Why Birmingham alumni consider their school to be unique:
Attending a school that was a converted WW II Army hospital.
A graduating class (1957) that was the lead class for all four years.
A Fire Station on campus, complete with fire engine.
A complete, refrigerated morgue.
A Chapel, complete with second story living quarters.
A bowling alley.
A completely enclosed hardwood racquetball/handball court.
An American Red Cross insignia on roof of administration offices.
Various hospital apparatus' attached to ceilings, walls, and floors.
A bomb shelter corridor system that replicated above ground corridors.
A movie theater complete with balcony and 16 mm projection room.
On-campus railrood tracks.
A swimming pool complete with bathhouse and cabana.
Read Our Story:
Chapter One-
April 1st, 1946. The end of World War II. 160 acres of prime Mid-San Fernando Valley land was covered by Birmingham Army Hospital for the wounded and maimed of our young men who had fought for their country.
Originally the Army had broken ground in the middle of what had been the Pettit family's carrot and lima bean field. The ground breaking date was June 18th, 1943. The cost per acre, $600. The completion date was December 15th the same year.
The hospital served the War Department in several medical capacities, including the care of German prisioners of war, during the following years until April 1st, 1946. With the end of the war the grounds and buildings were transfered to the Veteran's Administration and was run as such until June 1st, 1950.
Valleyites were not happy seeing the 160 acre multi-million dollar plant sitting idle and deserted, but few put into action their thoughts. One who did, however, was Mrs. Albert Zoraster, a member of the Havenhurst Elementary School P.T.A. With a child approaching junior high-school age, she looked about her and saw Van Nuys, Fulton and Sutter Junior High-schools....all crowded to overflowing. Then she recalled what a relative had mentioned some years before. Could the old hospital grounds be turned into a campus? Bringing the idea up at a future P.T.A. meeting, Mrs. Zoraster was quickly appointed as Chairman of the Committee on Birimingham. Her first move was a letter to Mr. James G. Moran, Secretary of the Van Nuys Chamber of Commerce. He in turn passed the proposal on to Dr. A.J. Stoddard, Superintendent of the Los Angeles Board of Education.
Things began to move more rapidly then. On July 24th, 1952 the grounds were surveyed by members of the staff and found to be remarkably well suited to school purposes, on a temporary basis. With that hopeful reply, the Committee on Birmingham went to work. Letters about Birmingham went out to every influential person from President Harry Truman to Mayor Andy Devine (acting fame) of Van Nuys on September 18, 1952.
Mrs. Zoraster and the committee continued their hard work by bringing the plans for the proposed school to the public eye. Proposals were made to the Army and on October 10th papers were signed for the lease (rumored to be $1.00/yr.) by the Army and the Los Angeles School Board....with certain limitations.
On October 13th, negotiations opened and a resolution was adopted by all agreeable parties. The Army would maintain ownership and control of the property facing VanOwen, becoming a Nike missle facility. The Junior High-School would get the East and core of the grounds which consisted of 53 acres, bordered on two sides by Balboa Blvd and the later-to-be Victory Blvd.
What was now about to happen is history. In just four short months Birmingham Hospital became a usable Birmingham Junior High School! The amazing transformation was due in part to the efficient and speedy handling of the project by the Board and the Administrative staff of Dr. Stoddard. But the man who did most to make the dream a reality was Dr. John I. Abbott, the new school's Principal. In the '54-'55 school year Birmingham became Birmingham High School.
Chapter Two-
During the ongoing construction of Birmingham, the student body was being formed. On February 4th, 1953, students living in the area that Birmingham would serve came together at Van Nuys Junior High School. The 'new' school operated out of portables on the grounds of the VNJHS campus as a 'second' school until April 7th, 1953, at which time the entire student body, 1200 8th graders, was transported by bus amid television cameras and newspaper photographers, arrived on the campus at Balboa Blvd. and Victory. Many alumni of BHS will claim the honorable distinction of being "the first one off the buses"; the truth is we all set foot on those grounds together, as though it were orchestrated.
The old corridors seemed to come alive with the sound of young people. The first days on campus were hectic, what with 3 1/2 miles of corridors and 53 acres to roam in, imagine the students delite, and the staff anxiety. Students had laquished around Van Nuys Junior High School for months, and prior to that had aways been lower classmen in other schools. For that original group of 1200, it was certainly a new, free, and strange world.
Almost from the beginning we were proud. And now we might ask ourselves, why? Was it the atmosphere of half school, half hospital? Was it because one class, and one class only, occupied and controlled an entire school? Whatever the reason, we felt it then, and feel it now. Evidence our Webpage!
Chapter Three-
The grounds were vast. We had never walked so far in our young lives to get to a classroom! From the PE area to a class in Office Practice or Drama classes in the old Chapel (What a paradox; today school prayer is outlawed, in the '50's we had a real 'Chapel' on campus!) was a good quarter mile walk. Then there was the task of getting to lockers and getting to class at the appointed time. Many students finally gave up on using assigned lockers in the far off corner of a corridor and opted to sharing lockers. Another memory of many early students was the finding of syringes and needles laying about in the ground, usually hidden by grass, in areas between corridors. To get the indivual memories of these formative years at Birmingham, visit our "Memory Lane" page.
There have been people, since leaving the hallowed halls of good old Birmingham who did achieve noted fame. One outstanding member of the '57 class was Shelby Flint. Shelby went on to a singing career and many alumni recall hearing her voice in such notables as Walt Disney's "The Adventurer's". Another outstanding achivevement came from Greg Mather as he thrilled us all on TV (Army/Navy game) by recovering a fumble and romping for a score. Then there are the others, what ever happened to them? Some would ask; where is Doug Rich? Why haven't we seen Doug in a motion picture ? He was that good. And, so many more... where are they ? We have come together after all these years to seek the answers to these questions, plus more.
And who could forget the 'Imperials', 'Monks', 'Barons', and 'Seven Dwarfs' car/social clubs? Each club attaining a degree of notoriety.
The buildings began to take shape as our young lives did. The swimming pool, at the beginning, was only a promise. It was there but it was filled with brackish water. Every once in a while we'd drop by and longingly look at it. Then in 1956, and after numerous fund raisers, the pool was cleaned and repaired. The class of '57 were the first to jump in. Our competitive swim team was born, but where was the competition? A high school, in those days, with a pool was a rarity.
1956 was also the year of Elvis. Some brainiac PE teacher thought they could deter us from listening to that 'dispicable' Rock and Roll. The ploy was to hold 'ballroom' type dancing in PE every Friday. We all groaned. What the teacher's didn't realize was that we could do the 'Bop' to any song having a beat, not just the accursed 'Rock Around the Clock'! Those dance classes only lasted one semester.
The sports teams were struggling in competition, but learning and growing.
Shop class, Press club, Home Economics, School Service, Art class, Driver's Ed., Ceramics just names a few classes and extra curricular activities that were sprouting up as we grew.
Our first ever winning athletic team was the Cross Country Team of '54-'55. They won the league championship and went on to finish second in the city finals. Our Football, Baseball, Basketball, and Gymnist teams, at first, were short on victories, but notorious 'scrappers'.
There were academic clubs aplenty. Since we had centered on being the "Braves" our clubs took on tribal names. 'Pottawattomi' was a mouthful for us non Natives. But everyone joined willingly and did good works.
Many students would bring partial lunches and then chose to stand in the lines of the cafeteria . The spaghetti or macaroni and cheese built an acquired taste we were unable to duplicate. The little red and white 'boat' containers the food came in might have been the flavor enhancer. The GIANT oatmeal cookies were hard to duplicate. Oh, and they had to be four inches in diameter!
Our expansive lunch break left time to watch the first half of 'Picnic', the first third of 'Gone With The Wind', and if you got there early enough the complete movie of 'Pajama Game', 'Hondo', or 'Shane'. All this was happening at the theater, for ten cents. Then there were the special days when the movie was cancelled and in it's place a scheduled, student monitored fight would take place (the days of "students cleaning their own linen"!). Those were the carefree days.
During the '53-'54 school year the wood shop teacher and a group of students discovered the on-campus 'morgue'. The 'morgue' was a boarded up room located between the woodshop and home economics room. It contained approximately 18 rolling body shelves, all oak hardwood doors and wood trim, posted directions regarding temperature controls, check list procedures, etc. To think that a 'morgue' would be sealed away in such a pristine condition on a school campus, similiar to an egyptian tomb, is eerie!
Chapter Four-
We were 'billed' as the "World's Largest Junior High School". Probably due to acreage; however, our spirit was big, the dreams were big, and , yes our minds had expanded also. No other school could have molded our young lives as did Birmingham. We were Birmingham , and Birmingham was us!
The alumni of Birmingham hope you sense the uniqueness and pride we share.
Long Live The "Braves"
The End-
