El Sereno Historical Society

El Sereno Historical SocietyEl Sereno Historical SocietyEl Sereno Historical Society
  • El Sereno History
  • About Us
  • History of El Sereno
    • Spanish Exploration
    • Mexican Rancho Period
    • American Ranch Period
    • PE Railway & Real Estate
    • Annexation and Growth
    • Depression Years
    • Wartime Boom and Growth
    • Post-War Period
    • El Sereno: 1950s to 1970s
    • El Sereno: 1980s to 2000s
  • Special Collection
    • Pacific Electric Railway
    • Legion Ascot Speedway
    • Soto Street Bridge
    • Research Collection
  • Featured Articles
    • Featured Articles 2012
    • Featured Articles 2013
    • Featured Articles 2014
    • Featured Articles 2015
    • Featured Articles 2016
    • Featured Articles 2017
    • Featured Articles 2018
    • Featured Articles 2019
    • Featured Articles 2020
    • Featured Articles 2022
    • Featured Articles 2023
  • More
    • El Sereno History
    • About Us
    • History of El Sereno
      • Spanish Exploration
      • Mexican Rancho Period
      • American Ranch Period
      • PE Railway & Real Estate
      • Annexation and Growth
      • Depression Years
      • Wartime Boom and Growth
      • Post-War Period
      • El Sereno: 1950s to 1970s
      • El Sereno: 1980s to 2000s
    • Special Collection
      • Pacific Electric Railway
      • Legion Ascot Speedway
      • Soto Street Bridge
      • Research Collection
    • Featured Articles
      • Featured Articles 2012
      • Featured Articles 2013
      • Featured Articles 2014
      • Featured Articles 2015
      • Featured Articles 2016
      • Featured Articles 2017
      • Featured Articles 2018
      • Featured Articles 2019
      • Featured Articles 2020
      • Featured Articles 2022
      • Featured Articles 2023
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El Sereno Historical Society

El Sereno Historical SocietyEl Sereno Historical SocietyEl Sereno Historical Society

Signed in as:

filler@godaddy.com

  • El Sereno History
  • About Us
  • History of El Sereno
    • Spanish Exploration
    • Mexican Rancho Period
    • American Ranch Period
    • PE Railway & Real Estate
    • Annexation and Growth
    • Depression Years
    • Wartime Boom and Growth
    • Post-War Period
    • El Sereno: 1950s to 1970s
    • El Sereno: 1980s to 2000s
  • Special Collection
    • Pacific Electric Railway
    • Legion Ascot Speedway
    • Soto Street Bridge
    • Research Collection
  • Featured Articles
    • Featured Articles 2012
    • Featured Articles 2013
    • Featured Articles 2014
    • Featured Articles 2015
    • Featured Articles 2016
    • Featured Articles 2017
    • Featured Articles 2018
    • Featured Articles 2019
    • Featured Articles 2020
    • Featured Articles 2022
    • Featured Articles 2023

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Depression Years (1930-1938)

El Sereno's Legion Ascot Speedway: a lap 'round the historic track of yester-years. Click on the picture to explore our page.

The economic downturn was felt in El Sereno, where no subdivisions were recorded from 1930 to 1939.  A new All Saints Catholic Church, completed in 1931, was a major undertaking for El Sereno's Catholic residents.  This large Mission-style-church required large donations from its parishioners, as Catholics were a very small minority in the community.   The majority of El Sereno's residents were Protestants from Northern European backgrounds.
             

This decade also saw the building of the first high school in El Sereno.  El Sereno High School was built in 1936 on Eastern Avenue on the site of the old Farmdale School.  The old school house, minus its tower, was moved to the back of the lot, to be used as classroom space for woodworking.  In 1937, the name of the high school was changed to Wilson High School. 


Physically separated from the rest of the town, the Sierra Vista neighborhood considered itself a separate community until the late 1930s.  Evidence of this sense of community was the Sierra Vista Community Church on Maycrest Avenue, the only local church not located in central El Sereno.  The  neighborhood, anchored by the Sierra Vista School, expanded westward from the Short Line Villa Tract.  The separate community identity was also engendered by the Sierra Vista Pacific Electric Railway Station, which served the community. 

Farmdale and Wilson High School

Because the heavy bell had a bad habit of ringing mysteriously in the dead of night, the belfry of the old Farmdale School, originally known as Bairdstown School, at 2911 Eastern Avenue, is being torn down.  It was later discovered that some boys had ran a wire and tolled the bell after dark. Date 1937, LAPL collection 

Historic Wilson High School

The front of the "old" -original Wilson High School in the 1960s.

Woodrow Wilson High School 1940s

El Sereno Swimming Pool

Original El Sereno swimming pool, a.k.a., The Plunge. 1930s  

El Sereno Swimming Pool

The old plunge at El Sereno Park.

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