Los Angeles: Student Housing

Residence Halls
When Miss Mira Hershey gave the University a women's residence hall in 1931, the gift marked the beginning of a University student housing program that by 1965 would include four additional University residence halls for men and women, a series of men's cooperatives, and four women's cooperatives as well as projects for housing married students. In addition, 27 fraternities and 22 sororities recognized by the University provided living accommodations each semester for about 738 men and 916 women students respectively.

The Renaissance-style Mira Hershey Hall originally had a capacity of 131 women students; after completion of a 1959 addition, 327 women were accommodated. Also in 1959, Clarence Dykstra Hall was completed to house 806 men and was converted the following year to accommodate 462 men and 340 women students. Dykstra Hall was followed by Robert and Ida Sproul Hall in 1960, housing 408 men and 416 women; by Charles Rieber Hall in 1963, accommodating 414 men and 422 women students; and by Earle Hedrick Hall in 1964, with the same accommodations as Rieber Hall.

Cooperative Housing
The first University Cooperative Housing Association on campus was established by eight Los Angeles students at Adams House, a rented property in Santa Monica, in 1935. By 1937, the association rented additional houses in Brentwood and on Wilshire, Hilgard, and San Vicente Boulevards for about 400 students. To purchase an apartment house in 1938, the dean of the Department of Education made the down payment in memory of his son, Everett Robison. Everett Robison Hall was leased to the federal government to house meteorology students during the war, when all cooperative houses were closed. When the war ended, the University Cooperative Housing Association was reactivated at Robison Hall. The association then bought Landfair House in 1947 and in 1958, Essene Hall. All three operated as a single unit with common dining and recreation facilities for 206 men students.

Among the women's cooperatives, the pioneer Helen Matthewson Club was opened in 1923 for 26 women and closed in the fall of 1965. Next was Kories, built as a YWCA in 1929 and converted in 1936 to a student residence housing 34 women students. Twin Pines Girls Cooperative was started in 1946 as the Josie Bruin Club, originally an affiliate of Everett Robison Hall. Under the name of Twin Pines, it housed 43 women students in the late 1960s. Stevens House, built by the University Religious Conference in 1946, became independent two years later and housed 16 women in the mid-1960s.

Family and Veteran's Housing
The Veterans' Emergency Housing Project for married students was established in 1947 for 284 families, and had an occupancy of 153 families in the mid-1960s. The Park Vista Married Students Housing facility was opened in 1963 for 333 families, and the Sepulveda Park facility opened in 1965 for 314 families.

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