Fairfax High School
Yet, the school, especially from the late 1940s through the mid-1960s, also exuded an identifiably Jewish ambience. Fairfax High was the first public school in Los Angeles to offer a modern Hebrew language course; many of the teachers were Jewish leftists; perhaps most importantly, 90% to 95% of the student body was Jewish. (Non-Jewish students tended to be white Christians) According to one alumni “Jews at Fairfax High ran things. It’s not like there was an establishment they were locked out of. They were the establishment. They were confident.” Some, however, found this experience overwhelming. For Lewis Erenberg, who was part of a lower middle class Jewish family that moved from the racially diverse neighborhood of Boyle Heights to Fairfax, there was something strange and discomforting about attending a public school that was so heavily populated by one group. Similarly, many non-Jewish students, as one such 1955 report from the Jewish Federation reveals, complained of discrimination and exclusion from social activities and received permits from the district to attend schools elsewhere. Ultimately, the outward migration of non-Jews from Fairfax High School reinforced the perception of the school that the school did not adequately accommodate non-Jewish students.