June 17, 1895 – April 17, 1962) was an American film actress, appearing chiefly in silent comedy films. Early life Fazenda was born in her maternal grandparents' house in Lafayette, Indiana, the daughter of merchandise broke ...

, actress *

Lita Gaithers Lita Gaithers (born July 30, 1956) is an American singer and actress. Lita, who received a nomination for the ''Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical'', is the third of only four African American women who have ever been nominated in that categor ...

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual cer ...

-nominee singer-songwriter *

Siedah Garrett Deborah Christine "Siedah" Garrett (born June 24, 1960) is an American singer and songwriter who has written songs and performed backing vocals for many recording artists in the music industry, such as Michael Jackson, the Pointer Sisters, Brand N ...

Grammy The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...

-winning singer-songwriter * Marjorie Gestring, Olympian (swimming and diving) * John M. Goddard, led first explorations by kayak down Nile and Congo Rivers * Carl Greenberg, newspaperman * Clementina D. Griffin, educator, principal, aviator *

Dave Gold Dave Gold (June 5, 1932 – April 22, 2013) was an American businessman who established the 99 Cents Only chain of discount stores. Early life Gold was born in Cleveland, Ohio, to Russian Jewish immigrants who operated a general store. His ...

, founder of

99 Cents Only Stores 99 Cents Only Stores (also branded as The 99 Store, and 99¢ Only Stores) is an American price-point retailer chain based in Commerce, California. It offers "a combination of closeout branded merchandise, general merchandise and fresh foods." Th ...

* Horace Hahn, actor *

Juanita Hansen Juanita Hansen (born Juanita Cecilia Hanson; March 3, 1895 – September 26, 1961) was an American actress who performed in silent films. She became one of the Sennett Bathing Beauties and appeared in a variety of serials through the late 19 ...

silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, when ...

actress *

Aiko Herzig-Yoshinaga Aiko Herzig-Yoshinaga (August 5, 1925 – July 18, 2018) was a Japanese American political activist who played a major role in the Japanese American redress movement. She was the lead researcher of the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Intern ...

, activist, did not graduate due to internment in

Manzanar Manzanar is the site of one of ten American concentration camps, where more than 120,000 Japanese Americans were incarcerated during World War II from March 1942 to November 1945. Although it had over 10,000 inmates at its peak, it was one o ...

in senior year *

Dustin Hoffman Dustin Lee Hoffman (born August 8, 1937) is an American actor and filmmaker. As one of the key actors in the formation of New Hollywood, Hoffman is known for his versatile portrayals of antiheroes and emotionally vulnerable characters. He is th ...

, Oscar-winning actor * Robert Horton, actor *

Christianne Meneses Jacobs Christianne Meneses Jacobs (born March 28, 1971) is a Nicaraguan American writer, editor, and teacher. She is the publisher of ''Iguana;'' a Spanish language magazine for children. Nicaragua (1971–1988) Christianne Meneses Jacobs was born in ...

, writer, editor and founder of Iguana Magazine (nation's only Spanish-language magazine for children) * Cornelius Johnson, Olympic champion (1936, track and field) *

Willis Lamb Willis Eugene Lamb Jr. (; July 12, 1913 – May 15, 2008) was an American physicist who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1955 "for his discoveries concerning the fine structure of the hydrogen spectrum." The Nobel Committee that year awarded hal ...

, shared Nobel Prize for Physics in 1955 for discoveries related to superfine structure of hydrogen spectrum *

Milt Larsen Milt Larsen (born April 9, 1931) is an American actor, writer, performer, lyricist, magician, entrepreneur, speaker, and the creator of The Magic Castle, a private club for magicians and enthusiasts. Early life Larsen and his brother, Bil ...

, co-founder of Magic Castle *

Piper Laurie Piper Laurie (born Rosetta Jacobs; January 22, 1932) is an American actress. She is known for her roles in the films ''The Hustler'' (1961), '' Carrie'' (1976), and '' Children of a Lesser God'' (1986), all of which brought her Academy Award no ...

, 3-time Oscar-nominated actress *

Homer Lea Homer Lea (November 17, 1876 – November 1, 1912) was an American adventurer, author and geopolitical strategist. He is today best known for his involvement with Chinese reform and revolutionary movements in the early twentieth century and as ...

, general in army of Sun Yat-sen, writer of books of geopolitics *

Linda Levi Linda Levi (born 1935) is an American artist who lives and works in Los Angeles, California. Early life and education Born in Los Angeles, Levi was educated at Los Angeles High School, University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Ca ...

, artist *

Bessie Love Bessie Love (born Juanita Horton; September 10, 1898April 26, 1986) was an American-British actress who achieved prominence playing innocent, young girls and wholesome leading ladies in silent and early sound films. Her acting career spanned ei ...

, actress *

Mike Marienthal Michael Marienthal (June 19, 1923 – February 27, 2013) was a UCLA sports icon, football player and men’s basketball official scorer for 50 years. Born in Chicago, his family moved to California, where he graduated from Los Angeles High School i ...

, athlete, 1990 UCLA Sports Hall of Fame *

Sam Match Samuel Match (January 3, 1923 – January 23, 2010) was an American tennis player. He was born in Los Angeles, California. Match was ranked among the top ten amateur players in the United States in 1948, 1949, and 1950 in both singles and doubl ...

(1923–2010), tennis player * Ray May, NFL player, 1967–69 Pittsburgh Steelers, 1970–73 Baltimore Colts (Super Bowl), 1973–75 Denver Broncos *

Marilyn McCoo Marilyn McCoo (born September 30, 1943) is an American singer, actress, and television presenter, who is best known for being the lead female vocalist in the group the 5th Dimension, as well as hosting the 1980s music countdown series ''Solid Gol ...

, actress and singer * Naida McCullough, pianist, teacher *

Bob Meusel Robert William Meusel (July 19, 1896 – November 28, 1977) was an American baseball left and right fielder who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for eleven seasons from 1920 through 1930, all but the last for the New York Yankees. He was best ...

, baseball player,

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...

teammate of

Babe Ruth George Herman "Babe" Ruth Jr. (February 6, 1895 – August 16, 1948) was an American professional baseball player whose career in Major League Baseball (MLB) spanned 22 seasons, from 1914 through 1935. Nicknamed "the Bambino" and "the Su ...

and

Lou Gehrig Henry Louis Gehrig (born Heinrich Ludwig Gehrig ; June 19, 1903June 2, 1941) was an American professional baseball first baseman who played 17 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees (1923–1939). Gehrig was renowned f ...

Josephine Miles Josephine Louise Miles (June 11, 1911 – May 12, 1985) was an American poet and literary critic; the first woman tenured in the English department at the University of California, Berkeley. She wrote over a dozen books of poetry and several wor ...

, poet * Marvin Mitchelson, palimony attorney *

Carmel Myers Carmel Myers (April 9, 1899 – November 9, 1980) was an American actress who achieved her greatest successes in silent film. Early life Myers was born in San Francisco, the daughter of Isidore Myers, a Russian-Jewish rabbi who was born in ...

, actress *

Jerry Nemer Jerome Nemer (January 7, 1912 – December 7, 1980) was an American athlete and attorney. He played college basketball at the University of Southern California (USC) where he became the first Jew to captain a major athletic team at that school. ...

(1912–1980), basketball player and attorney *

Anita Ortega Anita Ortega is an Afro-Puerto Rican former collegiate basketball player at UCLA. She was an All-American. The team went on to defeat the University of Maryland, College Park in 1978 to take the Division I collegiate title (National Champions). In ...

, basketball player, LAPD *

Budge Patty Edward John Patty (February 11, 1924 – October 4, 2021), better known as Budge Patty, was an American world no. 1 tennis player whose career spanned a period of 15 years after World War II. He won two Grand Slam singles titles in 1950. He was ...

, tennis champion * Don Paul, NFL player *

Leonard Pennario Leonard Pennario (July 9, 1924 – June 27, 2008) was an American classical pianist and composer. He was born in Buffalo, New York, and grew up in Los Angeles, attending Los Angeles High School remaining in L.A. for his entire career. He firs ...

, concert pianist * Cal Peterson, NFL player * Emily Brown Portwig, Los Angeles clubwoman and pharmacist *

Donald Prell Donald B. Prell (July 7, 1924 – July 28, 2020) was an American World War II veteran, venture capitalist and futurist who created ''Datamation'', the first magazine devoted solely to the computer hardware and software industry. Early life Prell ...

, futurologist * Al Raffo, baseball player *

Madlyn Rhue Madlyn Soloman Rhue (née Madeline Roche, October 3, 1935 – December 16, 2003) was an American film and television actress. Personal life - youth and education Rhue was born in Washington, D.C., graduated from Los Angeles High School, and st ...

, actress * Charles Francis Richter, inventor of Richter Scale * Frederick Madison Roberts, first African American elected to California State Legislature (1919–1933) *

Earl Scheib Earl Scheib was a company that specialized in low-cost repainting and collision repair of automobiles, with locations in 23 states in the United States. Company history Founded by Earl Scheib (February 28, 1908 – February 29, 1992) in Los ...

, auto-painting entrepreneur *

Budd Schulberg Budd Schulberg (born Seymour Wilson Schulberg, March 27, 1914 – August 5, 2009) was an American screenwriter, television producer, novelist and sports writer. He was known for his novels '' What Makes Sammy Run?'' and ''The Harder They Fall;'' ...

Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People * Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms. * Oscar (Irish mythology), ...

-winning screenwriter *

Leonard Slatkin Leonard Edward Slatkin (born September 1, 1944) is an American conductor, author and composer. Early life and education Slatkin was born in Los Angeles to a Jewish musical family that came from areas of the Russian Empire now in Ukraine. His fat ...

, music director of National Symphony Orchestra *

Bowen Stassforth Bowen Dow Stassforth (August 7, 1926 – November 22, 2019) was an American competition swimmer who won a silver medal in the 200 m breaststroke at the 1952 Olympics and set two world records in the 200-yard (long course) breaststroke. and one ...

, Olympian (silver medalist in swimming) *

Art Stoefen Arthur Oscar Stoefen (August 29, 1914 – January 7, 1995) was an American basketball player. He was an All-American college player at Stanford University and played professionally in the American National Basketball League (NBL). Stoefen, a 6 ...

, basketball player *

Lester Stoefen Lester Rollo Stoefen (March 30, 1911 – February 8, 1970) was an American tennis player of the 1930s. Career Stoefen, partnering with compatriot George Lott, won three Grand Slam doubles titles: 1934 Wimbledon Championships, 1933 and 1934 U.S. ...

, tennis player *

Miiko Taka (born Miiko Shikata July 24, 1925 – January 2023) was an American actress, popular for her film and TV roles from the late 1950s until the early 1980s. Her best known role was as an elegant Japanese dancer starring opposite Marlon Brando in t ...

, actress *

George Takei George Takei (; ja, ジョージ・タケイ; born Hosato Takei (武井穂郷), April 20, 1937) is an American actor, author and activist known for his role as Hikaru Sulu, helmsman of the fictional starship USS ''Enterprise'' in the televi ...

, actor, known for ''

Star Trek ''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the eponymous 1960s television series and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has expanded into vari ...

'' *

Harry Thompson Harry William Thompson (6 February 1960 – 7 November 2005) was an English radio and television producer, comedy writer, novelist and biographer. He was the creator of the dark humour television series '' Monkey Dust'', screened between 2003 ...

, NFL player *

William Irwin Thompson William Irwin Thompson (16 July 1938—8 November 2020) was an American social philosopher, cultural critic, and poet. He received the Oslo International Poetry Festival Award in 1986. He described his writing and speaking style as "mind-jazz ...

, poet and cultural historian *

Mel Tormé Melvin Howard Tormé (September 13, 1925 – June 5, 1999), nicknamed "The Velvet Fog", was an American musician, singer, composer, arranger, drummer, actor, and author. He composed the music for "The Christmas Song" ("Chestnuts Roasting on an Op ...

, singer, songwriter and actor *

Dick Walsh Richard (Dick) "Drug" Walsh (30 December 1877 – 28 July 1958) was an Irish hurler who played as a centre-forward at senior level for the Kilkenny county team. Born in Mooncoin, County Kilkenny, Walsh first arrived on the inter-county sce ...

, baseball and soccer executive *

Francis J. Weber Monsignor Francis J. Weber (born January 22, 1933) is an American Roman Catholic priesthood (Catholic Church), priest, author and archivist. He is a noted Catholic scholar, an Honorary Chaplain to Pope, His Holiness, and archivist for the Archdio ...

, historian, author on California's mission period *

Matt Weinstock __NOTOC__ Matt Weinstock (1903–1970) was a managing editor of the ''Illustrated Daily News, Los Angeles Illustrated Daily News'' and a columnist for three Los Angeles, California, newspapers for 33 years. Weinstock, the son of Frank Weinstock ...

, newspaper columnist *

Tad Wieman Elton Ewart "Tad" Wieman (October 4, 1896 – December 26, 1971) was an American football collegiate player, coach and athletic director. He played football for the University of Michigan from 1915 to 1917 and 1920 under head coach Fielding H. Yo ...

, college football coach *

Rosalind Wiener Wyman Rosalind Wiener Wyman (October 4, 1930 – October 26, 2022) was an American politician, Los Angeles City Councilmember, and California Democratic political figure who, at 22 years old, was the youngest person ever elected to the Los Angeles Ci ...

, political figure *

Doodles Weaver Winstead Sheffield Glenndenning Dixon "Doodles" Weaver (May 11, 1911 – January 17, 1983) was an American character actor, comedian, and musician. Born into a wealthy West Coast family, Weaver began his career in radio. In the late 1930s, he p ...

, actor and comedian *

Anna May Wong Wong Liu Tsong (January 3, 1905 – February 3, 1961), known professionally as Anna May Wong, was an American actress, considered the first Chinese-American movie star in Hollywood, as well as the first Chinese-American actress to gain intern ...

, actress * Chloé Zhao, Oscar-winning film director

Current administration

* Marguerette Gladden, Principal * Mr. Michael Berger, Assistant Principal * Mrs. Batia Oren, Assistant Principal * Mr. Pacino Furioso, Assistant Principal * Mr. Eric Fitzpatrick, Assistant Principal

References

External links

Official Los Angeles High School website

Official Los Angeles High School Alumni Association website
{{Authority control High schools in Los Angeles Los Angeles Unified School District schools Mid-Wilshire, Los Angeles Public high schools in California Educational institutions established in 1873 1873 establishments in California Hancock Park, Los Angeles Koreatown, Los Angeles Pico-Union, Los Angeles 19th century in Los Angeles

History

Neighborhoods served by LAHS

Demographics

Academics

Advanced Placement Program

English Learners and Standard English Learners Program

Notable alumni

Current administration

See also

References

External links