Landmark Status for Old School Proposed

Longtime resident Ruth Ellis is proposing that the old La Jolla School be designated as a city historical landmark.

Ellis said the school, built in 1927 and bought by the city in 1979, has “long been a focal point in the La Jolla neighborhood.”

For instance, during a deadly flood on March 3, 1938, school Principal Chester Whitten turned the campus into an evacuation center where 400 people took shelter and were saved from a deluge that killed 19 people.

And until the 1950s, it was a segregated campus, serving only Spanish-speaking children of the neighboring Latino community.

Ellis, a 45-year resident, is urging city officials to preserve the remaining school buildings and the gym, which are now part of McFadden Park, a city recreation complex at Melrose and La Jolla streets.

The Placentia Historical Committee will discuss the matter when it meets Thursday and will make a recommendation to the City Council, which is to consider the issue March 18.

Councilwoman Carol Downey, who taught at the school in the 1960s, said that she supports the idea and that she and her colleagues agreed earlier this month to pursue the historical designation.

Identifying the school as a landmark would help to preserve its exterior and to protect it from being demolished, according to Marie Schmidt, vice chairwoman of the historical committee.

Preserving it also “will make the people in that area proud,” Schmidt said.

What is left of the school is a wooden hangar-style gym, now used for community and sports programs and office space; four classrooms used for a federally funded preschool program; and an office used by the city’s Human Services programs.

The McFadden Park site also includes a community center, athletic fields, outdoor basketball and handball courts, a community swimming pool and playground equipment.

Saving the campus within that complex, according to Ellis, would “maintain its identity for the entire Placentia community.”

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Landmark Decision

Historical designation requested for school.