Alexander Hamilton High School, also known as Hamilton High School or Hamilton, is a public

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

in the Castle Heights neighborhood within the Westside of

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. It is in the Los Angeles Unified School District. It was established in 1931.

History

Alexander Hamilton High School opened in Fall 1931, with Thomas Hughes Elson as the principal. It was designed by architects John C. Austin and Frederick C. Ashley. The three-story administration building held the administration, library, and science departments and 24 classrooms. Other buildings were a manual training building, another for physical training, and a fourth for the cafeteria and "domestic science." The capacity would be 1000, with plans permitting increasing to 2500. Building costs were $125,000 for the land, $400,000 for the structure, and $200,000 for equipment. Built in the Northern Italian Renaissance style, multicolored and patterned brickwork, elaborate cast stone decoration, and a bell tower clad in verdigris copper distinguish the building. Austin and Ashley later designed Hamilton's $100,000 six-room auditorium, Waidelich Hall which opened on April 20, 1937. The hall was named after Arthur George Waidelich, the second principal at the school. On February 21, 1989, the auditorium was renamed the Norman J. Pattiz Concert Hall.http://hamihighalumni.org/wp-content/uploads/federalist/1989/1989.03.24%20Hamilton%20High%20School%20Federalist.pdf A brass plaque made by the industrial arts department to commemorate the 1937 dedication was removed during renovation. Early photographs from the school's archives show the campus in its pre-

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

state, with only the main building completed. The photos show dozens of 1920s and 30s cars parked along Robertson Boulevard in front of the school. The bell tower still exists today, but no longer houses a working bell. Today, there are Brown Hall (which houses administrative offices, the library, and classrooms and is named in honor of Walker Brown, Principal (1940–1956), the lab building, the tech building, the humanities building, the music building, and other structures. There is a large theater hall, named Norman J. Pattiz Concert Hall, a cafeteria, two gym buildings (boys' and girls'), and a workshop building. On the west part of the campus is

Los Angeles Department of Water and Power The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) is the largest municipal utility in the United States with 8,100 megawatts of electric generating capacity (2021-2022) and delivering an average of 435 million gallons of water per day to more ...

Distribution Station 20 and Cheviot Hills High School, a continuation school. The athletic fields include Al Michaels Field (a football and track stadium named for sportscaster Al Michaels, Hamilton's famous alum) and a community garden, the Hami Garden. The Hami Garden was a joint project funded by the South Robertson Neighborhood Council and the Hami High Environmental Club in 2009. It is maintained by community members and Hamilton High School students. Alexander Hamilton High School was in the Los Angeles City High School District until 1961, when it merged into LAUSD. In 1932, its attendance boundaries extended as far north as

Mulholland Highway Mulholland Highway is a scenic road in Los Angeles County, California, that runs approximately 50 miles through the western Santa Monica Mountains from near US Route 101 (Ventura Freeway) in Calabasas to Highway 1 (Pacific Coast Highway) nea ...

. In fall 2007, some neighborhoods zoned to Hamilton were rezoned to Venice High School.

Demographics

As of 2019–2020, there were 2,586 students enrolled at Hamilton High School. Enrollment by race/ethnicity: * American Indians/ Alaska Natives: 8 * Asian: 128 *

Native Hawaiian Native Hawaiians (also known as Indigenous Hawaiians, Kānaka Maoli, Aboriginal Hawaiians, First Hawaiians, or simply Hawaiians) ( haw, kānaka, , , and ), are the indigenous ethnic group of Polynesian people of the Hawaiian Islands. Hawa ...

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the Pacific Islands. As an ethnic/racial term, it is used to describe the original peoples—inhabitants and diasporas—of any of the three major subregions of O ...

: 5 *

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

: 671 *

Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties forme ...

: 1,334 *

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White o ...

: 398 * Multiracial: 42 Enrollment by gender: *

Male Male (symbol: ♂) is the sex of an organism that produces the gamete (sex cell) known as sperm, which fuses with the larger female gamete, or ovum, in the process of fertilization. A male organism cannot reproduce sexually without access to ...

: 1,196 *

Female Female ( symbol: ♀) is the sex of an organism that produces the large non-motile ova (egg cells), the type of gamete (sex cell) that fuses with the male gamete during sexual reproduction. A female has larger gametes than a male. Females ...

: 1,390

Extracurricular activities

Academy of Music and Performing Arts

Composer Marion Vree taught music and directed the chorus at Hamilton during the 1950s. The Music Academy gained national attention in June 2002 when the Disney Channel premiered the reality TV show '' Totally in Tune,'' which chronicled members of the Academy's Symphony Orchestra. The Music Academy is a Grammy-recognized school.

Notable people

Alumni

Film and television

* Lizzy Caplan, actress *

David Cassidy David Bruce Cassidy (April 12, 1950 – November 21, 2017) was an American actor, singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He was best known for his role as Keith Partridge, the son of Shirley Partridge (played by his stepmother, Shirley Jones), in t ...

, actor and musician (attended, didn't graduate) * Jackie Cruz, actress * Kaitlin Doubleday, actress *

Brian Austin Green Brian Austin Green (born Brian Green; July 15, 1973) is an American actor, rapper, television personality and podcaster, best known for his portrayal of David Silver on the television series ''Beverly Hills, 90210'' (1990–2000). Green was al ...

, actor *

Rita Hayworth Rita Hayworth (born Margarita Carmen Cansino; October 17, 1918May 14, 1987) was an American actress, dancer and producer. She achieved fame during the 1940s as one of the era's top stars, appearing in 61 films over 37 years. The press coined th ...

, actress * Emile Hirsch, actor *

Bruce Kimmel The English language name Bruce arrived in Scotland with the Normans, from the place name Brix, Manche in Normandy, France, meaning "the willowlands". Initially promulgated via the descendants of king Robert the Bruce (1274−1329), it has been ...

, actor, director, and writer *

Shia LaBeouf Shia Saide LaBeouf (; born June 11, 1986) is an American actor, performance artist, and filmmaker. He played Louis Stevens in the Disney Channel series ''Even Stevens'', a role for which he received Young Artist Award nominations in 2001 and ...

, actor * Alex D. Linz, actor * Tommy "Tiny" Lister, actor * Darris Love, actor *

William Margold William Margold (October 2, 1943 – January 17, 2017) was an American pornographic film actor and porn film director. Known as Bill Margold, he was a former director of the Free Speech Coalition and was a co-founder of X-Rated Critics Organiza ...

, adult film actor and director *

Bill Mumy Charles William Mumy Jr. (; born February 1, 1954) is an American actor, writer, and musician and a figure in the science-fiction community/comic book fandom. He came to prominence in the 1960s as a child actor, which included television appeara ...

, actor * Marc Norman, screenwriter *

Randall Park Randall may refer to the following: Places United States *Randall, California, former name of White Hall, California, an unincorporated community * Randall, Indiana, a former town *Randall, Iowa, a city *Randall, Kansas, a city * Randall, Minneso ...

, actor, comedian, and writer *

Paula Patton Paula Maxine Patton (born December 5, 1975) is an American actress and producer. Patton made her feature film debut in the 2005 comedy '' Hitch'', and has had starring roles in the films ''Déjà Vu'' (2006), '' Precious'' (2009), '' Jumping th ...

, actress *

Michelle Phillips Michelle may refer to: People *Michelle (name), a given name and surname, the feminine form of Michael * Michelle Courtens, Dutch singer, performing as "Michelle" * Michelle (German singer) * Michelle (Scottish singer) (born 1980), Scottish ...

, actress, singer *

Kyla Pratt Kyla Amore Pratt (born September 16, 1986) is an American actress. She provided the voice of Penny Proud in the first animated series for Disney Channel called ''The Proud Family'', and Breanna Latrice Barnes in UPN's '' One on One''. After play ...

, actress * Michael Preece, film and television director, script supervisor, producer, and actor * Roger Pulvers, playwright, theatre director and translator in Japan and Australia *

Nikki Reed Nicole Houston Reed (born May 17, 1988) is an American actress known for her portrayal of vampire Rosalie Hale in '' The Twilight Saga'' (2008–2012). She became known in 2003, after the release of the film ''Thirteen'', directed by Catherine ...

, actress * Robert Ri'chard, actor * Joni Robbins, voice-over actress *

Steven Robman Steven I. "Steve" Robman (born September 27, 1944) is an American television and theatre director/ producer. Biography He graduated from Alexander Hamilton High School in Los Angeles, California (1962), University of California, Berkeley (1966), ...

, director and producer * Will Rothhaar, actor * Carl Tart, actor * Gwen Verdon, film and

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

actress

Law

Evan Freed Evan Phillip Freed (born September 11, 1946) is an attorney and freelance photographer who traveled with and photographed the presidential campaign of United States Senator Robert F. Kennedy. Freed was present when Sirhan Sirhan shot Kennedy. ...

, attorney, photographer of Robert F. Kennedy presidential campaign, 1968 * William Ginsburg, attorney who represented Monica Lewinsky during investigations into her relationship with President Clinton * Robert Shapiro, one of the defense lawyers in the

O. J. Simpson murder case ''The People of the State of California v. Orenthal James Simpson'' was a criminal trial in Los Angeles County Superior Court starting in 1994, in which O. J. Simpson, a former National Football League (NFL) player, broadcaster and actor, was ...

Literature

Albert Boime Albert Boime (March 17, 1933 – October 18, 2008), was an American art historian and author of more than 20 art history books and numerous academic articles. He was a professor of art history at the University of California, Los Angeles for thr ...

, author and academic historian * Sikivu Hutchinson, author and feminist educator * Adam Kirsch, author, journalist, and critic * Olympia LePoint, author and rocket scientist *

Walter Mosley Walter Ellis Mosley (born January 12, 1952) is an American novelist, most widely recognized for his crime fiction. He has written a series of best-selling historical mysteries featuring the hard-boiled detective Easy Rawlins, a black private inv ...

, author *

Joel Siegel Joel Steven Siegel (July 7, 1943 – June 29, 2007) was an American film critic for the ABC morning news show ''Good Morning America'' for over 25 years. The winner of multiple Emmy Awards, Siegel also worked as a radio disc jockey and an adverti ...

, author and critic on ABC television

Music

* Wil-Dog Abers, singer for

Ozomatli Ozomatli is an American rock band, formed in 1995 in Los Angeles. They are known both for their vocal activist viewpoints and incorporating a wide array of musical styles – including salsa, jazz, funk, reggae, hip hop, and others. The group ...

* Fiona Apple, singer-songwriter (sophomore year only) * Glen Barbee, composer/co-producer for "The Running Man" film cues, songwriter for Shalamar, Janet Jackson * Kevin Bivona, musician and audio engineer *

Warryn Campbell Warryn Stafford Campbell, Jr. (born August 21, 1975) is an American record producer. He has worked with a number of gospel, hip hop and R&B artists. Campbell originally got his start as a session musician and producer under the tutelage of DJ ...

, music producer * Reeve Carney, singer-songwriter and actor *

Billy Childs William Edward Childs (born March 8, 1957) is an award-winning American composer, jazz pianist, arranger and conductor from Los Angeles, California, United States. Early life When he was sixteen he attended the Community School of the Performing ...

, pianist and composer * Julian Coryell, guitarist, singer-songwriter, and producer *

Eligh Eli Nathan Nachowitz (born February 28, 1978), better known as Eligh, is an American rapper and producer from Los Angeles. He is a member of the underground hip hop group Living Legends. Biography Eligh's inspiration for making hip hop mus ...

, rapper, producer *

Mike Elizondo Mike Elizondo (born October 22, 1972) is an American producer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. A protege of Dr. Dre, Elizondo has worked with 50 Cent, Eminem, Carrie Underwood, Fiona Apple, Mastodon, Ry Cooder, Skylar Grey, Twenty ...

, bassist and producer * Joel Grey, singer and actor * Jordan Hill, singer *

Julia Holter Julia Shammas Holter (born December 18, 1984) is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, composer, artist and academic, based in Los Angeles. Following three independent album productions, Holter released ''Tragedy'' as her first official ...

, singer-songwriter * Anna Homler, visual, performance and vocal artist *

Robert Hurwitz Robert Hurwitz (born in 1949) was president of Nonesuch Records from 1984 to 2017. He was named Chairman Emeritus of Nonesuch Records in January 2017. He previously ran the American operations of ECM Records, after beginning his career at Columbia ...

, former president of

Nonesuch Records Nonesuch Records is an American record company and label owned by Warner Music Group, distributed by Warner Records (formerly called Warner Bros. Records), and based in New York City. Founded by Jac Holzman in 1964 as a budget classical label, No ...

* Nipsey Hussle, rapper * Silvia Kohan, singer-songwriter * Abe Laboriel, Jr., drummer *

Howard Leese Howard M. Leese (born June 13, 1951, in Hollywood, California, United States) is an American guitarist, record producer, and musical director who played with Heart as guitarist and keyboardist for 23 years (1975 through 1998). He continues to rec ...

, guitarist * Jeff Long, bassist * Mann, rapper * Murs, rapper *

Omarion Omari Ishmael Grandberry (born November 12, 1984), better known by his stage name Omarion, is an American R&B singer, songwriter, actor and dancer. He rose to prominence as the lead singer of the boy band B2K. The group achieved success in the e ...

, singer * Mimi Page, recording artist, songwriter, producer, and composer *

Ariel Rechtshaid Ariel Rechtshaid ( ;) is an American record producer, audio engineer, mixing engineer, multi-instrumentalist, and songwriter. His accolades include three Grammy Awards for music production. Rechtshaid was the lead singer and guitarist of the sk ...

, music producer, composer, and musician *

Daniel Rossen Daniel Raphael Rossen (born August 5, 1982) is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He is best known as the guitarist and co-lead vocalist of the indie rock band Grizzly Bear, with whom he has recorded four studio albums. Ross ...

, guitarist * Scarub, rapper, producer"Through The Mic featuring Murs and 3MG"
''The 5th Element'', May 31, 2012 * Jon Schwartz, drummer *

Stu Segall Stu Segall is a Boston area-born TV and movie producer and director who is the founder of Stu Segall Productions, a San Diego-based TV production studio. Segall began his career in 1970, directing sexploitation movies and hard-core pornography, ...

, producer and director *

Shade Sheist Tramayne Rayel Thompson (born October 22, 1979), known by his stage name Shade Sheist, is an American rapper from Inglewood, California. He began his career in 2000 by contributing the single " Where I Wanna Be" to a compilation executive produce ...

, recording artist, songwriter, producer, actor * Stew, composer * Houston Summers, singer * Syd, singer *

Elle Varner Gabrielle Serene Varner (born February 12, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. Born into a musical family in Brooklyn, New York and raised in Los Angeles, Varner studied at New York University's Clive Davis Department of Recorded Music. In ...

, singer *

Kamasi Washington Kamasi Washington (born February 18, 1981) is an American jazz saxophonist, usually playing tenor saxophone. Archived July 9, 2015. Career Washington was born in 1981 and raised in Los Angeles, California. He is a graduate of the Academy of ...

, jazz saxophonist

Sports

Laila Ali Laila Amaria Ali (born December 30, 1977) is an American television personality and retired professional boxer who competed from 1999 to 2007. During her career, from which she retired undefeated, she held the WBC, WIBA, IWBF and IBA female sup ...

, women's boxing champion * Stephen Baker, wide receiver for the 1989 Super Bowl champion New York Giants * Ronald Barak, Olympic gymnast * Nick Bravin, Olympic fencer * Alex Hannum, basketball player and coach *

Alex Hoffman-Ellis Alex Hoffman-Ellis (born August 14, 1989) is a former American professional Canadian football linebacker. After playing college football for the Washington State Cougars, he was signed in 2012 by the St. Louis Rams of the National Football Leag ...

, football linebacker * Peanuts Lowrey, baseball player *

Rod Martin Roderick Darryl Martin (born April 7, 1954) is a retired National Football League linebacker who played for the Oakland / Los Angeles Raiders from 1977 to 1988. He is best known for his record three interceptions in Super Bowl XV, which put him ...

, football linebacker * Al Michaels, sportscaster * Warren Moon, football quarterback * Leigh Steinberg, sports agent *

Sidney Wicks Sidney Wicks (born September 19, 1949) is an American former professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association (NBA). A native of California, he played college basketball for the UCLA Bruins. Wicks was selected by the Portland ...

, basketball player * John Wilbur, football player

Politics

Karen Bass Karen Ruth Bass (; born October 3, 1953) is an American politician, social worker and former physician assistant who is serving as the 43rd mayor of Los Angeles since 2022. A member of the Democratic Party, Bass had previously served in the U.S ...

, representative of California's 37th congressional district * Howard Berman, former representative of California's 28th congressional district; chairman of the

House Foreign Affairs Committee The United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs, also known as the House Foreign Affairs Committee, is a standing committee of the U.S. House of Representatives with jurisdiction over bills and investigations concerning the foreign affairs o ...

* Paul Koretz, City of Los Angeles Council member * Lynn Schenk, former representative of California's 49th congressional district

Other

* Greg Johnson, creator of the '' ToeJam & Earl'' and ''

Starflight ''Starflight'' is a space exploration, combat, and trading role-playing video game created by Binary Systems and published by Electronic Arts in 1986. Originally developed for IBM PC compatibles, it was later ported to the Amiga, Atari ST, Mac ...

'' games * Larry Josephson, radio producer and host at

WBAI WBAI (99.5 FM) is a non-commercial, listener-supported radio station licensed to New York, New York. Its programming is a mixture of political news, talk and opinion from a left-leaning, liberal or progressive viewpoint, and eclectic music. ...

and KPFA * Susan B. Nelson, activist * Norman J. Pattiz, founder of

Westwood One Westwood One is an American radio network owned by Cumulus Media. The company syndicates talk, music, and sports programming. The company takes its name from an earlier network also named Westwood One, a company founded in 1978. The compan ...

* Ben Rich, former director of the Lockheed Skunk Works* * Lilly Samuels Tartikoff, ballet dancer and philanthropist

Faculty

* Barry Smolin, singer-songwriter, radio host, and author; taught English * Marion Vree, composer, arranger; taught music

References

External links

Hamilton High home pageHamilton High Alumni Association
{{authority control Hamilton

High school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

Educational institutions established in 1931 1931 establishments in California Hamilton Public high schools in California