Mountain Avenue Elementary Had Controversial Beginnings – Part 2

Last week I wrote about the history of the grand estate, built in 1923, that was formerly on the site of Mountain Avenue Elementary School. In 1944, William and Elfrieda Bishop traded their home in Beverly Hills for the mansion in La Crescenta. It was a huge Colonial-style three-story house with a swimming pool, and five beautifully landscaped acres. They loved their home. Plus, the Bishops meshed well with the neighborhood of growing families. Even though they were childless, they opened their yard and pool to the neighborhood kids.

But those kids were part of the undoing of the Bishop’s paradisical life. The baby boom was in full swing, and those neighborhood kids were trekking all the way to Monte Vista Elementary and Montrose Elementary, both of which were bursting at the seams. In 1964, a school bond had just passed and the Glendale school district was looking to build new schools. They set their sights on the Bishop estate as an ideal location for a new elementary school.

An initial offer of $125,000 was made to the Bishops, and was refused. The offer was raised to $157,000, along with a threat of eminent domain seizure. William Bishop’s response was “Go away and leave me alone.” In late 1964, the school district applied to County Regional Planning to begin the process of condemnation of the property by eminent domain.

Eminent domain is the procedure by which a government entity can force the owner of private property to sell, willing or not, at fair market value if the sale is deemed “for the public good.” An example of a contentious and dubious eminent domain fight was the Battle of Chavez Ravine in the late 1950s. Private property was seized in Elysian Park by eminent domain, and residents were forcibly evicted, ostensibly to build public housing. But when that fell through, the land was offered for sale to developers and eventually (and controversially) was given to the Dodgers for a stadium. Certainly the school’s seizure of the Bishop property was not that egregious, but the use of eminent domain can get very ugly.

After a year and a half of bitter court battles, including a jury trial, the Bishops were forced to sell their property to the school district in April 1966. The jury awarded the Bishops $186,400 for the property. They were given 30 days to vacate.

We’re told they were angry and devastated, and they moved entirely out of the area. Their house was demolished immediately after they left, and school construction began. Another three acres was donated to the school site by developer Webster Wiley (knowing it would increase the value of his homes).

As the foundations of the school were being poured in November 1966, the community was asked to weigh in on names for the new school. There were some interesting suggestions. Of course, there was the standard Americana: George Washington, John Kennedy, General MacArthur, Dwight Eisenhower and even Daniel Boone. There were a couple of suggestions for popular figures that had just died: LAPD Chief William Parker and Max Schumacher, a popular radio traffic reporter who had died in a helicopter crash. Community leaders were suggested: Leslie Brand and Arthur Carpenter, who started the local paper, The Ledger. How about descriptive names such as Canyon Terrace, Crescenta Knolls, Hillendale and Highland Hills Flowers? Even a nod to the former resident: William Bishop Elementary. But the school board decided on the standard street name option, and Mountain Avenue Elementary was chosen.

The school went up quickly and opened in September 1967 with over 600 students, a testament to the need for the new school. Today that student number has mercifully dropped into the mid-500 range. The school is highly rated academically, in the top 10% of California schools, and is loved by students and parents.

We gained something of beauty in Mountain Avenue Elementary, something to greatly benefit our community. But for two of our residents, it was the loss of a dream, a sacrifice of the few for the many.

Change is so hard sometimes.