Jefferson Grads Show Sign of Affection for Old School

On Tuesday, the message on the marquee outside Jordan High School in Watts read: “Jordan is the place. We care.”

At Palisades High School, the marquee said: “Pali-Samo Rotary Bowl No. 9 Sept. 25,” which can be roughly translated as an announcement of a football game against Santa Monica.

Thomas Jefferson High School in South-Central Los Angeles had a slogan on its marquee, too: “Thank You Epicureans Class of 53.”

It meant that after 71 years, Jefferson had finally acquired its own billboard, a landmark taken for granted on nearly every other high school campus in Los Angeles. It meant that a group of alumni cared enough about Jefferson more than 30 years after their own graduation to raise almost $7,000 to put the marquee in place.

The 2,400 students at Jefferson had never talked much about the absence of a marquee at their school. But they had driven past Fremont, past Los Angeles, past Fairfax, and they noticed the other signs, which were donated by booster clubs and parents groups.

“I never said anything,” said Antonia Zapien, a 17-year-old senior. “But it feels better to know that we have one now. Because the other schools have them. I wondered, why not us?”

“I came on the bus the first day of school and it said, ‘Welcome to Jefferson High,”’ said Norma Chavez, another senior. “It was a surprise. And it cheered us up.”

The school, in a predominantly Latino neighborhood, has a reputation “for not having anything,” said Ronald Nardo, the president of Jefferson’s student government. “This shows that Jefferson is not what people think it is. It shows our pride.”

The sign was a gift from the Class of 1953, which chose as its nickname the Epicureans because its members hoped they would enjoy the finer things in life as they grew up.

The idea for the present was hatched over a banquet at the Biltmore Hotel, a 30-year reunion for more than 300 people. There was $800 left over, and the nostalgic classmates decided to use it to help their old school.

Asked for Suggestion

Gracie Goodin, a county laboratory technician who had helped organize the reunion, asked Jefferson Principal Francis Nakano for a suggestion. “He said, ‘Well, you remember the old marquee we used to have?’ I said, ‘What marquee? I don’t remember.’ And he said, ‘Well, that’s because we never had one.’ ”

The rest of the money was raised through dinners and dances, but handing over the gift took longer than expected. The school system insisted that the sign meet earthquake safety standards and other specifications.

“We don’t even call them marquees because technically that’s not correct. . . , “ said Sam Moore, the district’s director of architecture and engineering. “I call it a free-standing, double-faced illuminated sign.”

There were other concerns. Hayes Thrower, a teacher who advises the student government, said some faculty members worried that the sign might be vandalized.

But in July, the billboard went up. Its round gray base, the green letters spelling out JEFFERSON, the white message board and the mascot in colonial garb are still unmarred by graffiti.

‘Really Inspirational’

And on Tuesday, Ron Nardo, in his first official act as student body president, stood at a podium for a brief dedication ceremony and told the Epicureans: “It is really inspirational to see how much people remember their beginnings.”

His middle-aged audience sat on folding chairs under the pines in the mid-afternoon sun, applauding and wiping their brows with their handkerchiefs.

Gracie Goodin reminded the graduates that they had donated the sign “because Jefferson High School was good to us and good for us” and “that unborn generations may know that there was an Epicurean class in summer, 1953.”

Later, they all gathered for a formal photograph under the marquee. The women placed their hands on each others’ shoulders. And the men, in front, dropped to one knee, posing like a varsity basketball team.