Excelsior High School (Norwalk, California)

(Redirected from Excelsior Union High School) High school in California, United States

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Excelsior High School
Excelsior High School in Norwalk, California
Address

15711 Pioneer Blvd Norwalk, California 90650 United States
Information
Type	public high school
Opened	1924
Closed	1981
Color(s)	green and white
Mascot	Peter Pilot, replaced with Snoopy, late 1960s
Team name	Pilots
Website	excelsiorpilots.com

Norwalk–La Mirada Adult School
Location

Information
Type	GED, community education
Opened	1979
School district	Norwalk–La Mirada Unified School District

Excelsior High School, originally named Excelsior Union High School, was founded in 1903 and located on Walnut Street in Norwalk, California. The current campus was built in 1924. The campus sustained substantial damage to the administration building, auditorium, and other buildings in the 1933 Long Beach earthquake (as did the Norwalk Grammar School which occupied the former Excelsior Union High school building). Although the earthquake occurred after school hours, one student died when an internal wall in a portion of the boy's gym failed. Its last graduating class was 1981.

The Excelsior Union High School District was composed of a single school which supported a district including present day Norwalk, Cerritos, Artesia, and Bellflower. In 1919, Excelsior Union High School had seven teachers, and an enrollment of ninety-eight. After World War II, the area rapidly changed from agricultural to residential and several new high schools were added to the district to absorb the large increase in population, including Bellflower, Artesia, Norwalk, La Mirada, and Gahr High Schools. In the 1950s, Bellflower High School was realigned under the Bellflower Unified School District. In the mid-1960s the changing needs of the area were the subject of a referendum to restructure the governance of area schools and realign the high schools under three school districts. The referendum passed and with the revised district boundaries, Excelsior Union High School's name was changed to Excelsior High School and it was made part of the Norwalk–La Mirada Unified School District.

For much of its history, the student body was known as "The Pilots" and the school mascot was Peter Pilot. In the late 1960s the cartoon character Snoopy was adopted as the mascot. The school colors were green and white.

The school and campus still exist at the corner of Alondra and Pioneer Boulevards in Norwalk. It is now the home to the Norwalk–La Mirada Adult School. Since its closure, the campus has been the location for the filming of Grease 2 and High School U.S.A. and the 1982 TV series Square Pegs.

Excelsior Adult School is also the home field for Excelsior's former archrival, the Norwalk Lancers Football team. During the late 80s till 1992, the football field and baseball facilities were also home of the Leffingwell Christian High School Lions and the Pioneer Baptist High School Patriots.

Notable alumni

Pat Nixon (class of 1929) – First Lady of the United States
William Conrad (class of 1937) – actor, producer, and director for radio, film and television
James Gattuso (class of 1975) – political pundit and senior research fellow for the Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies at The Heritage Foundation

External links

References

"Original Graduate Returns to School for 50th Anniversary Celebration". Los Angeles Times. April 28, 1953.
"El Aviador" (Excelsior High School yearbook), 1966
"Information and History about Excelsior High School". excelsiorpilots.com. Retrieved April 15, 2019.

33°53′19″N 118°04′57″W / 33.888693°N 118.082514°W / 33.888693; -118.082514

v t e Norwalk, California
Schools	Norwalk–La Mirada Unified School District John Glenn High School Norwalk High School Excelsior High School (closed) ABC Unified School District Little Lake City School District Whittier Union High School District
Other education	Cerritos College County of Los Angeles Public Library
Landmarks	Metropolitan State Hospital
Transportation	Norwalk Transit Norwalk Los Angeles Metro station Norwalk/Santa Fe Springs Metrolink station
This list is incomplete.

v t e Los Angeles County Gateway Cities schools
Public high schools/notable schools
Los Angeles USD	Bell HS Huntington Park HS Maywood Academy HS Rancho Dominguez Prep South East HS South Gate HS International Studies Learning Center
ABC USD	Artesia HS Cerritos HS Gahr HS Tracy Continuation HS Whitney HS
Bellflower USD	Bellflower HS Mayfair HS Somerset Continuation HS
Compton USD	Centennial HS Compton HS Manuel Dominguez HS
Downey USD	Downey HS Warren HS
Long Beach USD	Avalon School Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo HS Jordan HS Lakewood HS Long Beach Polytechnic HS McBride HS Millikan HS Wilson Classical HS
Lynwood USD	Marco Antonio Firebaugh HS Lynwood HS Vista HS
Montebello USD	Bell Gardens High School Montebello HS Schurr HS Vail Continuation HS
Norwalk–La Mirada USD	John Glenn HS La Mirada HS Norwalk HS Excelsior HS (CLOSED)
Paramount USD	Paramount HS
Whittier Union HSD	California HS La Serna HS Pioneer HS Santa Fe HS Whittier HS
Private schools
Religious	St. Anthony HS St. John Bosco High School

This Los Angeles County school–related article is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it.

Categories:

Notable alumni

See also

External links

References