You can see from the Google satellite map photo just how big a chunk of property was involved. http://maps.google.com/maps?q=15040%20Roscoe%20Blvd.,%20Van%20Nuys,%20CA%2091402 I never went to this particular drive-in, so I don't know if all that space includes former homes, too, but it's a very, very large site. The older schools in the San Fernando Valley had large spaces, mostly because open land was plentiful a long time ago. Before, fields had to be cleared for schools, now, like with the Ambassador Hotel site in Los Angeles, you have to demolish something to re-use the space for schools. Often, it's really impacting on "homes," older ones demolished that were actually the ones that fit the term "affordable housing." City Council and the Mayor like to use that term- it's not the same in real life, and "affordable" is a a term of art more than a usable concept.
COST: at a budget quoted on the project's site http://www.laschools.org/project-status/one-project?project_number=55.98009 at just over $58 million, over 1800 student enrollment.
You can get an idea of costs in 2003 when several projects in the Valley were begun, with one contract referenced in an industry publication, "Entrepenuer," http://www.entrepreneur.com/tradejournals/article/111530833.html
San Fernando-based Bernards Bros. Construction, along with the help of theSo you get three schools for a $65 million bid in 2003, with construction on the Van Nuys Drive-In site separately stated:
Valley Economic Development Center's contracting and procurement program, was
awarded a $65 million bid to build the East Valley High School in Van Nuys at
the former Carnation plant site, now underway, as well as a continuation school
next door and an elementary school in North Hollywood--all part of the same
contract.
A second, $27 million contract was awarded to the company to build a middle school, also in Van Nuys, on Roscoe Boulevard where the Van Nuys drive-in theater once stood.
You see from the above paragraphs that the bids were not the final cost, but still lower overall than the downtown LAUSD projects.
Hopefully, the tradition of drive-ins as a site for illicit sex will not continue- but you know, traditions die hard. And when they talk about the history of the school, the history of the Drive-In theater in the U.S. might be more engaging than most historical reviews of school sites in L.A.
Just in case you have no idea what the drive-in theaters were all about, or just want to yield to feelings of nostalgia, check this general site on drive ins, http://www.driveintheater.com/
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