Venice High School (Los Angeles)

Infobox High School
name= Venice Senior High School and Venice Foreign Language Magnet


headmaster=
principal= Lonnie Wallace
motto= Rowing, not drifting
established= 1911 (LAUSD 1925), (Magnet 1988)
type= Public
location=13000 Venice Boulevard, Mar Vista, Los Angeles, California
enrollment= 3209 (including 538 from magnet)
campus= Urban
colors= blue, white
nicknames= The Gondolier
conference=
website= [http://www.venicehigh.net/ Official website] |

Venice High School is a public school located in western Los Angeles, California within the Los Angeles Unified School District. The school contains a Foreign Language and International Studies Magnet, and a New Media Academy. The school is known for offering a large number of Advanced Placement classes, and for its successful sports programs, especially football.

The school's English-language newspaper is "The Oarsman" and its Spanish-language newspaper is "El Heraldo Latino". A bohemian literary journal characteristic of the area, "Written Voice", features students' poetry, short stories, and other work. An unofficial newsmagazine, "The Venice Independent", was formerly run by Venice students.

The school's current principal is Lonnie Wallace.The vast majority of the students are Mexican-American, with small minorities of non-Hispanic whites, blacks and Asians. [cite web |url=http://search.lausd.k12.ca.us/cgi-bin/fccgi.exe?w3exec=school.profile.content&which=8907 |title=Venice High School Demographics] Even though it is called "Venice High School" the school is east of Walgrove Avenue, which forms the boundary with the adjacent neighborhood of Mar Vista. The name of the school derives from the fact that it was originally located in a beachside bathhouse/plunge two miles to the west of its present location in Mar Vista.

Several neighborhoods, including Venice, Marina Del Rey, Mar Vista, and Del Rey, feed into Venice High School.

Elementary schools that feed into Venice high include Beethoven Elementary School, Mar Vista Elementary, Westminster Avenue Elementary School and Coeur d'Alene Avenue Elementary School, feed into Venice. Marina Del Rey Middle School, Daniel Webster Middle School, Mark Twain Middle School, and Palms Middle School feed into Venice.

History

The school was first established in 1911 when classes were held in an old lagoon bathhouse.

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, which are still used by the school today. [cite web |url=http://www.westland.net/venicehistory/articles/schools.htm |title=Venice Schools |author=Stanton, Jeffrey |date=1998-06-21 |accessdate=2008-10-11]

On June 5, 2006 around 3:05 PM, 17-year old Augustin Contreras, an 11th grader at Venice, was fatally shot in the school's faculty parking lot. Contreras had intervened in a fight between his two younger brothers and a few other men who did not attend the school. The victim lived in Culver City. [ [http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=local&id=4240388 ABC News] ] [ [http://www.latimes.com/broadband/wif/la-0610weekinphotos-pg,0,7701288.photogallery?coll=la-headlines-wif&index=6 LA Times] ] [ [http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,198297,00.html Fox News] ] [ [http://www.columbine-angels.com/Shootings-2005-2009.htm] ] [ [http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:2KYZHa--2PIJ:my.highschooljournalism.org/ca/losangeles/vhs/article.cfm%3Feid%3D5947%26aid%3D89108+Venice+High+School+Andres+shooting&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us] ]

In fall 2007, some neighborhoods zoned to Hamilton High School were rezoned to Venice High School. [http://www.laschools.org/employee/mpd/fs-mpd/download/07-08_webmaps/Proj04.pdf]

Filming location

Venice High School was used as the Rydell High School location for the movie "Grease" starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John. It was also used in other movies such as "American History X", "Matchstick Men", and "Heathers", as well as in several music videos, including Britney Spears's international hit ...Baby One More Time, Bowling for Soup's "High School Never Ends", and Young MC's "Principal's Office" [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zE7fs2979Y4] . Venice is also in The Faders "No Sleep Tonight".

Notable alumni

Notable Venice High alumni and students include:

* Larry Atkins, Professional Football Player
* Clifford Bourland, 1948 Summer Olympics 4X400 gold medal; US 400m champion
* Craig Breedlove, land speed record holder [cite web |url=http://www.bluebird-electric.net/craig_breedlove.htm |title=Craig Breedlove |publisher=Bluebird Electric Racing Limited]
* Russell Brines, Foreign correspondent to Asia, author
* John Bromfield, Motion picture actor, television actor [cite web |url=http://www.johnbromfield.com/biography.htm |title=The Autobiography of John Bromfield |author=Bromfield, John |date=2006-02-19 |publisher=John Bromfield |accessdate=2008-10-11]
* Beau Bridges, Motion picture actor, son of Lloyd Bridges [cite web |url=http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/reynolds200404060903.asp |title=Jan & Dean |work=National Review Online |date=2004-04-06 |accessdate=2008-10-11 |author=Reynolds, Alan]
* Les Clark, Legendary Disney animator and one of Disney's Nine Old Men
* Leon Clarke, NFL end 1956-63. Twice Pro Bowl
* Anton Clarkson, QB, professional football player
* Gary Collins, motion picture actor
* Walter Cunningham, NASA Astronaut (Apollo 7 pilot) [cite web |url=http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/cunningham-w.html |title=Astronaut Bio: Walter Cunningham |publisher=Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center |accessdate=2008-10-11]
* Gogi Grant, Singer
* Barry Hirsch, Entertainment lawyer [http://www.laweekly.com/general/deadline-hollywood/hirschs-hornets-nest/9057/?page=2]
* Marty Klein, State championship tennis coach
* J.P. Losman, Professional Football Player
* Myrna Loy, Motion picture actress, voted "Queen of Hollywood" in 1938
* Teena Marie, singer/songwriter/producer
* Dana McLemore, Professional Football Player
* Fadde Mikhail - Sports Agent (Represents Antonio Cromartie of the San Diego Chargers, NFL Defensive Player of the Year)
* Tara Correa-McMullen, actress
* Phranc, alternative rock performer
* Laurie Prang, Television actor
* Doug Slaten, Arizona Diamondback pitcher
* Richie Slick, lead vocalist for The Diffs [cite news |url=http://www.laweekly.com/music/diggin-your-scene/vive-la-diffs/12904/ |work=LA Weekly |title=Vive La Diffs! |last=Lecaro |first=Lina |date=2006-03-16 |accessdate=2008-10-11]
* Joanie Sommers, singer, motion picture actress

* Gerald Sutton, U.S. diplomat
* Jaye Alonzo Topete, Model/actor, attended CEA in Mexico City.
* Sam Whipple, Motion picture actor
* Sylvia Hirsch Jones, Ph.D, Psy.D, Faculty, Los Angeles Institute and Society for Psychoanalytic Studies
* Gerald Comisar, Professor of Physics, University of of California (Berkeley, UCLA, Santa Cruz)
* Anthony Soto, College baseball player, Loyola Marymont University
* Curtis " Moody " McNeal, running back, corner back, punter, wide receiver, and return specialist, scholarship from the University of Southern California
* Jerry Johnson, Wide receiver, scholarship from the University of California Los Angeles

References

External links

* [http://www.venicehigh.net/ Venice High School website] (sometimes down during the summer)
** [http://www.venicehigh.net/information/history.html Venice High School history]
* [http://www.venicehighalumni.com/comm/site/ Venice High School Alumni Website]
* [http://my.highschooljournalism.org/ca/losangeles/vhs/ "The Oarsman's" official website]
* [http://search.lausd.k12.ca.us/cgi-bin/fccgi.exe?w3exec=school.profile.content&which=8907 Venice High's demographics from LAUSD]
* [http://search.lausd.k12.ca.us/cgi-bin/fccgi.exe?w3exec=school.profile.content&which=8911 LAUSD demographics for the foreign language magnet run out of the same campus]
* Curtis McNeal Scout.com profilehttp://alabama.scout.com/a.z?s=14&p=8&c=1&nid=2938919
* Jerry Johnson Rivals.com profilehttp://footballrecruiting.rivals.com/viewprospect.asp?pr_key=56700