Hollywood High School, my alma mater, is a Los Angeles Unified School District high school located at the intersection of North Highland Avenue and West Sunset Boulevard in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles, California.
In September 1903, a two-room school was opened on the second floor of an empty storeroom at the Masonic Temple on Highland Avenue, north of Hollywood Boulevard (then Prospect Avenue). Hollywood was incorporated as a municipality in November 1903. The Hollywood High Organ Opus 481 was a gift from the class of 1924. After suffering severe water damage from the Northridge earthquake in 1994, it was restored in 2002. The campus was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on January 4, 2012.
The school’s mascot was derived from the 1921 Rudolph Valentino film of the same name, The Sheik.
In 2002, artist Eloy Torrez painted a mural of 13 famous entertainers, titled “Portrait of Hollywood,” across the entire east wall of the school’s auditorium. From left to right, the entertainers displayed are Dorothy Dandridge, Dolores del Rio, Brandy Norwood, Selena, Lana Turner, Laurence Fishbourne, Cantinflas, Carol Burnett, Cher, Ricky Nelson, Bruce Lee, Rudolph Valentino, and Judy Garland. In 2007, Torrez added a 50-foot (15 m) tall mural of John Ritter, who died four years earlier, on the connecting portion of the building’s north wall] All but two of the entertainers, Lee and Valentino, were students at Hollywood High School. The artist said the mural is a celebration of a diverse ethnic range of actors and entertainers.
Hollywood High has been the filming location for movies, television shows, and other productions, including the following:
Made
Nancy Drew
Neon Maniacs
Penn & Teller: Bullshit! (Season 5, episode 1, “Obesity”)
Tony Hawk’s American Wasteland
Victorious
Notable alumni (includes year of graduation)
Arthur Alber, 1912, Los Angeles City Council member
Anthony Anderson, 1988, actor/comedian/writer
John Archer, 1933, actor
Meredith Baxter, 1965, actress
Mary Kay Bergman, 1978, actress
Vincent Bugliosi, 1952, attorney/author
Carol Burnett
Carol Burnett, 1951, actress/comedian
Valerie Bertinelli, 1978, actress
Diana Canova, 1971, actress/singer
Keith Carradine, 1966, actor
Robert Carradine, 1971, actor
Adriana Caselotti, 1934, actress/singer
Henry P. Caulfield, Jr., 1931, political scientist/college professor
Marge Champion, 1936, dancer/choreographer/actress
Norman Chandler, 1917, Los Angeles Times publisher
Lon Chaney, Jr.
Lon Chaney, Jr., 1924, actor
Warren Christopher, 1942, U.S. Secretary of State
John Clifford, 1965, choreographer
Lisa Coleman, 1978, musician
Porscha Coleman, 2003, actress/singer/dancer
Johnny Crawford, 1962, actor
James Dannaldson, actor
Frank Darabont, 1977, film director/screenwriter/producer
Edward Dmytryk 1954, film director, member of the Hollywood Ten
Harley Earl
Harley Earl, 1924, automotive designer and executive
Stephen Eckelberry, 1979, filmmaker
Norman Eisen, 1980, U.S. Ambassador to Prague
Linda Evans, 1960, actress
Nanette Fabray, 1939, actress
Mimsy Farmer, 1963, actress
Mike Farrell, 1957, actor
Lorraine Feather, 1965, singer/lyricist/songwriter
Jay R. Ferguson, actor
Lawrence Fishburne
Laurence Fishburne, 1980, actor
Anthony M. Frank, 1949, U.S. Postmaster General
Judy Garland
Judy Garland, 1940, singer/actress
James Garner, 1944, actor
Lowell George, 1963, musician/songwriter/producer
Gigi Levangie Grazer, 1990, novelist/screenwriter
Rob Grill, 1962, singer/songwriter/guitarist
Horacio Gutiérrez, 1966, classical pianist
Alan Hale Jr., 1936, actor
Linda Hart, 1965, singer/musician/actress
Karl Hubenthal, 1935, cartoonist
Gloria Grahame, 1942, actress
Barbara Hershey,1965, actress
John Huston
John Huston, 1923, film director/screenwriter/actor
Chuck Jones, 1930, animator
Dickie Jones, 1945, actor
Sally Kellerman, 1954, actress
William Kennard, 1974, FCC chairman
Enid Kent, 1962, actress
Swoosie Kurtz, 1962, actress
Alan Ladd
Alan Ladd, 1931, actor
John Philip Law, 1954 actor
Ruta Lee 1954, actress
Carole Lombard
Carole Lombard, 1923, actress
Richard Long, 1945, actor
Benito Martinez, 1989, actor
Gladys McConnell, 1924, actress/aviatrix
Joel McCrea, 1924, actor
Leighton Meester, 2001, actress/singer
Heather Menzies, 1967, actress
Ann Miller, 1937, dancer/actress
Judith Miller, 1965, journalist
Aprile Millo, 1977, opera singer
Yvette Mimieux, 1960, actress
David Nelson, 1954, actor/singer
Ricky Nelson
Ricky Nelson, 1958, actor/singer
Marni Nixon, 1948, singer
Brandy Norwood, 1996, singer/actress
Marcel Ophüls, 1945, film director
Sarah Jessica Parker, 1983, actress
Susan Patron, 1965, author
Richard Perle, 1959, U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense
Stefanie Powers
Stefanie Powers, 1960, actress
Terry Richardson, 1983, photographer
John Ritter, 1966, actor
Jason Robards, 1940, actor
Ann Robinson, 1949, actress
Ruth Roland, 1908,actress
Mickey Rooney
Mickey Rooney, 1938, actor
Debbie Rowe, 1977, ex-wife of singer Michael Jackson
Catherine Share, 1960, “Manson Family” follower
Scott Shaw, 1976, filmmaker/actor/writer
William Shockley, 1927, physicist, inventor of the transistor, Nobel laureate
Ione Skye, 1986, actress
Michael Sloane, 1976, actor/writer/director
Alexis Smith, 1938, actress
Rick Sloane, 1979, filmmaker
Andrew Solt, 1965, film producer/director/writer
Jill St. John, 1957, actress
Togo Tanakanewspaper, 1939, journalist/editor
Sharon Tate, actress, murdered by the “Manson Family”
Vince Taylor, 1958, singer
Charlene Tilton, 1976, actress
Joe Trippi, political activist, chairman of the Howard Dean U.S. presidential campaign
Lana Turner
Lana Turner, 1936, actress
Victoria Vetri, 1963,model, actress
Jess Waid
Jess Waid, 1954, author
Joseph Wapner 1954, judge, star of The People’s Court
Tuesday Weld, 1960, actress
Rhoda Williams, 1948, actress
Rita Wilson, 1974, actress
