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Chinatown(s) Neighborhood

Castelar Students and Teachers, circa 1938

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School Spotlight: Castelar High School In 2013, the Gum Saan Journal — the Chinese Historical Society of Southern California’s annual publication — celebrated three iconic Chinese American institutions in Los Angeles: Castelar Street Elementary School, the Chinese American Museum of Los Angeles, and the Far East Cafe in Little Tokyo. Castelar Street Elementary School had celebrated its 130th anniversary that year, so Susie Ling and Susan Dickinson tracked the school’s history and compiled a series of interviews with former alumni. Much of it is summarized and detailed below.

“Castelar School was unique. It was the entry school for new immigrants from many countries with one common goal - get an education. The students and parents were eager and the teachers were ready. There was a special aura at Castelar that existed and still exists today: students want to learn and teachers want to teach.” - Doré Wong, Alumna and Principal of Castelar from 1991-1997

It was in 1882 when Los Angeles opened a four-room school on Bull Street (Calle de Toros), which was presided over by Principal W.S Reavis and four teachers who educated children from grades 1-8. Bull Street later became Castelar Street, and Castelar Street Elementary School is now recognized as the second oldest continuously operating school in the LAUSD.

In 1903, the original schoolhouse burned down, so a new building was built in 1904 (which was later damaged in the 1971 Sylmar earthquake) and another in 1923 (Los Angeles Conservancy, 2016).

Initially Castelar students were mainly of Italian, French, Serbian, Croat, and Spanish descent but in the 1920s, Asian students began to enter the mix — several Japanese names and a “Mary Jane Fong” appeared on the roster.

1938 marks the birth of New Chinatown, which was founded near Castelar Street Elementary School. As such, throughout the 1940s and 50s, 54% of the 529 Castelar students at the time were of Asian descent while 41% were Hispanic. Yet as Hoover Louie, who started at Castelar in 1939, notes in his testimony, all of the staff were white.

Enrollment at Castelar continued to grow following the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, which removed de facto discrimination against Southern and Eastern Europeans and Asians from American immigration policy. Dr. William Chun-Hoon was appointed as principal in January 1973, making him the first Chinese principal in the LAUSD. Chun-Hoon thus was "at the helm" when it came to meeting the needs of the inlux of immigrant students.

Throughout his term from the 1970s and 1980s, Chun-Hoon transformed Castelar into the community hub it is today.He hired teachers from diverse ethnic and linguistic backgrounds, provided adult classes for parents and grandparents to bridge their gap with the larger mainstream society, and made Castelar a space for the Chinese Historical Society, the Friends of the Chinese American Museum, and the Chinatown Branch Library to organize and grow.

The demographics of the school continued to shift with the end of the Vietnam War, as many Chinese Vietnamese were persecuted and escaped by boat — referred to as “Boat People” — to the United States. Castelar enrolled the largest number of Vietnamese refugees in the LAUSD, many of whom grappled with not just the language barrier but deep trauma as well.

Individuals like Dr. Gay Yuen, Lily Leong Wong, and Lola Lee attended Castelar as students and returned to Chinatown to teach and work in the 70s, inspired by the Asian American movement to come back to their home communities. Castelar had long become a pillar in the Chinatown community, and many Asian Americans wanted to help the next generation of youth. “We had been protesting against the establishment, but some realized that bashing our heads against the wall wasn’t working,” said Yuen. “We wanted to change things from the inside… we wanted to influence the next generation of youth” (17).

In 1973, Castelar underwent a major remodeling after the Sylmar earthquake. Using California earthquake funds, the school added a multipurpose room, cafeteria, and children's center.

The student population peaked in 1981 with 1156 students, 80% of whom were Asian. California as a whole had overtaken New York as the “ethnic melting point of America” by this time. The Asian and Pacific Islander population grew the most rapidly, increasing by 140% to a total of 1.25 million (Lindsey, 1981). Schools in Los Angeles, not just those in Chinatown or other ethnic enclaves, were teaching students with “more than 70 different native tongues,” as Robert Lindsey points out in the 1981 New York Times article, “California Becomes Melting Pot of 1980’s.”

Castelar had long become a pillar in the Chinatown community, and many looked towards the school not just for education but a multitude of social services. Dore Wong, former alumna and principal of Castelar High School from 1991-1997, hired staff who spoke Cantonese, Mandarin, Spanish, Cambodian, Vietnamese, and Chiu Chow languages. Castelar also provided health services, ranging from school-wide fluorination, dental care, referrals to social services and counseling, and parent education sessions.

Today, Castelar Street Elementary School teaches 643 students, 58.8% of which are Asian, 30.2% Hispanic / Latino, 3.0% white, and 3.1% Black. It remains an influential and integral part of Los Angeles Chinatown. It became a span school in 2019, adding the 6th, 7th, and 8th grades. Castelar also established the Dual Mandarin Language Program, which currently serves 300 students in grades K-6. The first graduating class of the program was in 2017.