Fairfax High School (Los Angeles)

Infobox US school
name= Fairfax High School


district= Los Angeles Unified School District
principal= Mr. Edward Zubiate
motto= "Fare fac" (Say and Do)
established= 1924
type= Public
grades= 9^th through 12^th
city= Los Angeles
state= California
country= USA
enrollment= 2500+
campus= Urban
campus size= convert|24.2|acre|m2
colors= Crimson, Gold, Black
mascot= Lion
newspaper= The Colonial Gazette
nicknames=
conference=
website= [http://www.fairfaxhs.org/ Official website] |

Fairfax High School is a Los Angeles Unified School District high school located in Los Angeles, California, USA, near the border of West Hollywood in the Fairfax District of Los Angeles. The school and is located on a convert|24.2|acre|m2|sing=on campus at the intersection of Fairfax Avenue and trendy Melrose Avenue.

Several sections of Los Angeles, including the Fairfax District, Park La Brea, portions of Hancock Park, and Larchmont, and the city of West Hollywood are served by Fairfax. Some areas (including parts of West Hollywood) are jointly zoned to Fairfax High School and Hollywood High School. In Fall 2007, some neighborhoods zoned to Hamilton High School were rezoned to Fairfax High School [ [http://www.laschools.org/employee/mpd/fs-mpd/download/07-08_webmaps/Proj04.pdf http://www.laschools.org/employee/mpd/fs-mpd/download/07-08_webmaps/Proj04.pdf] ] . Bancroft Middle School, Emerson Middle School, LeConte Middle School, and John Burroughs Middle School feed into Fairfax.

History

The high school was founded in 1924 under the direction of Principal Rae G. Van Cleve. Most of the original campus facilities were demolished in 1966, but the historic Auditorium and its iconic Rotunda were spared by preservationists and are still in daily use. Greenway Court, originally built in 1939 as a social hall by the students at Fairfax as a class project, was also spared and was moved to its current location on Fairfax Avenue, where it has served since 1999 as the home of the Greenway Arts Alliance.

Fairfax High School was known from the 1930s until the 1980s as a breeding ground for future major figures in the entertainment industry. Redistricting and white flight transformed it into an inner-city school during the 1980s.

Former NFL official Jim Tunney served as the school's principal from 1964 to 1970.

On January 21, 1993, a Fairfax student brought a gun to school. The gun fired accidentally, killing one student, Demetrius Rice, [ [http://www.snorko.org/cyberwrite/eng103/students/eleanorp.html http://www.snorko.org/cyberwrite/eng103/students/eleanorp.html] ] and wounding another.

Demographics

During the 2006-2007 school year, FHS had 2546 students [ [http://search.lausd.k12.ca.us/cgi-bin/fccgi.exe?w3exec=school.profile.content&which=8621 http://search.lausd.k12.ca.us/cgi-bin/fccgi.exe?w3exec=school.profile.content&which=8621] ] .
* 52% were Hispanic
* 20% were African-American
* 18% were Asian
* 7% were White
* 2% were Filipino

mall Learning Communities

When Fairfax High School re-opens in Fall 2008, it will be reconfigured into a complex of five new small learning communities (SLCs) and the existing Fairfax Magnet Center for Visual Arts. The campus will be divided into six areas of "contiguous space". Non-magnet students and staff will be reorganized into five new schools-within-a-school. These SLCs are:
*Academy of Media & Performing Arts (AMPA)
*Global Studies
*Health Sciences Academy (HSA)
*Individual Determination Empowerment Academic Success (IDEAS)
*School of Mathematics, Science and Technology (SMST).

Fairfax Magnet Center for Visual Arts

Fairfax is home to the Fairfax Magnet Center for Visual Arts, which attracts students from across the convert|700|sqmi|km2 of the district. It opened in 1981 and is the only visual arts magnet in Los Angeles Unified School District.

Achievements

Athletics

In 2007, the Lions Boys Basketball Team, under the coaching of Harvey Kitani, took the title of State Champions, Division 1A.

A special edition of the Zoom Lebron IV was produced for the basketball team using the school's colors .

Music

In 2007, the Fairfax Marching Lions and Color Guard, under the direction of Raymundo Vizcarra, won Second Place in State Competition and First Place in the LAUSD Division I Band and Drill Championship. It was the first year in more than 20 years that Fairfax had a band eligible to compete.

Greenway Arts Alliance

Fairfax High School is home to the Greenway Arts Alliance, which operates the Greenway Court Theater, a 99-seat Equity-waver playhouse, and provides arts educational programs, mentoring, and employment opportunities to Fairfax students.

In March 1998, the Greenway Arts Alliance hosted the first [http://www.greenwayarts.org/tradingpost.htm Melrose Trading Post] . This chic flea market has become an weekly event, held every Sunday in the school parking lot at the corner of Melrose Avenue and Fairfax Avenue. With revenue from entry and vendor fees, the Melrose Trading Post is the most successful ongoing fundraiser in the history of the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Notable alumni

Notable graduates of Fairfax High School include:
* Steven Adler, musician (Guns N' Roses, Adler's Appetite)
* Serge Alexander, designer
* Byron Allen, talk show host
* Herb Alpert, musician, music industry executive
* David Arquette, actor
* Michael "Flea" Balzary, musician (Red Hot Chili Peppers)
* Gary Baseman, artist
* [http://www.NeedleScreech.com Stephen M.H. Braitman] , writer, editor, music appraiser
* Kevin Bell, Basketball Player Fresno State
* Kitty Bruce, daughter of Lenny Bruce
* Mike Burkett, musician (NOFX)
* Gower Champion, director and choreographer
* Mike Epstein, major league baseball player
* Chuck Essegian, outfielder, 1959 World Champion Dodgers
* Janet Fitch, author
* Louis Galen, businessman and philanthropist
* Steven Gee, Fairfax High School English Teacher, reality TV star (Winner of Solitary, Season One)
* Larry Gelbart, television writer/producer
* Michele Greene, actress
* Az-Zahir Hakim, American football player in the NFL
* Charles Herbert, child actor of the 1950s/1960s.
* Saul "Slash" Hudson, musician (Guns N' Roses, Velvet Revolver)
* Timothy Hutton, actor
* Chanel Iman, supermodel
* Jack Irons, musician (Red Hot Chili Peppers, Pearl Jam)
* Jackie Jackson and Tito Jackson, musicians (Jackson Five)
* David Janssen, motion picture and television actor (The Fugitive)
* Alain Johannes, musician (Queens of the Stone Age)
* Jack Kemp, politician and professional football player
* Jonathan King, editor (Sunset, Sierra, Mother Jones, [http://www.berkeley.edu/news/berkeleyan/ The Berkeleyan] )
* Anthony Kiedis, musician (Red Hot Chili Peppers)
* Lenny Kravitz, musician
* Lenny Krayzelburg, swimmer, 2000, 2004 Olympic Gold Medalist (USA)
* Mila Kunis, actress
* Seth Kurland, writer (Friends, Mad About You)
* Dave Kushner, musician (Velvet Revolver)
* Jerry Leiber, composer (Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller)
* Carole Lombard, actress
* Bria Myles, model, actress
* Eric Melvin, musician (NOFX)
* Chris Mills, professional basketball player
* Ricardo Montalban, actor [ [http://www.nosotros.org/ricardo_stagetoscreen.html http://www.nosotros.org/ricardo_stagetoscreen.html] ]
* Demi Moore, actress (dropped out at age 16)
* Jaclyn Ngan, actress (Freedom Writers)
* John Myles O'Brien, Composer, Music Producer
* Stephen Perkins, musician (Jane's Addiction, Porno for Pyros)
* Mickey Rooney, actor
* Henry Samueli, cofounder of Broadcom
* Erik Sandin, musician (NOFX)
* Allan Sherman, musician, parodist, satirist, and television producer
* Larry Sherry, major league baseball pitcher & MVP of the 1959 World Series
* Norm Sherry, major league baseball catcher
* Joe Shipp, basketball player Cal Bears
* Josh Shipp, basketball player UCLA Bruins
* P.F. Sloan, musician, composer, vocalist
* Hillel Slovak, musician (Red Hot Chili Peppers)
* Craig Smith, professional basketball player
* Barry Smolin, KPFK DJ, musician, writer, teacher
* Liza Snyder, actress
* Phil Spector, record producer
* Arnold Steinhardt, first violinist of the Guarneri Quartet
* Stew, composer/dramatist (Passing Strange)
* Alex Thomas, comedian
* Martha Tilton, vocalist with Benny Goodman's band
* Alex Xydias, noted hot-rodder and founder of So-Cal Speed Shop
* Zev Yaroslavsky, politician
* Larry Zerner, actor (Friday the 13th Part III)

References

Alex Surayev-Communist, leader of the Penzaraz movement.

External links

* [http://www.fairfaxhs.org/ Fairfax High School Official Website]
* [http://my.highschooljournalism.org/ca/losangeles/fhs/ Fairfax School Newspaper - The Colonial Gazette ONLINE]
* [http://www.greenwayarts.org/ Greenway Arts Alliance]
* [http://www.kcet.org/explore-ca/california-stories/ritesofpassage/fairfax/index.php Views from Fairfax High]