About
Castelar Elementary School was founded in 1882 as Castelar Street School on the corner of College and Castelar (now Hill) Streets. The original school building was destroyed in 1904 by a fire and a two-story wooden structure was built in its place. A second school building as well as an auditorium were added on the corner of College and Yale Streets in 1923. They were both demolished and rebuilt in 1955 for earthquake safety.
Over time, the demographics of the neighborhood around the school shifted as New Chinatown was established, and Castelar became the first school in Los Angeles with a predominantly Asian student body. The school's enrollment more than doubled after the 1965 Immigration and Naturalization Act and the post-Vietnam War influx of Southeast Asian refugees. In 1965, the school had 529 students, 54 percent of which were of Asian ancestry. In 1980, the school had 1156, 80 percent of which were Asian.
In 1973, William "Bill" Chun-Hoon was appointed principal of Castelar and became the first Chinese American principal in the Los Angeles Unified School District. He was instrumental in establishing bilingual programs in Spanish and Cantonese to accomodate the school's students, 60 percent of which had limited English language skills. Mr. Chun-Hoon contributed an article about Castelar and his time there in the December 1994 Gum Saan Journal, which can be found here.
On July 30, 1973, the 1904 building was torn down due to new earthquake standards in the state of California. In 1977, a new building designed by Choy and Associates was erected in its place. New landscaping was donated by the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association. The Chinatown branch of the Los Angeles Public Library was also established at this time in the school's vacant auditorium.