After servicing students at West Los Angeles College for 43 years, all that remains of the historic interim building are empty spaces and memoriesFaculty members and teachers were paying their last condolences and reminisced on what was.
“It’s a bitter-sweet feeling,” said Helen Burnett, who worked in the admissions department of the facility. “Even though we have moved into a new building, there are so many memories here.”
The college began demolition on one of their temporary buildings on Dec. 11, which was funded by a voter-approved construction bond. The campus has been in an on-going transformation since Nabil Abu-Ghazaleh became the college’s president last August.
The campus has a brand new three-story building that now has admission and student services under one roof.
When the West Los Angeles opened in 1969, trailers served as their interim campus known as the A- buildings. Most of the temporary buildings were vacated earlier this year because of the expansion. One serviceable trailer will be spared from the wrecking ball for three more years until construction is concluded.
The president plans to demolish all of the A-buildings located on the north side of the campus, except the A-9 building, which is used by the Associated Students Organization and is also the healthcare office.
Faculty members and teachers had the opportunity to write final thoughts on the 43-year old temporary building before the demolition takes place, which is slated to occur soon and is scheduled to be completed before Christmas.
“The buildings were not habitable anymore,” Ghazaleh said “It would of cost more for us to keep alive than to demolish.”
The combined cost for demolition, parking lot creation, and bus turnaround construction is just under $3-million. The bond-funded projects also include removal of utilities and infrastructure and replacement of water and gas pipes.
The removal of the dilapidated buildings will make room for the expansion of the already existing parking lots. The new spaces are expected to be available later in the 2013 spring semester.
Along with school staff, alumni and neighbors of the Culver City area were invited to participate in the farewell event. Special Alumnus Robert Garver, who attended the college from 1970-1972, was in attendance.
Garver was the first student to receive a scholarship from the school and he later transferred to UC Berkeley. Garver came back to teach psychology at West Los Angeles College for a few years before taking an administrative position at another school and he remembers when the building was used for the school library.
“I had a great experience at West L.A,” he said.
Neighbor and Culver City Councilman Jim Clarke was in attendance as well, he has lived next door to the West L.A campus since 1977.
“This was the center of the campus for a long time with a much smaller enrollment then now,” Clarke said, who lives in nearby Culver Crest in Culver City. “I think (West Los Angeles College) has come a long ways from where they used to be.”
Ghazaleh said there are additional plans for more construction to the school, but has not determined an exact date when that will take place.
Also commencing in December will be the construction of a bus turnaround near the new Student Services Building. The new traffic circle will allow the Culver City Bus, which provides service to the campus service, to bring students close to the heart of campus and to a location more accessible for disabled students while keeping the bus circulation away from neighboring homes.
The traffic circle is also scheduled to be completed during the 2013 spring semester.