To raise funds for its February prodution of Disney’s “The Little Mermaid,” Anaheim High Performing Arts Conservatory (APAC) invited the community to a Dia De Los Muertos (Day of the Dead) celebration held Saturday, Nov. 5, 2016 on the AHS campus.

The school’s central courtyard was transformed into a “Book of Life Festival” featuring dancing, musical acts, art installations, decorated altars, traditional foods, face painting, theatrical performances, mariachi, ballet folklorico and more.

Participants also bid on the artwork of Peter Perez, a  1957 Anaheim High graduate who has created and curated Dia de los Muertos installations throughout California and around the globe.

Anaheim High’s award-winning Performing Arts Department trains its students in multi-disciplines, including dance, drama, music and technical theater in preparation for college, trade school and the workplace.

APAC will present Disney’s “Little Mermaid” at Cook Auditorium, Feb.  16, 17 and 18 at 7 p.m. Tickets are $15 for adults; $10, age 10 and under. Here are more photos from the event:

Football program cover

It is considered the biggest high school football game in California history – the legendary 1956 CIF championship game between Anaheim and Downey High Schools. The game has never been matched in terms of local interest, young idols, and a record-setting crowd. Sixty years later, the game that ended in a tie between the two undefeated teams is still being celebrated by historians, football fans, and alumni from both high schools.

In anticipation of an Oct. 21-23 60th anniversary celebration of the game, both Anaheim and Downey are planning reunions and commemorations to honor players from the 1956 teams.

Both sides are also teaming up to help kick start a documentary film project, “A Last Hurrah.” The fundraising effort is to provide film maker Paul Molina with an initial production budget to record and edit interviews with players, including Anaheim’s star running back Mickey Flynn, as well as fans who attended the game.

“There is a sense of urgency,” says Molina. “It’s almost certain that these reunions will not be formally arranged ever again.”

A 5-minute promo video of the project may be viewed via the project’s GoFundMe campaign. When achieved, the $24,000 goal will allow completion of a work-in-progress by November in order to obtain finishing funds from foundations and organizations dedicated to historical and cultural preservation.

Molina graduated as a football star from Katella High School in Anaheim. He went on to UCLA’s School of Theater, Film, and Television, spending the past 25 years producing and writing documentaries and news programming for PBS, The Learning Channel, E! Entertainment, NBC affiliates, Netflix and others. Now he’s ready to film a project that is much more personal to him.

“As a native southern California, I am very passionate about this dream project,” Molina said. “In today’s digital world, it’s difficult to appreciate the amount of hype this game generated 60 years ago, but the media buzz was unprecedented. Each team had a superstar in the backfield, Anaheim’s Mickey Flynn and Downey’s Randy Meadows. Each guy averaged over 16 yards per carry!”

The documentary will take viewers back to when Anaheim and Downey were still considered small towns that were truly represented by their high schools teams, each a football powerhouse with legendary coaches who would achieve hall of fame status: Anaheim’s Clare Van Hoorebeke and Downey’s Dick Hill. Businesses closed early, and opposing schools brought busloads of fans to watch the teams clash in the L.A. Memorial Coliseum.

But it’s also the aftermath of the gridiron match that proved a game of such magnitude could not – and would not – ever happen again.

“Although the game is what drives this story forward, this documentary is about much more – a social and cultural transformation of an entire region, when all eyes of the nation were on California,” says Molina.  “This documentary would appeal to all persons interested in American history in the 1950s.”

Molina is collaborating with Art Hansen, a CSUF professor emeritus who is writing a book entitled “The Golden Kingdom: Prep Football and Early Cold War Society and Culture in Southern California.”  The book, once published, will provide a social and cultural “context” to help readers fathom why the fortunes of high school football programs, as embodied and symbolized by the 1956 Anaheim Colonists and the Downey Vikings, assumed such potent significance, meaning, and value within early Cold War Southern California.

Molina adds: “The landscape of southern California was changing so rapidly that if we look back at that period from afar, perhaps we can also reflect on how we sometimes treat our heroes, and what that says about us,” he explained.  “Most importantly, this film will allow the men and women interviewed to tell their stories – which will make us all richer by reflecting upon their experiences, and ours.”

Click here to donate via the GoFundMe campaign.  Any amount is welcome, but incentives are being offered as follows:

$25 – A digital download of the finished documentary “A Last Hurrah.”

$50 – Digital downloads of “A Last Hurrah” and the 1956 Anaheim vs. Downey title game preserved by the OC Sports Hall of Fame and the Anaheim and Downey alumni associations.

$100 – Digital downloads of “A Last Hurrah,” the 1956 Anaheim vs. Downey title game, and the game program.

$250 – All of the above, plus a hard copy replica program signed by Mickey Flynn.

$500 – All of the above, plus an Anaheim High Mickey Flynn #25 jersey.

$1000 – All of the above, including a signed #25 Mickey Flynn jersey and a collectible OC Sports Hall of Fame book and poster featuring Anaheim High memorabilia from the 1956 game.

$5000 – All of the above, and screen credit as an executive producer

More information about the Anaheim celebration on Oct. 21 is available at www.anaheimcolonists.com. For those who wish to make a donation by check, donations may be mailed to the AHSAA, P.O. Box 389, Anaheim, CA, 92805. Please write “A Last Hurrah” on the check’s memo line. Questions may be directed to anaheimalumni@yahoo.com or to Paul Molina via paulgmolina@gmail.com.

Good friends, fond memories and a love for “Old AU” were all part of the mix at the AHS Alumni Association Membership Drive Mixer held June 14 (Flag Day) at the Phoenix Club in Anaheim.

Thanks to the generosity of AHS alumni, family and friends, the AHSAA has donated more than $100,000 to Anaheim High and its students, including $15,000 in Spirit Awards for the 2015-16 school year!

For those who are unable to attend, please  click here to download the 2016-17 AHSAA DONOR FORM to mail in your donation or join via this website by clicking on the following link: BECOME A MEMBER

Questions may be directed to anaheimalumni@yahoo.com or call AHSAA Membership Director Debbie Vidana at 714-883-2389.

Anaheim High, the third oldest high school in Orange County, has a rich history that inspired writers to include “Old AU” in their books, including Tom Zaradich’s book Anaheim’s Dead – Ghostly Encounters With the Passed, which includes a chapter on Anaheim High and interviews with several AHS graduates and staff members.

The history of the Anaheim Union High School District and Anaheim High, established in 1898, is documented in Louise Booth’s book One to Twenty-Eight. Booth is a member of the Anaheim High Hall of Fame for her dedication as a teacher and her literary legacy.

Anaheim author and historian Stephen Faessel has included facts and photos about Anaheim High in his popular books documenting the history of the City of Anaheim. His wife Susan (Warden) Faessel from Class of 1967 is a major supporter of Anaheim organizations and service groups, including the Anaheim Public Library.

If you know of any other books featuring Anaheim High, please contact the AHSAA at anaheimalumni@yahoo.com.

Of the thousands of Anaheim High graduates who populate the world, there’s surely more alumni than listed here who have written books about their lives or on other subjects like Danny Dunton’s memoir of growing up in Anaheim. So far, we know of eight self-published Anaheim High authors and we’re proud to acknowledge:

Larry Macaray – Class of 1938

Margaret Peter Hein – Class of 1938

Robert Fischle – Class of 1941

Larry Zabel – Class of 1947

Ronald Muckenthaler – Class of 1948

Dave Bourne – Class of 1957

Danny Dunton – Class of 1959

Donald G. Zarlenga PhD – Class of 1960

Please let the AHSAA know of other alumni authors who are published authors by emailing anaheimalumni@yahoo.com.

Author and historian Stephen J. Faessel has captured Anaheim’s history, including that of Anaheim Union High School, in his books Images of America: Early Anaheim and Remembering Anaheim.

Someone who’s truly earned the title of “Mr. Anaheim,” Faessel was born in 1950 of parents active in the local citrus industry. Faessel supported local history as past chairman OC Historical Commission and as a member of the Anaheim Museum Board of Directors and the Mother Colony Household.

Faessel served on the Commission’s Editorial Board for the republishing of the Orange County history, 100 Years of Yesterdays.  He has served as the Commission’s Chair for the 2000 and 2001 terms and chaired the County’s Historic Site Sub-Committee.

He is a longtime volunteer researcher for the Anaheim Public Library in the Elizabeth Schultz Local History Room.  In addition to being the Anaheim Public Utility Department’s unofficial Historian, he continues to write articles on Anaheim’s unique history, including his four recently published illustrated local history books, Early Anaheim and Anaheim 1940-2007 for Arcadia Publishing and Historic Photos of Anaheim and a coffee-table book, Remembering Anaheim both for Turner Publishing.

He has also crossed the division between historical preservation and civic growth as a member of the Anaheim Planning Commission and as past chairman of the Anaheim Public Utility Board, where he served as its unofficial historian.

In addition to his interest in local history, Faessel serves as vice-president of the Anaheim Community Foundation and as a board member of the Charitable Foundation of the Native Sons of the Golden West, which provides financial assistance to children with craniofacial birth defects.

Faessel lives in Anaheim with Susan (Warden), his wife of 35 years and an Anaheim High Class of 1967 graduate who has also tirelessly served the Anaheim Community. Stephan and Susan are being honored as the 2016 Cypress College Foundation American Citizens of the Year.