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UHEF & Uni News

15

May, 2023

Where the Warriors Are

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  As we move towards the 2024-25 school year, which will mark the hundredth anniversary of Uni High, I am going to write a bit about the history this land is on and the people who crossed over it. I begin with my own memories of the eighties and a bit of history about the first people to love our springs and the land it’s on. Through the years, the amount of history different generations learned about our campus ebbed and flowed as society has wended its way around celebrating […]

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15

May, 2019

Where Have All The Spark Plugs Gone?

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When you learn about or encounter something too young, you’re likely to get it all mixed up. I read Catcher in the Rye when I was eleven, and I thought it was about a boy who swears too much. And when I was around the same age, my mother used to enjoy making me say ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny just to hear me struggle with all those syllables (I do the same thing to my kids). When I asked her what that meant, I did not quite glean that it was […]

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9

Apr, 2019

Patrice Noteware and the Class of 1972: Past, Present, Future

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Patrice (Taenaka) Noteware, Class of ’72, made her way to Uni for a visit as she prepares for her 50threunion. She stopped into the library, and I had a chance to interview her about her time at Uni.  She is not short on happy memories from her days here  “It was a glorious time of life,” she recalls. Patrice was active in campus clubs, serving her Warrior community and taking advantage of the many offerings at Uni.  She was elected chairman of the Friendship Board and was Girls’ League Vice […]

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15

Jun, 2018

How Uni has changed – or not: A look back at Uni in 1968

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[Posted June 15, 2018] The year of 1968 was one of massive changes and turbulence in America, with the Cold War and the Vietnam War both going strong, wild swings in politics, devastating violence in our cities and against civic and political figures like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy. What was the environment at Uni 50 years ago this spring? From the 1968 Chieftain, this from Fall (1967) Student Body President Dave Simmonds: “Uni is a fine school, but it is still far from perfect. […]

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25

Mar, 2018

Uni graduation was a magnet for stars in the studio-system days

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[Posted March 25, 2018] No end to the comments about celebrities who went to Uni, especially during the heyday of the Hollywood studio system, when Uni was often the preferred high school for graduation of studio-taught, contract-player teenagers. Louise (Kosches) Iscoe ‘46 sent a note to us and remembered: “After so many years (1946), I have fun looking back on Uni and reading your newsletter. When I read about the stars who attended graduation, I thought about my graduation. One day, at a rehearsal, the door opened and six young […]

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10

Mar, 2018

More on that famous ‘58 Grad Night Party!

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[Posted March 10, 2018] Someone has got to do a book or documentary on the Class of ‘58 graduation and grad night party … you know, that one with Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis, Jr.? Ted Tanaka wrote in with more on the amazing celebration of a class which included Frank’s daughter, Nancy Sinatra: “I was there, invited by S’58 Elsie Tominaga. I was a Uni Imperials of W’57, only about 165 in the class. Pali Hi site grounds were just starting to be leveled before opening in ’61. “I clearly remember […]

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7

Feb, 2018

Uni the backdrop for a 1971 U.S. mental health film!

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[Posted February 7, 2018] Uni has been the scene of much filming since its opening in the 1920s, including many feature films. But it was also used by the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health in 1971 for a troubling, 29-minute film called “Social Seminar: Brian at Seventeen.” According to the description, the film “Presents an adolescent’s view of his educational needs and how school is and is not fulfilling them. Gives a perspective of his educational experience, his parents and life in general.” The film doesn’t have much to […]

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25

Jan, 2018

Uni in the aftermath of the 1933 Long Beach earthquake

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[Posted January 25, 2018] UHEF co-president Judy Wolfenstein received a note from 1939 graduate Mits Kayagowe, who actually attended Uni for five years – from the eighth grade in 1935 through 12th, in 1939 … the last class to graduate prior to the outbreak of World War II! Among the highlights were memories of how the campus changed after a major earthquake: “After the 1933 Long Beach earthquake, the main administration bldg. was unusable so the city had to import half-canvas, parklike cabins for classrooms. These were lined up on […]

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15

Jan, 2018

Who are Collins & Katz in the Collins & Katz Family YMCA?

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[Posted January 15, 2018] With the opening of the Collins & Katz Family YMCA on December 9, the question has been asked: Who are Collins and Katz? We can tell you! The “Collins” is Jim Collins, who graduated from UCLA in 1950 and enjoyed a long career in the restaurant business as a franchisee for Kentucky Fried Chicken beginning in 1960 and as the owner (and expander) of the Sizzler Family Steak House chain from 1967. Now 91 and (mostly) retired, he and his wife Carol (pictured above) have been […]

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26

Dec, 2017

Uni’s yearbook: from “Chieftain” to “Paw Prints”

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[Posted December 25, 2017] In Uni’s first year, the yearbook was titled La Estrella – “The Star” – but was changed to Chieftain for 1926 in honor of the school’s Warrior mascot. Thanks to an edict from the Los Angeles Unified School District, Uni became the “Wildcats” for the 1998-99 school year and the yearbook was entitled “Enter the Wildcat.” Moreover, the yearbook staff decided that in keeping with the change of name, the reference “Chieftain” was no longer appropriate. For the 75th anniversary yearbook, published in the spring of […]

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