From the Archives...A Brief History of Evans
Evans Community Adult School traces its beginnings to 1937, when an adult precursor of a citizenship school was established on the downtown campus of the Cambria Elementary School, a site for both a school for the handicapped and a high school for girls. Over the years, programs were transferred in and out of that site. Eventually as the need increased, in 1960 the school was renamed Cambria Adult School and its reputation as a premier English as a Second language school was established.
The 1971 Sylmar earthquake severely damaged the Cambria buildings. In 1972, the adult operation moved to its campus to the present Sunset and Figueroa location and its name changed again to E. Manfred Evans Community Adult School. Through the years, the School has remained true to its original purpose: to teach immigrants the English language and to offer citizenship classes. Evans immediately began to expand its program offerings by adding a high school program around 1974, later an Amnesty Program, and more recently, the Distance learning Program.
The building that includes the library was added in the early 1970's and the Joan Campion Building in the early 1980's. At this time, Evans is scheduled to add still another structure which consists of eight classrooms. No date has been set for ground breaking at this time.
At Evans, we are proud to be a part of the Los Angeles Unified School District, teachers and adult students treat one another with mutual respect, and most beginning students realize that once they learn a second language, many of their dreams can come true.