Long Beach Sites

Will Rogers Middle School, built in 1935, is almost certainly a New Deal project. The Public Works Administration (PWA) paid for the reconstruction of some 200 schools across Southern California in the wake of the Long Beach Earthquake of 1933.   The Modern design of the school is typical of the New Deal era. The building also houses a 1939 mural by Olinka Hrdy.

This mural, "Deep Sea Magic," by Oklahoma artist Olinka Hrdy was painted in 1939 with funding from the WPA Federal Art Project (FAP). It is composed of two panels, each measuring 6 by 19 feet, and is currently located in the foyer of Will Rogers Middle School. Hrdy had the following to say about the mural in 1965: Well like most of the artists in California I got on the Federal Art Project and naturally I had quite a few decorations behind me so they put me right to work designing murals. And the first mural I did was one called...

The WPA reconstructed the gym building at Woodrow Wilson High School, most likely after the 1933 earthquake.

"Democratic Education" by Carlos Dyer (an alumnus of the school) was funded by the WPA. Medium: casein tempera on asbestos curtain Size: 22' h x 44' wide