Manual Arts High School was founded in 1910 in the middle of bean fields, one-half mile from the nearest bus stop. It was the third high school in Los Angeles, California afterLos Angeles High School andL.A. Polytechnic High School, and is the oldest high school still on its original site in the Los Angeles Unified School District. The school that would eventually becomeLincoln High had been founded decades earlier but was still an elementary school at this time.
One of the school's first teachers wasEthel Percy Andrus (1911 - 1915). In 1916 Dr. Andrus became California's first female high school principal at Lincoln High School in East Los Angeles. She later foundedAARP.
After three semesters in an abandoned grammar school building, Manual Arts High School was opened on Vermont Avenue. After the1933 Long Beach earthquake, the entire campus was rebuilt, constituting the present Manual Arts High School campus adjacent to theLos Angeles Memorial Coliseum andUSC.
In 1995, "The Arts" became aPacific Bell Education First Demonstration Site joining thirteen other demonstration sites in California, and in 1996 the school was named aCalifornia Distinguished School. In 1998, Manual Arts was officially grantedDigital High School status.
In July 2008, the school became part ofMLA Partner Schools through LAUSD's newly created iDesign Schools Division. MLA Partner Schools, in collaboration with West Ed, will operate Manual Arts on a 5-year performance contract approved by the LAUSD School Board.
The school was expected be relieved by Central Region High School 16 (which becameDr. Maya Angelou High School (Los Angeles, California)) when that school opened in 2011,[5] and by Augustus Hawkins High School when that school opens in 2012.[6]
In the 2011–2012 school year, Manual Arts will return to a traditional school calendar schedule.[7] As a result, several of the school's small learning communities will be restructured and the number of security on campus will be reduced.[8] The 'Blewett Football Field is named in honor ofJames Blewett who was a standout Manual Arts football player and longtime Head coach with 9 Los Angeles City titles and 225 wins.
In summer of 2022, Manual Arts High School selected its first Latino principal. During Alejandro Macias’ tenure, he helped the school meet or exceed all metrics measured by LAUSD’s Data Dig program, which aims to drive continuous improvement.
As of 2010, the school's dropout rate was 68%.[10] More than 90% of students qualified for free or reduced-price lunch provided by the Los Angeles Unified School District.[11]
^Ankerich, Michael G. (2010).Dangerous Curves atop Hollywood Heels: The Lives, Careers, and Misfortunes of 14 Hard-Luck Girls of the Silent Screen. BearMano. p. 283.ISBN978-1-59393-605-1.
^Leovy, Jill (May 7, 2016)."One of L.A.'s First Black Principals".Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles, California. RetrievedApril 20, 2024 – via newspapers.com.James B. Taylor, one of Los Angeles Unified School District's first black principals -- and a deputy superintendent during an era of integration controversies who lamented the inclusion of politics into education -- died of congestive heart failure April 26 at his L.A. home. He was 89.
^Uchima, Ansho Mas and Shinmoto, Minoru. Seinan – Southwest Los Angeles: Stories and Experiences From Residents of Japanese Ancestry. (Glendale: J & L Press, Inc., 2010). p. 195.
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