My Favourite School

I've been to a lot of different schools. By the time I left high school I had been to 13 different schools. That's an average of one a year from Kindergarten until Year 12. Sometimes I stayed at one for a few years, sometimes I went for only a few weeks or months. The joys of moving a lot! Some schools I hated, some I loved, most fell somewhere in between. But there was only one school that I'll love forever. It was a place I felt instantly at home, I clicked, this was MY school, the place I was meant to be. That place was Hollywood High School.

I got to thinking about it today while I was researching something totally unrelated. I decided to go on the Los Angeles Public Library website to see if they had any helpful resources that might give me some new ideas. Instead, I saw a link to their photo collection, which boasts "80,000+ Historic Photos". I love looking at photos of old Los Angeles, so I immediately wondered what they might have in this collection, and then I wondered specifically about Hollywood High. Even when I was there it was beautiful, run down perhaps, but just gorgeous. Art deco architecture, a small theater for minor performance and a large auditorium that seats 2500 and has its own pipe organ (which was being restored at the time after damage in the 90's that had been neglected). The place was amazing and I loved my (far too short) time there, so I thought I'd share some of the photos I found in the collection, and a few more that I googled.

Pictures from the 1920's and 30's

 The 1937 Ceremony celebrating the widening of Highland avenue took place outside the Hollywood High School auditorium

Modern Pictures of the auditorium, The mural was added in 2002 and features some of the school's celebrity alumni. The rear of the auditorium overlooked the sports field and had the school mascot painted on it.

Science building entrance 1937 and 2011 (sorry the 2011 is a little blurry!)

Interior stairwell