Everybody would like to know where EC’s roots are.

To find the roots of El Camino, students don’t have to look very far; the first classes at EC were at a high school between Hawthorne and Prairie Avenue, called Leuzinger.

EC started on a high school campus due to the insufficient amount of facilities available for students.

Initially, EC classes were offered after the high school classes had ended for the day.Although EC began at a high school, it has always been a community college.

“It was a college to start with,” music professor June Nelson said. “Not an adult school.”

Eventually separate land was granted and EC obtained 80 acres that formed the eastern part of Alondra Park to establish its own campus.

“The county allowed El Camino to have the property for a dollar,” Nelson said.

The first classrooms consisted of huts and the first permanent building was the Student Services which was originally the cafeteria,” Nelson said.

Although EC currently holds a culturally varied student body, it originally consisted of young men taking advantage of the G.I. bill in 1946.

“It wasn’t a multicultural facility,” Nelson said, “(It was a) very different culture, men came with their ties on.”

On Friday, Leuzinger High School celebrated its 7th Annual Memorabilia Day.

Olympians shared an assembly with performances of Leuzinger High’s choir.

It was an occasion the entire city of Lawndale celebrated.

“I think Memorabilia Day is a great function for the old timers to get back together,” mayor of Lawndale Harold Hoffman said. “And I don’t mean they have to be fifty years out of school. I’m talking about someone who went to school here.”

Hoffman, who graduated in 1950, also said that just going back to Leuzinger has a lot of meaning because people are still interested in where they attended school.

“I think it’s valuable enough for me to take off a day’s work,” Hoffman, said.

As for alumni going back to to their old alma matter, memories of their high school life have brought them memories.

“I walk into the hallway and I think of the combination of my locker and it comes back to me,” Hoffman said.