Excelsior High School (Norwalk, California)
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Excelsior High School, originally named Excelsior Union High School, was founded in 1903 and located on Walnut Street in
Norwalk, California Norwalk is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The population was 102,773 at the 2020 census. Founded in the late 19th century, Norwalk was incorporated as a city in 1957. It is located southeast of downtown Los Angeles a ...
. The current campus was built in 1924. The campus sustained substantial damage to the administration building, auditorium, and other buildings in the
1933 Long Beach earthquake The 1933 Long Beach earthquake took place on March 10 at south of downtown Los Angeles. The epicenter was offshore, southeast of Long Beach, California, on the Newport–Inglewood Fault. The earthquake had a magnitude estimated at 6.4 , and ...
(as did the Norwalk Grammar School which occupied the former Excelsior Union High school building). Although the earthquake occurred after school hours, one student died when an internal wall in a portion of the boy's gym failed. Its last graduating class was 1981. The Excelsior Union High School District was composed of a single school which supported a district including present day Norwalk, Cerritos, Artesia, and Bellflower. In 1919, Excelsior Union High School had seven teachers, and an enrollment of ninety-eight. After World War II, the area rapidly changed from agricultural to residential and several new high schools were added to the district to absorb the large increase in population, including Bellflower, Artesia, Norwalk,
La Mirada La Mirada is a city in southeast Los Angeles County, California United States, and is one of the Gateway Cities, on the border with Orange County. The population was 48,008 at the 2020 census. The La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts and ...
, and Gahr High Schools. In the 1950s, Bellflower High School was realigned under the Bellflower Unified School District. In the mid-1960s the changing needs of the area were the subject of a referendum to restructure the governance of area schools and realign the high schools under three school districts. The referendum passed and with the revised district boundaries, Excelsior Union High School's name was changed to Excelsior High School and it was made part of the Norwalk–La Mirada Unified School District. For much of its history, the student body was known as "The Pilots" and the school mascot was Peter Pilot. In the late 1960s the cartoon character
Snoopy Snoopy is an anthropomorphic beagle in the comic strip ''Peanuts'' by American cartoonist Charles M. Schulz. He also appears in all of the ''Peanuts'' films and television specials. Since his debut on October 4, 1950, Snoopy has become one of ...
was adopted as the mascot. The school colors were green and white. The school and campus still exist at the corner of Alondra and Pioneer Boulevards in Norwalk. It is now the home to the Norwalk–La Mirada Adult School. Since its closure, the campus has been the location for the filming of ''
Grease 2 ''Grease 2'' is a 1982 American Musical film, musical romantic comedy film, and a standalone sequel to the Grease (film), 1978 film ''Grease'', adapted from the 1971 Grease (musical), musical of the same name by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey. Orig ...
'' and '' High School U.S.A.'' and the 1982 TV series ''
Square Pegs ''Square Pegs'' is an American sitcom that aired on CBS during the 1982–83 season. The series follows Patty Greene ( Sarah Jessica Parker) and Lauren Hutchinson ( Amy Linker), two awkward teenage girls desperate to fit in at Weemawee High S ...
''. Excelsior Adult School was also the home field for Excelsior's former archrival, the Norwalk Lancers Football team. Norwalk High has since built their own home field for the first time in 2021. During the late 80s till 1992, the football field and baseball facilities were also home of the Leffingwell Christian High School Lions and the Pioneer Baptist High School Patriots.


Notable alumni

*
Pat Nixon Thelma Catherine "Pat" Nixon (; March 16, 1912 – June 22, 1993) was First Lady of the United States from 1969 to 1974 as the wife of President Richard Nixon. She also served as the Second ladies and gentlemen of the United States, second lady ...
(class of 1929) – First Lady of the United States *
William Conrad William Conrad (born John William Cann Jr., September 27, 1920 – February 11, 1994) was an American actor, producer, and director whose entertainment career spanned five decades in radio, film, and television, peaking in popularity when he s ...
(class of 1937) – actor, producer, and director for radio, film and television * James Gattuso (class of 1975) – political pundit and senior research fellow for the Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies at
The Heritage Foundation The Heritage Foundation (or simply Heritage) is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative think tank based in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1973, it took a leading role in the conservative movement in the 1980s during the Presi ...


See also

* List of closed secondary schools in California


External links


Excelsior High School Alumni

Excelsior Union High School group on Facebook


References

Educational institutions established in 1903 1903 establishments in California Defunct schools in California Norwalk, California {{LosAngelesCountyCA-school-stub