Venice High School is located on the west side Los Angeles, in the U.S. state of California within the Local District West area of the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). Venice comprises four small schools: a Foreign Language and International Studies Magnet, and STEMM (Science Technology Engineering Mathematics and Medicine) Magnet, School for Advanced Studies (SAS), Media Academy, and Earth Justice Academy. Venice High is greatly supported by numerous community partnerships, parent groups, Booster, and Alumni associations. Venice is known for offering a large number of Advanced Placement classes and having an excellent athletics program. The school is also added an instrumental music teacher, marching band, and Mandarin teacher.
During the 2011-2012 school year, 69% of Venice High students were Hispanic/Latino, with 12% white/European Americans, 10% African Americans and 8% Asian Americans. According to the Los Angeles Times Mapping L.A. project as well as zip code maps, because the school is just east of Walgrove Avenue it is not located in Venice, but the adjacent neighborhood of Mar Vista.
Several neighborhoods, including Venice, Marina Del Rey, Mar Vista, and Del Rey, feed into Venice High School. The unique educational pathways offered by the four small schools draw students from across Los Angeles.
Elementary schools in the Venice High district include Beethoven Elementary, Mar Vista Elementary, Playa del Rey Elementary, Broadway Elementary, Braddock Drive Elementary, Stoner Avenue Elementary, Short Avenue Elementary, Westminster Avenue Elementary School and Coeur d'Alene Avenue Elementary School. Marina Del Rey Middle School, Daniel Webster Middle School, Mark Twain Middle School, and Palms Middle School feed into Venice. Until LAUSD established sufficient capacity in the area during the immediate post-World War II period, Culver City-based Betsy Ross Elementary, now closed, had been the largest single feeder to the then 7â€"12th grade high school.
The school's student news site, called The Oarsman, began as a school newspaper. Written Voice, a literary journal started in the spring of 2012, features students' poetry, short stories, and other work. An unofficial newsmagazine, The Venice Independent, was formerly run by Venice students.
The current principal is Dr. Oryla Wiedoeft.
History
The school was established in 1911 (then called "Venice Union Polytechnic High School") when classes were held in an old lagoon bathhouse two blocks from the beach. It moved to a new neo-romanesque structure at its present 29-acre campus two miles inland a decade later.
A famous statue, installed in 1922 and for which then-unknown Venice High School student Myrna Loy served as model, stood on the front lawn of Venice High School for over 70 years. An unsightly cage was erected to prevent vandalism, but the statue was ultimately removed and sent to indoor storage in 1998. However, a bronze-cast replacement statue was mounted before 2,000 cheering onlookers in an April 2010 ceremony.
On March 10, 1933, the school was seriously damaged by the Long Beach earthquake. As a result, classes were held in hastily constructed tents for two years until a replacement school was built. Art Deco earthquake-resistant buildings were built in 1935, and are still used by the school today.
In fall 2007, some neighborhoods zoned to Hamilton High School were rezoned to Venice High School.
On May 15, 2009, students staged a walkout in response to LAUSD increasing class sizes and cutting teachers. Students who engaged in the walkout received support from the ACLU and the National Lawyers Guild in clearing their truancies on that particular day. A similar walkout occurred in 1951 when school administration disqualified a candidate for student body office because of a questionable campaign speech. Administration retaliated by focusing on agitators within the heretofore self-selective service clubs, suspending the clubs and then reorganizing them later with a more pliant membership. Small protests (e.g. graffiti, lawn burnings, tree fellings) continued sporadically for a year.
Academics and academic performance
As of 1998 the school has mathematics and science programs and a magnet program that explores international politics.
As of 2015 the school has Mandarin Chinese courses.
Venice High School won back-to-back National Science Bowl championships in 1996 and 1997, and won regional championships in 1993, 1994 and 2005. Venice High School is one of only three schools that have won two National Science Bowl championships.
In 1998 Richard Lovett, the president of the Creative Artists Agency (CAA), gave self-esteem courses to the students, and Terry Hardy of Los Angeles Magazine wrote that the CAA "has adopted Venice High as its very own."
Athletics
An historically successful sports competitor, Venice High fields 16 sports with most teams competing in the Western League of the CIF LA City Section. The football team has won 9 of the last 10 Western League titles and the baseball team has won five City championships (1967, 1972, 1984, 1985, 1986). The girls' softball team won the CIF LA City Section Division 2 championship in 2013. The basketball team won the City championship in 1948. The boys' swimming team won three consecutive City championships in the 1950s (even before the school had an on-campus pool). The school also captured the City championship in golf in 2011 and 2012. The boys' volleyball team won back-to-back City Championships in 1991 and 1992. Eight graduates have appeared in Major League Baseball and NFL games in the last 20 years
Filming location
Venice High School was used as the Rydell High School location for the 1978 movie Greaseâ€"in which the opening shot was the Myrna Loy statue. The school was also used in other movies such as A Nightmare on Elm Street, American History X, Matchstick Men, and Heathers, as well as in several music videos, including Britney Spears' international hit "...Baby One More Time", Bowling for Soup's "High School Never Ends", Cher Lloyd's "Oath", and Young MC's "Principal's Office". Venice is also in The Faders' "No Sleep Tonight". Additionally, aerial photographic images of the school were used to show the location of the high school in the 1987 movie Masters of the Universe. The campus was also used for the TV show Glee on an episode ("Yes/No", aired January 17, 2012) which recreates the classic "Summer Nights" scene from Grease, as made famous by John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John (and filmed on the same location). The Australian TV series Rake also used Venice High School as a filming location. The music video for Alesso's 2014 song "Cool" was also shot here.
Neighborhoods zoned to Venice
Three University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) student housing facilities for families are zoned to Venice High School. They include Rose Avenue Apartments, University Village, and Venice-Barry Apartments. Rose Avenue had been rezoned from Hamilton High School to Venice in 2007.
Notable alumni
- Larry Atkins, NFL linebacker, Kansas City, Oakland 1999â€"2004
- David Bluthenthal (now "Blu"), led Israeli team to 2004 Euroleague basketball championship
- Cliff Bourland, 1948 Summer Olympics 4X400 gold medal; US 400m champion
- Craig Breedlove, land-speed world record holder
- Beau Bridges, film actor
- John Bromfield, actor, television star
- Les Clark, legendary Disney animator and one of Disney's Nine Old Men
- Leon Clarke, NFL end 1956â€"63, twice in Pro Bowl
- Gary Collins, actor and TV personality
- Walter Cunningham, NASA astronaut, (Apollo 7 pilot)
- Karen Fukuhara, actress
- Crispin Glover, actor
- Gogi Grant (Myrtle Audrey Arinsberg), singer
- Shin Hye-sung, South Korean singer and lead vocalist of six-member boy band Shinhwa
- Donna Loren, singer and actress; "Dr Pepper girl"
- J.P. Losman, NFL quarterback, Buffalo, Oakland 2004â€"09, Miami 2011
- Myrna Loy, (Myrna Williams), film actress, voted "Queen of Hollywood" in 1938
- Teena Marie (Mary Christine Brockert), singer, songwriter, producer
- Dana McLemore, NFL defensive back, New Orleans, San Francisco, 1982â€"87
- Jonas Mouton, NFL linebacker, San Diego, 2011â€"present
- Andrea Murez, Israeli-American Olympic swimmer
- Steven Okazaki, filmmaker
- Peggy Oki, surfer, skateboarder, artist, environmental activist
- Stacy Peralta, skateboarder, surfer, documentary film director
- Don Perry, 6-time AAU and NCAA champion in gymnastic rope climb, world record holder
- Doug Slaten, MLB pitcher for Washington Nationals
- Harry Snyder, founder of In-N-Out Burger chain
- Joanie Sommers (Joan Drost), singer, "Pepsi Girl"
- Larry Stevenson, skateboard pioneer, designer
- Jerry Turner, MLB player 1974â€"83 for San Diego, Detroit, Chicago White Sox
See also
References
External links
- Official Venice High School website
- Venice High School history
- Venice High School Alumni Website
- The Oarsman's official website
- Venice High's demographics from LAUSD
- LAUSD demographics for the foreign language magnet run out of the same campus
- Graduating class Summer 1959