First half of 20th century in the 1940s at Cal State LA The university is located on the site of one of California's 36 original
adobes, built in 1776 by
Franciscan missionaries and destroyed by fire in 1908. When the
Spanish Franciscans founded the
San Gabriel Mission in 1771, they dubbed the small river El Rio
Rosa de Castillo. These lands once were part of a
Mexican land grant known as
Rancho Rosa Castilla. Juan Batista Batz, a
Basque rancher from northern Spain and his wife, Catalina settled here in the 1852. Batz used the land for farming and intensive sheep ranching. The inspiration for the name of the
ranch, according to local historians, was the abundant amount of native wild
Wood roses (Rosa californica) that grew near the ranch home along the
creek. The
Tongva Indians named this area,
Ochuunga (Place of Roses). The main
drive through the campus is known as Paseo Rancho Castilla, in acknowledgment of the university's historic heritage. Cal State LA was founded on July 2, 1947, by an act of the California legislature and opened for classes as Los Angeles State College on the campus of
Los Angeles City College (LACC). LACC is a public
community college in
East Hollywood, Los Angeles located on
Vermont Avenue south of
Santa Monica Boulevard, the former campus of UCLA and originally a farm outside Los Angeles. As president of LACC, P. Victor Peterson became the acting president of the state college. Since the college had opened in September, 1947, with 136 students, it had grown in two years to over 2,000 students. Most were studying under the
GI Bill, which had been largely responsible for establishment of the college. The first class of seven students graduated in 1948. In 1949, when Howard S. McDonald became president of both Los Angeles State College and Los Angeles City College, the state college upper division classes were being taught in borrowed spaces on the City College campus by mostly part-time faculty. He hired administrators to help him formally organize the colleges. Then he found a site within Los Angeles McDonald enjoyed telling how some influential supporters of the
University of Southern California opposed his selection of a piece of land in
Baldwin Hills, and how then-Los Angeles Mayor
Norris Poulson ran him out of
Chavez Ravine so that he could lure the
Dodgers baseball team to Los Angeles.
Second half of 20th century In 1952, the state proposed a new satellite campus for Cal State LA, at the time known as Los Angeles State College, and in July 1958, the campus separated from Cal State LA and was renamed San Fernando Valley State College (now known as
California State University, Northridge). The first
master's degrees were awarded in 1952. Since 1954, Cal State LA has been accredited by the
Western Association of Schools and Colleges. The university's credential programs are approved by the Commission for Teacher Credentialing Committee on Accreditation. In 1955, officials broke ground on the current location, dubbed the Ramona site at the time. The college then moved to its present campus in the northeastern section of the City of Los Angeles, east of the
Civic Center. The college opened in its new location in 1958, with McDonald becoming the first full-time president. When McDonald retired in 1962, seven academic buildings on the new campus were completed and an eighth structure (North Hall, later named King Hall) was nearing completion. North Hall opened in September 1962. In 1968, Cal State LA established the nation's first
Chicano Studies department. In fall 1970, the South Tower and South Hall were completed and opened. July 1976 the CSU Board of Trustees approved the renaming of South Tower to Simpson Tower, in memory of Floyd R. Simpson, first
dean of the School of Business and Economics. South Hall was renamed Salazar Hall in memory of slain
Los Angeles Times journalist and
KMEX-DT news director
Ruben Salazar. The original mascot of the school was the
Diablo. In 1980, new university president James Rosser adopted a new mascot, Eddie the
golden eagle, designed to be more reflective of the campus' highly diverse community. The theme was extended to student facilities such as the student union and bookstore. In 1993, the California State University
Chancellor and Trustees approved development of Cal State LA's Charter College of Education, creating the first such college of higher education in the nation. In October 1998, the Center for Environmental Analysis, first of its kind funded by the National Science Foundation on the
West Coast, opened on campus.
21st century In September 2000,
Governor of California Gray Davis chose the Cal State LA campus to hold a press conference at which he signed the historic bills expanding the
Cal Grant program. Cal State LA departments of Social Work and Nursing, located within the university's College of Health and Human Services, were granted the status of School in Winter 2002. Cal State LA Downtown is a satellite campus opened in January 2016. Programs are provided through the university's College of Professional & Global Education. Naming of the Rongxiang Xu College of Health and Human Services took place during the university's 69th Commencement on June 11, 2016. The naming recognized the largest gift in the university's history and named in honor of the late Dr. Rongxiang Xu, who was a
surgeon and expert in
regenerative medicine. The Patricia A. Chin School of Nursing was dedicated as the first named school at Cal State L.A. in April 2018. Chin taught nursing at the university, later serving as director and, upon her retirement, professor emerita. A statue of Cal State LA alumna and world champion tennis legend
Billie Jean King was installed on the grassy area in front of the Physical Education building. When King was in school at Cal State LA, she had already won
Wimbledon.
University presidents The following persons served as president of Cal State LA: ==Campus life and cost of university==