(I didn’t take these pictures.)
Maybe you recognize it from the movie, 10 Things I Hate About You.
It’s a high school in Tacoma, WA, called Stadium High. It was originally a hotel until the school district bought it.
My niece went there when she was living with us as a teenager. We lived in downtown Tacoma (total ghetto). It was a nice-looking school, but not a good one. All the kids called it Stay-Dumb-and-High.
Coolest looking school ever, though, huh?
There’s this other building I’ve driven by lots of times in downtown LA. Here’s a picture someone else took of it:
I just found out it’s also a high school. Here’s an article about it. Mind-blowing that they spent over $200 million on a high school. And the state budget cuts will probably result in teacher layoffs. It boggles the brain.
What is wrong with people?
From the article:
I don’t dismiss the value of investing in a school as a work of public art — even if it’s just a bathtub short of looking like the board game Mouse Trap.
But given the district’s budget problems and the extreme needs of roughly 700,000 students, most of whom are poor enough to qualify for reduced-price lunches, a pricey jewel in the glittering Grand Avenue necklace is a badly timed extravagance.
To put it mildly.
February 24th, 2009 at 8:58 am
I’ve always liked that High School in Washington. My school was so ugly and boring. But that LA school? Uh, yeah way too extravagant.
February 24th, 2009 at 10:17 am
That Stadium High kind of creeps me out, actually. In the dark I bet it looks like the perfect setting for a teen slasher movie. That other one is just ridiculous. Where are the priorities, people?
February 24th, 2009 at 10:55 am
It does look kind of spooky, with all the pointy towers, but from the ground it doesn’t.
I wanna rollerskate down the LA one.
February 24th, 2009 at 11:40 am
I loved that movie. Not sure if it was Heath Ledger or the music. Or both. But the school is really awesome!
The LA school is ugly –and seriously, who needs something artistic to go to school in? Boring high schools produce kids just as smart. Maybe smarter.
February 24th, 2009 at 1:03 pm
Smarter, Cheryl, because they actually have money to spend on things like teachers and textbooks.
And that is one crazy, wicked ramp.
February 24th, 2009 at 7:44 pm
I got to see the inside of it when we had All State Choir there. Most interesting school I’ve ever seen. Me and my friends started to climb to the top in one area and got kind of creeped out.
I also heard that The Frugal Gourmet used to teach there.
February 25th, 2009 at 6:10 pm
Wow, those are neat. All the schools I’ve ever been to have looked sort of like sprawling Soviet era bunkers…
But yeah, if they can’t pay for teachers to staff it, they’ve got no business getting all artsy fartsy with the construction.