School History
A HISTORY OF MUSIC.
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Micheltorena Street Elementary School was founded in 1905, and has seen more than its share of Los Angeles history in its time.
Read below a little about our history, and about the Micheltorena school song. From the 2009 Eastsider LA blog entry:
The school opened in December 1905 in a one-room bungalow staffed by one teacher who doubled as the principal, said Micheltorena school supporter Dorit Dowler-Guerrero, who has gone through four boxes of school documents to research Micheltorena’s history, In a little more than a decade, more classes had been added and land was being purchased to expand the school. Much of the campus, however, was torn down in the wake of the 1933 Long Beach earthquake, forcing classes to be held in tents for four years. "The Micheltorena moms clubs worked their butts off raising money and trying to get school construction bonds passed,” said Dowler-Guerrero.
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In a welcome surprise, a former student who apparently attended Micheltorena during the 1930s sent a copy of the four-line, Micheltorena song to the school, Dowler-Guerro said. When it came time to celebrate the school’s centennial, Micheltorena music teacher Brian Bockelman wrote a new verse to complement the original song that was sung by the Micheltorena Chorus.
Here is song with the original and new versus:
Oh Micheltorena charming is thy name.
How we love to sing it spread abroad its fame. Linked with California thus thy name appears. Oh Micheltorena music to our ears.” (New lyrics)
Oh Micheltorena, for one hundred years,
How we love to sing it, sending out the cheers. We are California, now as before, Oh Micheltorena, one hundred years more. Who was Sr. Micheltorena? Read about Micheltorena, the man, here.
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 Los Angeles Times, Sunday, June 16, 1940
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