On the ride to the former George Pepperdine College 1962 alumna Susan Giboney proudly pulled out her GPC yearbooks. Excited to divulge the little-known history of Pepperdine University Giboney declared with conviction “We loved our school. We had such pride.” She turned down memory lane as the Pepperdine Ambassadors Council and the Student Alumni Organization rode the shuttle to the original campus located in the Vermont Knolls neighborhood of South Central Los Angeles.
George Pepperdine College opened its doors Sept. 21 1937. On the heels of the Great Depression a class of 137 students enrolled in a school that promised them both academic excellence and tools for a purposeful life. George Pepperdine was a member of the Churches of Christ and was alarmed to note the rate at which young Christian students lost interest in their faith after continuing on to higher education. As founder of the Western Auto Supply Company he determined to invest his fortune into marrying academia with a Christian way of life.
More than 70 years later the Seaver College shuttle pulled into a diverse landscape of hair salons car parts shops and fruit vendors. Giboney described tacos which were sold 10 for $1 every Sunday evening at sunset. She reminisced that although the authentic food connected GPC students to their surrounding community the pupils were quite wrapped up in their own little world.
The obscure history of Pepperdine University came to life as students placed a face with the name. As the student representatives strolled down “the Promenade once the hub of campus, it was generally agreed that the humble size of the old school was striking. Four buildings comprised the GPC community.
Allie Tegner and Paul Perry, two more GPC alumni, greeted the group as they entered the modest dining hall. Stories of the original campus flowed over breakfast.
Tegner, of the graduating class of 1947, painted a picture of post-WWII campus life. While she shuddered at the memory of regulatory blackouts, another thought lifted a grin upon her lips. It was an exciting time she mused, when [returning soldiers] flooded the campus after years of no men.”
The 1944 G.I. Bill had subsidized higher education for returning veterans. It accounted for the leap in GPC enrollment from 824 to a peak of 1830 between 1946 and 1949.
Graduating in 1950 Paul Perry experienced this influx as well yet remarked “Everybody knew everybody.” Amidst a connected sense of community Perry pointed out “George Pepperdine was always available. You would often find him reading in the library.” The vibes around the Malibu campus are not far off from its roots.
As Giboney’s yearbook circulated the crowd students flooded her with questions. In reply to a query on the GPC dating scene Perry divulged with a touch of nostalgia “If you put your ear up to one of the trees maybe it will whisper one of its love stories.”
Allie Tegner recalled the 1946 launch of a once-monumental football team the Pepperdine Waves. Miraculously the newcomers scored a 13-0 win their first game. Although the team’s success died out by 1958 a Rally Committee could be found smiling back from the pages of the 1961 yearbook.
Leaving behind breakfast for a campus tour PAC and SAO could not help but recall why the grounds no longer belonged to Pepperdine.
Racial tension mounted in the 1960s and the young college found itself atop a dormant volcano ready to blow. The Watts riots of 1965 exploded in the nearby neighborhood sparked by the nullification of the Rumford Fair Housing Act.
Six days later GPC’s backyard was torn apart. Detailed in “Crest of a Golden Wave a documentation of Pepperdine’s history, activists returned to the campus in 1969. They aimed to burn GPC to the ground, but were talked out of the scheme after all-night negotiations by then-President M. Norvel Young. If the community had its way this place would have been razed. GPC was an island in the storm Perry marveled.
Giboney explained the move to Malibu was a struggle but they needed a safe campus which would also have room to expand.” The incredibly lucky donation of 138 acres of Malibu land led a class of 867 students to set sail to a new era embarking the Malibu Campus on a fresh journey of expansion September 6 1972.
While the Los Angeles campus shut down in 1981 the group observed the grounds maintained sacred purposes through a purchase by the Crenshaw Christian Center.
As the students collected in the CCC Faithdome the three GPC Alumni broke into their Alma Mater song never faltering a single word. Their voices echoed with gusto throughout the old campus.
The spirit the GPC Alumni felt for their school was unquestionable. Perhaps the revival of GPC traditions on Seaver campus would be wise. A Rally Committee could come in handy these days.
“Document everything kids Perry urged. Don’t lose track of these traditions.”