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Birmingham High School
School type	Public
Established	1953
District	Los Angeles Unified School District
Grades	9-12
Principal	Marsha Coates
Students	4,000
Colors	blue, gold
Mascot	Patriots
Location	Los Angeles, California
Website	Official website

Birmingham High School is a public coeducational high school in the neighbord/district of Lake Balboa in the city of Los Angeles, California. The school is a part of District One of the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). It was founded in 1953 as a 7-12 grade combined high school, and became solely a senior high school in 1963.

Birmingham serves Lake Balboa, parts of Encino, and Amestoy Estates [1].

Contents 1 History 2 Academics 3 Sports 4 Arts 5 Notable alumni 6 External links

This school was built on the site of Birmingham General Hospital. This facility was an United States Army hospital that operated primarily as a rehabilation center for soldiers injured during World War II. It was named after Col. Henry Patrick Birmingham, a senior officer in the Medical Corps who died in 1930. In 1948, the hospital was closed.

The site was acquired by Los Angeles City Schools in the early 1950s (for the token price of $1), and became the home to Birmingham Junior High School in 1953. The school expanded into a six-year campus in 1956. In 1963, the northern part of the campus became William Mulholland Junior High School.

The original name of the sports teams was the Braves; this name was changed to the Patriots in the late 1990s when the LAUSD Board of Education voted to do away with team mascots depicting native Americans due to the threat of a lawsuit by the A.C.L.U.. This was in spite of the fact the school was dedicated by Jay Silverheels (Tonto) and five gathered Native-American Chiefs from the San Fernando Valley Indian Council.

From 1976 to 1979, the San Fernando Valley's first professional sports team, the Los Angeles Skyhawks of the American Soccer League, played their home games at Birmingham stadium. They won the 1976 ASL championship 2-1 over the New York Apollo in front of over 9,000 fans there.

Birmingham High School has been used as the backdrop for numerous music videos, commercials,and television shows such as the music video for Gwen Stefani's song "Hollaback Girl" & Corbin Bleu's song "Push It to the Limit". Also, in 2007 an episode of America's Next Top Model was filmed here. In addition, the prom scene in the horror movie Carrie was filmed at Birmingham; the building that Carrie telepathically burns down was the gymnasium at Birmingham (which was not actually burned down - just special effects).

In January 2006, The Los Angeles Times published a series of articles discussing the graduation/dropout rate at the school and how it relates to the rate for the rest of LAUSD.

Birmingham High School offers students a full range of subjects in its academic curriculum. All students study a core curriculum of math, English, science, social studies, and foreign languages. In addition, elective classes in a variety of subjects are offered, including music, drama, and the visual arts. The school has recently created a number of Small Learning Communities (SLCs). Some of these include:

• Renaissance Academy
• Medicine and Sports Academy
• Social Justice Academy
• Performing and Creative Arts Academy
• Business and Technology Academy
• 9th Grade Success Academy
• Communication/Technology Magnet

In addition, many other programs such as Humanitas, AVID, and School for Advanced Studies are available to students.

Birmingham High School has a long tradition of producing championship teams in a variety of sports. Among the many outstanding teams are Football (1963, 2002, 2004, and 2006 Los Angeles City Champions), Basketball, Volleyball, Baseball, Softball, Soccer (2006 LA City Boys Champions), Cross-country, Tennis, Golf, Track and Field, Swimming and Diving(2006)(3rd in City Championship), and Water Polo.

Many students participating in sports come from throughout the city of Los Angeles specifically to play sports at Birmingham. This is especially true for those on the Swimming and Diving teams, as Birmingham is one of the few schools in LAUSD with a pool on campus.

The current Basketball coach is Andre McCarter, MVP for the Rochester Zeniths of the Continental Basketball Association in the 1978-9 season. McCarter played on UCLA's national champinship teams in the early 1970s under John Wooden.

Drama has been one of the programs that has drawn students to Birmingham throughout the years. The Drama Academy is the latest embodiment of this program, which has seen teams from Birmingham win competitions throughout the world.

The visual arts are supported through a digital video and animation program run through the Communications Technology Magnet, as well as graphic art programs taught through the host school.

This is a selective listing of notable alumni.

• Gilbert Arenas - Professional Basketball Player for the Washington Wizards
• Sally Field - actress
• Terry Gilliam - Monty Python member, film producer, director, and animator
• Linda Lingle - Governor of Hawai'i
• Michael Milken - financier/philanthropist
• Pam Skaist -- Co-founded Juicy Couture in 1994 (which sold for $53 million in 2003)
• Barry Minkow - infamous entrepreneur turned Christian fraud expert
• Bobby Sherman - singer and actor
• Michael Ovitz - talent agent
• Daniel Pearl - journalist/kidnap victim
• Karen Valentine - actress

Cindy Williams - actress

• Tia and Tamera Mowry - actresses
• Noah Soltes - Founded Planet LuLu retail stores. A national clothing chain.
• Jeremy Licht -- Actor
• Bill Leming -- Actor
• Sibil Rickel - The Dobie Gillis TV Series

• Birmingham High School - official website

	v • d • e Los Angeles Unified School District District 1
Magnet 4-12 schools	Sherman Oaks CES
High schools	Birmingham | Canoga Park | Cleveland | El Camino Real | Granada Hills | Kennedy | Monroe | Panorama | Reseda | Taft
Alternative high schools	Northridge Academy