Palms Elementary School – Los Angeles CA

City:
Los Angeles, CA

Site Type:
Education and Health, Schools

New Deal Agencies:
Public Works Administration (PWA), Public Works Funding

Completed:
1935

Quality of Information:
Good

Marked:
No

Site Survival:
Extant

Description

Palms Elementary School, which opened in 1915, was rebuilt with funding from the Public Works Administration (PWA) between 1934 and 1935.

In January 1934, the PWA allocated $9,380,000 to the Los Angeles Unified School District for the rehabilitation of schools damaged in the severe 1933 Long Beach earthquake. One hundred and thirty schools would benefit from the system-wide loan and grant, with 2,500 men to be employed in rehabilitation work over 21 months.

Upon receiving news of the PWA allocation, Board of Education member Arthur Eckman told the Los Angeles Times, “I am sure that every member of the board agrees with me in expressing our appreciation of the loan and grant. It was made necessary in that we have been unable to sell our school bonds and the government was our only home.”

The school-rebuilding program was widely praised, with a February 1934 column in the Los Angeles Times arguing, “Of all the Southern California suggestions for the Public Works allocations, the school-rebuilding program is most nearly ideal. Here is centrally located work that needs to be done; work which will furnish a large volume of employment for a considerable period and for which taxpayers will pay without too much grumbling, since they understand the necessity of it.”

Source notes

George Garriques, Los Angeles's The Palms Neighborhood. Charleston SC: Arcadia Books, 2009, p. 77.

“Washington Allocation of $9,380,000 Speeds Rebuilding of Quake-Damaged Schools,” Los Angeles Times (1923-1995), January 7, 1934.

“The P.W.A. Program,” Los Angeles Times (1923-1995), February 27, 1934.

"School Project Launched," Los Angeles Times (1923-1995), Apr 10, 1934.

 

Site originally submitted by Richard A Walker on December 27, 2019.
Additional contributions by Natalie McDonald.

Location Info


3520 Motor Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90034
Los Angeles County

Coordinates: 34.0261, -118.4075

Site Details

Total Cost
$64,512

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