University High School (Los Angeles)

While under construction it was known as Sawtelle High School, but it opened as Warren G. Harding High School when completed in 1924, after 29th President Warren G. Harding (1865-1923, served 1921-1923), who had recently died. The school was renamed in 1929 after the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) moved its campus from East Hollywood to Westwood, and the reputation of former President Harding had declined after the infamous Teapot Dome scandal and other situations. The name University is supposed to have originated because it became a site where teachers-in-training from nearby UCLA worked as assistant teachers/interns. The original administration building was designed by the firm Russell & Alpaugh and the construction process began in 1923. The style that was chosen recalls the Romanesque of Northern Italy and Spanish Mission style architecture. The administration building once displayed an octagonal tower and a portico, but these features were toppled in the 1933 Long Beach earthquake. An original cafeteria building was located where the current cafeteria and theater stand today. Although the gymnasium and a beautiful and widely admired auditorium were condemned following the 1971 Sylmar earthquake, the school's original main building from 1924 remains in use. The music building and gym (rebuilt in the early 1980s) have been scheduled to be taken down because they sit on a fault line and therefore against district policy. As of July 2010, the music building is gone. It was in the Los Angeles City High School District until 1961, when it merged into LAUSD. ==Other==

Music classes have been moved to another unused room near the top of the school. The gym was still in use while, on the south end of the campus, in what was formerly a student parking lot, a new gym facility was under construction in 2010. The current football stadium, last rebuilt following the 1994 Northridge earthquake, is named in honor of Jackie Robinson (1919-1972), of Pasadena, California, the first African American professional baseball player in Major League Baseball, playing in 1947-1956 for the Brooklyn Dodgers, who also previously attended nearby UCLA, 1939-1940. Uni is one of a very few pre-World War II high schools in Los Angeles whose buildings have been at least partially spared by three major earthquakes since its inception. The main building presents a very traditional and dignified appearance, with weathered brick and arched doorways, such that the campus is popular with film crews (see #Filming on campus). One-third of its class of 1942 did not graduate because of the internment of Japanese-Americans. In fall 2007, some neighborhoods zoned to have their students to attend Hamilton High School were rezoned to University High School. In 2009, Mitchell Landsberg of the Los Angeles Times stated that the school was "struggling to regain its reputation as a center of excellence". That year, as part of a grant program, the Academy of Engineering was established at the high school. ==Native American heritage==

Located on Uni's campus are the Tongva Sacred Springs, California Historical Landmark #522. The springs, called "Kuruvungna" by the native Gabrieleno Tongva people, were used as a source of natural fresh water by the Tongva people since 400 BC, and they continue to produce 22,000-25,000 gallons of water a day. The springs are found at two separate locations on campus. The larger is now closed off from the rest of the campus and is under the care of the Gabrielino/Tongva Springs Foundation. Prior to its being fenced off, the area surrounding the springs and pond into which its waters feed was popular among the students as a place to meet and relax. The other spring is located on the northeastern edge of the so-called Girls' Field. A third spring was located farther north, near Texas Avenue, but it ceased to flow during the 1940s when a local water company began drawing from the aquifer. The Portolá Expedition of 1769, one of the two expeditions that led to the founding of Los Angeles, camped at the Kuruvunga village while travelling along the route that would become known as El Camino Real. The name Serra comes from Father Junípero Serra the founder of the Alta California mission chain, who is reported to have said Mass to there. In the 1800s, the spring served as the water supply for the city of Santa Monica. In 1992, tribal descendants, community members, and teachers and students from the school founded the Gabrielino/Tongva Springs Foundation, a non-profit foundation, to fight a proposed development a block north of the springs that would have cut off the springs' underground water source. They successfully fought the proposed parking structure, and since that time, the Foundation has been active at the springs. That same year, the newly established Foundation held the first annual Life Before Columbus Day event. The event, which takes place just before Columbus Day every year and celebrates the history of the land and of the Tongva people, has been known to draw upward of 600 people some years, including Native Americans from various tribes, local politicians, community members, and students and faculty from the school. The event includes tours of the Kuruvunga Village site and springs, performances by dancers from the Tongva and Aztec tribe, and storytelling from the Chumash tribe. There are also hands-on activities offered by authentic Native American vendors. The foundation currently leases the site from the Los Angeles Unified School District for their monthly ceremony and guided tours. ==Newspapers==

Wildcat The weekly student newspaper, the Wildcat, is part of the High School National Ad Network. Print issues from the school's inception as Harding High are available in the journalism archives. More recent issues were previously archived online at the "My High School Journalism" site operated by the American Society of Newspaper Editors The Worrier The Worrier was an underground student newspaper that began in 1966. At least seven Worrier staff members were transferred to other high schools, suspended or put on probation. Red Tide The Red Tide was an underground campus newspaper that expressed far-left opinions on the Vietnam War, racism, and women's issues. Its first issue appeared in November 1971. Following the suspension of two students for distributing Red Tide #2, 500-700 Uni students occupied the administration building. The Red Tide challenged the Warrior mascot as racist. Twenty-five years later, on September 8, 1997, the LAUSD Board of Education voted to remove the mascot as part of a ban on using Native American symbols. In 1975 LA and Bay Area Red Tide branches moved to Detroit, where they organized campaigns to free Gary Tyler and other campaigns against racism. ==Mascot controversy==

The school's mascot was formerly the Warrior, but was changed after the Southern California Indian Center petitioned the LAUSD to eliminate the mascots and names of all schools that had American Indian mascot and names. In 1997 the LAUSD decided to eliminate all American Indian mascots.{{cite news Towards the end of the 1997–1998 school year, students were allowed to vote on a new school mascot. Students chose the "Wildcats" over the "Gators" and "Jaguars". The Class of 1985 had, as a senior project and gift to the school, painted a large Warrior mascot on the south entrance to the gym building. Shortly after the mascot change, this was painted over with its feline animal replacement. ==School information==

• The Los Angeles School District provides open enrollment dates which start in late April and the beginning of March. The best way to contact schools is by phone or email. University High School provides tours; however, before and during enrollment, parents are able to submit a variety of applications for the students to enroll in different schools. • University High School • The school provides transportation. • Three languages are taught at Uni: French, Spanish, and Mandarin. • Extracurriculars for boys and girls ==Demographics==

According to the School Information Branch: • In 2008-09, 61.5% of students were Latino or Hispanic and 17% were African-American. 48.5% of students were female. • In 2010-11 61.0% Hispanics/Latino, 17.6% African-Americans, 8.9% White, 0.3% Pac Isl, 2.0% Filipino, 9.9% Asian, and 0.4% Al/Alsk • In 2011-2012 58.7% Hispanics/Latino, 16.7% African-Americans, 10.9% White, 0.5% Pac Isl, 2.1% Filipino, 10.5% Asian, and 0.5% Al/Alsk • In 2012-13, 59.5% were Latino or Hispanic, 9.7% were White, 17.9% African-American, 0.4% Pac Isl 1.9% Filipino, 10.0% Asian, and 0.6% AI/Alsk • In 2018-19, 53% of students were Latino or Hispanic, 25% African-American, 12.8% white, 6.8% Asian, 1.9% Filipino. ==Attendance area==

Neighborhoods served by University High are parts of West Los Angeles, including portions of Brentwood Beverly Hills Post Office (BHPO), Westwood, Bel-Air, Like other Westside high schools such as Westchester and Palisades, University High School enrolls a diverse mix of students from its enrollment area and various parts of the city; on top of Westside neighborhoods, Uni draws students from areas such as Koreatown and South Los Angeles. The school also enrolls many Capacity Adjustment Program students who come from areas zoned to heavily overcrowded high schools. Two new LAUSD high schools opened in fall 2005, four more in fall 2006, and one more in fall 2007, decreasing the number of transfer students in other high schools. == Name change ==

Starting in the 2018-2019 school year, University became an affiliated charter school and changed its name to University High School Charter. Affiliated charter schools receive flexibility in the utilization of the charter school categorical block grant (for those applicable affiliated charter schools that receive it) areas of curriculum and professional development; some aspects of local school governance; and some aspects of employee selection. It is not necessary to utilize the District’s permit process if accepted to an Affiliated Charter School. It is a community school that welcomes students from all over Los Angeles. However, non-resident students are required to complete a Unified Enrollment application. ==Filming on campus==

The school, which has been able to maintain much of its original architecture, is one of the few Los Angeles schools with buildings constructed before World War II. Its brick facades, wide hallways, and "unique east coast look" make the school an attractive place to film. The administration, which allows filming during school hours, moves classes as needed and allows productions to make minor changes to the campus, has a long history of bringing in filming (and the money that goes with it) to the school. The use of the school for filming is a controversial one. Filming often takes place during school hours, and students and teachers are moved from classrooms and walkways are blocked off as needed. The school often undergoes renovations for filming, anything from retiling and painting, to temporary removal of furniture and lockers. These disruptions are a cause for students and teacher complaints. but how the money made from the constant filming is spent. Editorials have complained about the portion of the money that goes to the LAUSD, University High charges the standard district fee for each day of filming (currently $2,500). A portion of the money earned goes to FilmL.A., Inc., formerly named the Entertainment Industry Development Corporation, which acts as an intermediary between the LAUSD and the entertainment industry. The name change, which followed the naming of a new president and finance chief and came as the company was preparing to relocate its headquarters and implement a revised contract with the Los Angeles City Council, helped distance the private non-profit from its "bureaucratic and scandal-ridden image." In March 2005, the LAUSD entered into a new three-year contract with the EIDC, after soliciting bids from other vendors. Ruben Rojas, the LAUSD's director of revenue enhancement, said that the district choose to continue working with the EIDC because of "its proven track record and ability to deal with complex film-permitting issues.". The LAUSD's filming profits for the 2003-2004 school year generated almost one million dollars, and the district is on target to for an annual film revenue increase to at least $1.5 million. The doubling of the LAUSD's film revenue in the four years since FilmL.A. was original hired in March 2002 was a contributing factor to Burbank Unified School District's decision to hire Film L.A. in July 2006. Under FilmL.A.'s current contract with the city, the company receives "a 16% management fee based on the total use fee". Uni High distributes among the departments the first $12,000 made each year from on-campus filming. • Pretty Maids All in a Row, 1971 • Brian at Seventeen, 1971 • Fatal Games, 1984 • Rock ‘n’ Roll High School Forever, 1991 • Jawbreaker, 1999 • Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday the Thirteenth, 2000 • The Hot Chick, 2002 • Bruce Almighty, 2003 • Freedom Writers, 2007 • Drillbit Taylor, 2008 • 7th Heaven, from 1996–2007, University High served as Kennedy High School • Joan of Arcadia, aired 2003–2005 • The Flannerys, pilot, shot 2003 • The Division, season finale, shot May 2004 • Filmore Middle, pilot, shot 2005 • Day Break, pilot, shot 2007 • Privileged, 2008 • 90210, "The Dionysian Debacle", filmed in early 2009 • Ghost Whisperer, filmed on October 12, 2009 • Lincoln Heights, summer 2009 • Modern Family, aired 2011 • The Mentalist, aired 2012 • Fresh Off the Boat, Season 4 Episode 9, 2017 • The Orville, Season 3 Episode 3, 2022 Other • The Crystal Method's music video "Name of the Game", 2002 • JoJo's music video "Leave (Get Out)", 2004 • Jordan Pruitt's music video "Outside Looking In", 2006 • Blink 182's music video "Bored to Death", 2016 • Khalid's music video "Young Dumb & Broke", 2017 ==Notable alumni==

• List of University High School (Los Angeles) alumni ==References==