Students did away with Artists name a while ago

Bill O’Hare

First and foremost, mascots and team names should be rallying

points, a source of pride for team members and students. Instead,

rightly or wrongly, the Artists name long ago failed in its purpose

at Laguna Beach High, becoming instead a source of humor and

embarrassment to those who wear it.

Although the debate over the name is understandable, its timing is

a bit puzzling because the Artists name has been quietly retired for

years.

This fall, the students finally got around to picking a

replacement and with a nod to tradition, now call themselves the

Breakers, restoring the school’s original name from the 1930s.

It has been said that the Artists name stands for more than just a

high school or its athletic teams. It represents an entire community,

and the present students, mere trustees of the name, should not have

been allowed to vote to replace it. This approach probably explains

how the name got changed from the Breakers to the Artists in the

first place. My guess is that the Chamber of Commerce crowd came up

with the name as a promotional stunt for the Festival of the Arts and

art galleries, and simply told the students they would have to live

with it for the good of the community. Either that, or maybe the

students were too distracted by the Great Depression and rising world

fascism to notice.

Anyway, four years of shame is a small price to pay to help the

local economy. And learning to live with that name will make you

stronger, sort of like being raised as a boy named Sue. Even The

Coastline in an editorial in support of the Artists describes it as a

mascot to be “endured.”

The problem with the name today is that the Great Depression is

over, local business no longer needs a boost on the backs of high

school students, and the students haven’t been buying this stuff

about how much better it is to be unique instead of tough or proud.

Indeed, would be Artists have been voting with their palettes for

years, painting over nearly all visible signs of the moniker. Look at

the scoreboard of Guyer (not Artists) field. It says “Beach.”

Goodness knows there are no Artists on the football (or any other)

team, as their jerseys say Beach or Laguna. It’s the same for the

cheerleaders. No “We are the Artists, the mighty, mighty Artists” to

be heard. But what about our award-winning drama program? True, there

is the Artists Theater (and it will remain so), but that’s just

bricks and mortar. The flesh and blood acting troupe calls itself The

Park Avenue Players. Even the artists aren’t Artists.

The truth of the matter is, for years our high school has had no

accepted team name or mascot, just a label that nearly everyone who

actually attends the school tries to ignore, until, apparently, they

graduate and decide it’s really a good name after all.

This fall’s vote of the students, in which only 5% supported the

Artists name, was simply a recognition of existing fact, and that the

time had come to give the school some name to rally around.

Personally, I agree that the Artists name is more unique and

special and I wish the students were proud of it. But they’re not and

haven’t been for a very long time. I’d much prefer to join with the

students in cheering for the Breakers, than pretending to have a name

I may like more.

* BILL O’HARE is a Laguna Beach resident.