Venice High School Centennial - 2011

History

Venice High School

Venice High Centennial

 One day in 1910 Abbot Kinney, the founder of Venice, and Judge William A. Rennie, editor of the Venice Vanguard, sat down in the Vanguard office and planned a high school for the Venice teenagers who at the time attended Santa Monica High School.  The director of the school board was Mark Keppel, and its first janitor was Arthur Reese, who was paid $75 a month.  They appointed professional educator Cree T. Work, as the first principal.

 School opened at 8:30 on September 11, 1911, with fifty-two students and eight teachers.  The original high school, in a remodeled bathhouse was located on the lagoon at the intersection of Coral Canal and Aldebaran Canal, today the site of the Venice Circle, in front of the post office. The school district rented the bathhouse from Abbot Kinney for $250 a month, which was very high, since most of the housing in the area was renting for $8 a month. There were five classes offered, and the first graduation class had one person in it.

 California required only three years of college to become a teacher, but the Venice faculty averaged about four and a quarter years of educational preparation.  Most teaching salaries were an annual $1,250, and the school principal, C.T.Work, earned the enviable sum of $2,650 a year.

 The second year enrollment increased to 86 students, and 11 faculties.  The annual budget was $34,200, which included a flag in each class, a football team of 11 men, baseball team of 9 men, and girl’s basketball.

 Neither the school administration nor the community was pleased with the location of the high school.  The bathhouse, on one side was plagued with water problems and Ince Studios, on the other was constantly causing distractions by noisy filmmakers shooting cowboy and Indian movies.  A bond issue was raised in 1913 to purchase 29 acres of land at the corner of Virginia and Polytechnic avenues, today known as Venice Blvd and Walgrove Ave, for $72,500.

 Ground breaking ceremonies on March 20, 1914 started work on the new school.  The new Venice Polytechnic High School was opened on September 29, 1914 with most of the buildings unfinished.  Its main administration building was connected to two side buildings, (Household Arts, and Mechanics) by colonnades, which also served as open-air reception halls and study areas. It was reported that the athletes worked to build the fence around the athletic field, to pay for their gym suits.

 Harry Winebrenner, a graduate of the Chicago Art Institute, headed the high school’s art department.  A professional sculptor, Winebrenner in collaboration with his students, created much of the statuary, jardinières, and fountains, which graced the campus and earned the school, repeated landscaping awards.  His most enduring achievement, a Venice High School landmark for over seventy years, is the statue that stands near the school's main entrance.  His model, and art student named Myrna Williams, later became famous as the film actress Myrna Loy.  Over the years Myrna’s statue has survived repeated indignities and assaults by vandals, including a dynamite explosion in 1979.  A large fence was erected around her in 1982.  A local sculptor was hired to make repairs.  He added a head to the statue, but that only lasted for a few years before she deteriorated beyond repair.  She will be put back in place in front of the school just in time for the school’s centennial celebration, in 2011.

 Venice High School became part of the Los Angeles Unified School District in 1925. Twice in its history Venice High School has been visited by disasters.  On September 7, 1914 a fire destroyed the lagoon bathhouse, site of the original school, which forced a move to temporary tents at the present site.  On March 10^th 1933 an earthquake that left the main buildings largely intact, but caused severe structural damage, struck Venice High School.  When school opened two weeks later, students unable to occupy the condemned buildings, attended classes in an improvised tent city.  For a period of two years, classes were held in hastily constructed tents “with school going on as usual.”  This served as a learning center until the present high school buildings, constructed to withstand fires earthquakes, opened on January 22, 1935.

 In 1938, after twenty-one years of service, Mr. E.W. Clark retired as principal of Venice high School.  He was instrumental in having the tennis courts built and the purchase of the flagpole, (an old wood ship mast) which is still standing, for $1,000.

 In September 1950, when Mark Twain Junior High School opened, Venice became a three-year school.  Many changes came in the next five years. The boy’s gymnasium, which was one of the biggest and best in the country, was dedicated; a new track, new grandstands.  The new field was named after the principal of that era, Homer Watson who served from 1945 until 1956.