University High School was a public high school serving the northwestern portion of

Oakland, California Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, California, Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major We ...

. It originally opened in 1923 at what was 5714 Grove Street. Due to the proximity of the campus to the City of Berkeley, "UNI" gained the reputation of the "feeder" high school of Oakland of students directly to the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university, research university system in the U.S. state of California. Headquartered in Oakland, California, Oakland, the system is co ...

. The high school was closed following World War II in 1948. In 1954, the campus was converted into first location of Oakland City College, which later became

Merritt College Merritt College is a Public college, public community college in Oakland, California, United States. Merritt, like the other three campuses of the Peralta Community College District, is Higher education accreditation in the United States, accr ...

. Merritt College moved to its new campus in 1967. In the early 1970s the location temporarily became a high school again, as

Oakland Technical High School Oakland Technical High School, known locally as Oakland Tech or simply "Tech", is a public high school in Oakland, California, United States, and is operated under the jurisdiction of the Oakland Unified School District. It is one of six compre ...

moved its students into the campus while its normal location was retrofitted for earthquake safety. At the time, many called this site "Old Tech," although Oakland Tech was actually opened at its current location in 1914, before University High School. After the "Tech" students moved back to their original campus, the building remained vacant for several years. At one point, it was used as the filming location for the 1987 film ''

The Principal ''The Principal'' is a 1987 action comedy film starring Jim Belushi, Louis Gossett Jr. and Rae Dawn Chong. Written by Frank Deese and directed by Christopher Cain, it was filmed in Oakland, California, and at Northgate High School in near ...

''. The location has been rehabilitated and is now shared between the Children's Hospital Oakland Research Institute and the North Oakland Senior Center. Grove Street was subsequently renamed Martin Luther King Jr. Way. This site was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1992.National Register of Historic Places in Alameda County
/ref> Among its notable alumni is 1936 Olympic 400 meters Gold Medalist Archie Williams and his classmate, tennis great Don Budge .

References

{{authority control School buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in California Defunct schools in California Public high schools in California Mission Revival architecture in California School buildings completed in 1923 High schools in Oakland, California National Register of Historic Places in Oakland, California 1923 establishments in California Oakland Designated Landmarks