The Los Angeles Normal School

Los Angeles Normal School - 1883. The Los Angeles Normal School was the second of a series of teachers colleges to be built in California in what was a precursor to the California State University System (State College System). The Los Angeles School was constructed at the site of a five acre orange grove at what is now Grand Avenue and Fifth Street in downtown Los Angeles in April 1882. Ray must have enrolled that fall and this is a photo of him with the rest of his classmates as well as the professional teaching staff. Ray is sitting on the right stoop of the stairs. Ray may have lived near the school for a portion of that year as it was quite a trek from downtown Los Angeles to Sierra Madre. In any case it appears that teaching did not inspire Ray as, by December 1883, he is off to Missouri on another adventure.