MR, Thanks so much for all the info and the astounding pair of pix.
N Hill looking south from Bernard:
gsv
Quote:
Originally Posted by MichaelRyerson
I don't know if the Castelar Elementary School ever faced Castelar (now Hill Street) although its playground borders Hill Street but it certainly isn't unusual for an elementary school to bear the name of a major through street but 'face' on another smaller and presumably quieter side street. In the late '40's and early '50's I attended Santa Monica Boulevard Elementary School, the main entrance of which was not on Santa Monica Boulevard but on N. Van Ness across from the Hollywood Cemetery and Paramount Studios and even then the vast majority of students entered the school from the North Ridgewood Place side. There was no entrance on Santa Monica Boulevard.
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Santa Monica Boulevard School may have once had its main entrance on Santa Monica Blvd. In my experience LAUSD elementary schools are named for their actual street addresses. With rebuilding and remodels the address can change even though the school occupies the same site. Replacement buildings are often built in the play yard to minimize disruption and then the old buildings demolished to become the new play yard.
Brockton Avenue Elementary is a slightly different example. Its original entrance was on Brockton at Texas (see first pic below). Some decades ago an addition was built and the main entrance reconfigured to face Armacost (second pic). The name of the school however, did not change. I'm sure many first-time visitors are confused to find the "entrance" permanently locked.
gsv