George Washington High School

As part of my high school class’ 50th reunion celebration, the planning committee organized a tour of the school a day before the big dinner. I wasn’t that interested in going since it would have meant I would have to confront my reunion apprehensions and drive into San Francisco for two days in a row.

But, then, by a remarkable coincidence, the Art Deco Society of California (www.artdecosociety.org) planned its own tour of my high school on the same day as the dinner. The school, George Washington High School in San Francisco (http://gwhs-sfusd-ca.schoolloop.com/), is a remarkable deco structure. It was fortunate to have been built on a hill with in an extraordinary view of the Golden Gate Bridge. The auditorium, plaza, sunken football field and lower tennis courts seem to flow like a cascade towards the Golden Gate. The architect was the renowned Timothy Pflueger and there were frescos by Victor Arnautoff, Ralph Stackpole, Lucien Labaudt, and Gordon Langdon. A 185-foot long bas-relief by Sargent Johnson covers the entire width of the football field behind one of the goals. (See http://www.newdealartregistry.org/NewDealArtRegistry.html#)

Photo by Shelly Levintal

I’m a card-carrying member of the Art Deco Society and being able to get a tour led by the society’s preservation director, as well as being able to get it without a separate trip into the City, was irresistible. I also felt there might be others like me, so with the permission of the Society I forwarded the announcement to my classmates.

Eight of them showed up and most of us agreed: All this beauty, the architecture, the murals, the site itself, was totally wasted on us as high school students. One classmate said that her recollection of one of the murals was simply that she’d meet friends under the “D.I.,” short for “Dead Indian,” one of the figures in Arnautoff’s “Life of Washington” fresco. As for myself, there was no chance to notice the art since I was far too worried about being accepted by my male comrades, being attractive to females, and avoiding the “queer” appellation that was the favorite put-down of the day.