Last Saturday was Sesquicentennial Day at my high school alma mater, Lowell High School in San Francisco. Yup, that’s one hundred fifty big years, making it the oldest public high school west of the Mississippi.
I got the invitation to the event from the Alumni Association but I couldn’t make it. It was the 3-year death anniversary of my wife’s mother and we had a little get-together. It would’ve been nice to have gone though. One of my old friends said in an e-mail that it would be neat to show our kids where we went to high school.
Three years ago I lamented that Lowell didn’t make it to Newsweek’s 100 Best High Schools in America list. Well, this year it made #26. When I went there many years ago, I believe it ranked #7 (not on account of me, btw!).
Lowell is a magnet school that has produced three Nobel Prize winners (more than most countries), several captains of industry and many other alumni of note. Among them are:
- William Hewlett – yes, of Hewlett-Packard
- Carol Channing – of which our auditorium was named after
- Charles Ginsberg – “The Father of the VCR”
- Donald Fisher – founder of GAP
- Dian Fossey – she who paid the ultimate price protecting the gorillas in the mist
- Bill Bixby – yup, Dr. Banner himself
- Naomi Wolf – feminist writer
- Benjamin Bratt – one-time apple of Ms. Julia Roberts’ eye
- Daniel Handler – Lemony Snicket’s alter ego (previously blogged about here)
Even Lowell’s misfits manage to make a name for themselves. Margaret Cho is a Lowell drop-out. Adrian Lamo, a world-famous hacker, is a Lowell graduate.
Perhaps out of all the famous Lowellites, Rube Goldberg would be my favorite. (Notice how in the Lemony Snicket movie, a Rube-Goldberg contraption was featured in the opening scene?)
There are other notable alumni that didn’t get into the online lists. Here are a few of them:
- Paris – the Black Panther of Hip-Hop
- Emil Guillermo – Fil-Am columnist and former “All Things Considered” host at NPR
- Tess Uriza Holthe – Filipina author of When the Elephants Dance
- Carlos Villa – Filipino artist and educator
- Orvy Jundis – Philippine Comics historian, writer and martial arts instructor
- *just added* Alex Tse – screenwriter of the Spike Lee-directed Showtime movie Sucker Free City
Oh and how could I forget: the actress who played Teek in the 1985 Star Wars spin-off Ewoks: The Battle for Endor was in my class.
With an impressive roster of alumni like that, you’d see why I hadn’t gone to any of our reunions. What’s my claim to fame?
If you think you’ve had it bad comparing notes to classmates, just think of the complex one can get when you compare to Jerry Yang
But you know what, when you go these reunions you meet all sorts of interesting people you had lost touch with and you realize they have good memories of you and next thing you know, you’re having a good time and you find that all those fears were nothing but a hill of beans. Still, all in all, fascinating high school you went to. Must have some good stories to tell… do share 
I’m sure Jerry felt like a regular old chap at your Stanford reunion. Plus you’re not doing too bad yourself, if I may say so, Abbi.
daniel, if benjamin bratt plans to show up in your next alumni reunion, then i’d like to go too.
j/k
sure, petite. you can be my proxy.
Send me a note in re. the next reunion, and I’ll show my face. I’m sure they’ll be just thrilled : )
Wow, thanks for dropping by, Adrian (or should I be concerned?). : )
It’s interesting to know you went to International Studies Academy as well. I went there my sophomore year. I transferred to Lowell the next year.
Congratulations on the documentary about your life and “exploits” that’s due out soon!