University High School (Los Angeles, California)

University High School
University High School
Location
11800 Texas Avenue West Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, 90025 United States
Information
Type	Public
Established	1924
School district	Los Angeles Unified School District
Principal	Eric M. Davidson,
Grades	9-12
Enrollment	~2,400
Campus type	Urban
Color(s)	Blue & Persimmon
Athletics conference	Western League CIF Los Angeles City Section
Mascot	Wildcats
Website	Official website

University High School, commonly known as "Uni", is a secondary school located in West Los Angeles, a district in Los Angeles, California, near the border of Santa Monica. University High is part of the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). The campus also holds Indian Springs Continuation High School. The school contains the Serra Springs, a sacred site of the Tongva–Gabrieleño people and a registered California Historical Landmark.

While under construction it was known as Sawtelle High School, but it opened as Warren G. Harding High School when built in 1924, after U.S. President Warren G. Harding, who had recently died. The school was renamed in 1929 after UCLA moved its campus from East Hollywood to Westwood, and the reputation of former President Harding had declined after the Teapot Dome scandal. The name University is supposed to have originated because it became a site where teachers-in-training from nearby UCLA worked as assistant teachers.

The original administration building was designed by the firm Russell & Alpaugh and the construction process began in 1923. The style which was chosen recalls the Romanesque of Northern Italy. The administration building once displayed an octagonal tower and a portico, but these features were toppled in the 1933 Long Beach earthquake. An original cafeteria building was located where the current cafeteria and theater stand today. Although the gymnasium and a beautiful and widely admired auditorium were condemned following the 1971 Sylmar earthquake, the school's original main building from 1924 remains in use. The music building and gym (rebuilt in the early 1980s) have been scheduled to be taken down because they sit on a fault line and therefore against district policy. As of July 2010, the music building is gone.