> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # THE GOING TO GRAMMAR’S HOUSE ISSUE The changing face of SMC - URL: https://www.smdp.com/the-going-to-grammars-house-issue-the-changing-face-of-smc/ - Published: 2008-01-05T16:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-24T17:51:35.000Z - Author: Melody Hanatani - Tags: Education, Santa Monica, #archive-import *While the campus modernizes, some residents are worried* SMC At Santa Monica College, the times they are a-changin’. Enjoying a break between winter session courses, Valerie Pobjoy plopped her books down on a concrete wall, taking a short breather before her next class, oblivious to the sounds of construction taking place within earshot, the pounding of the jackhammers and the rumblings of the bulldozers. “Having lived in Los Angeles my whole life, I never notice it,” the college freshman said on Thursday. “It’s an everyday thing for an L.A. person.” Pobjoy sat amongst the college’s past, present and future, right in the middle of a campus, whose physical makeup is constantly in a state of flux — the student facing the construction site for the new quad while her back was situated against a library that was renovated just a few years ago, a library that sat adjacent to one of the original structures on the SMC campus, the Physical Education building. It’s all part of an effort to modernize the facilities of a junior college that ranks among the top in the state. Those efforts will soon extend to the northern part of the campus as three major projects are in the pipeline, including the construction of the Student Services Center at the northeast corner of the campus, the renovation of Drescher Hall and a series of landscaping improvements along Pico Boulevard. The intent, according to SMC officials, is to create a clearly identifiable frontage for the college, a much more physically pleasant main entrance along Pico Boulevard than what currently exists. “These students should have first-class service when they come to SMC,” said college President Dr. Chui L. Tsang. “It’s time for us to treat our students in the right way by providing these students … (with) the type of quality service that these students deserve.” The estimated $80-million project is slated to kick off in the summer with the new Student Services Center, which will be erected on the current site of the amphitheater, finally consolidating the various student services offices that are scattered throughout the 37-acre main campus. It’s a plan that some SMC officials call a “dream project.” “We are having to pinch ourselves from time to time to really remind ourselves this is something that could be a reality at SMC,” said Brenda Benson, the college’s acting vice president of student affairs. The multi-phase project also includes the relocation of the parking lot on the northeast corner of the campus to a three-level underground structure that will accommodate 500 cars, and the renovation of Drescher Hall, which will become the home of the bookstore. Drescher Hall currently has a series of unsightly wings that jettison out toward Pico Boulevard, which will also be removed. The combination of the demolition of the wings and the relocation of the parking lot will create one long open-space promenade, which is where the third phase of the project will come into play. The promenade, which will feature a line of trees and possibly a water fountain, is meant to reinvent the Pico Boulevard side of the campus as the gateway to SMC, creating a friendly and open environment, rather than the stonewall effect of the current frontage. “It is to provide a connection between Santa Monica College and the community at large,” said Sonnet Hui, the project architect with Los Angeles-based Steinberg Architects. The project will be funded by a series of bond measure money as well as state and local funding, Tsang said. All of the buildings will be designed with environmentally friendly elements. But the project isn’t without controversy. Some residents of the Sunset Park neighborhood expressed their frustration that a community meeting introducing the project was held on Jan. 3, just a few days into the New Year when many of the neighbors were still on vacation and out of town. Neighbors also complained that college officials scheduled the community meeting on the same night as another meeting where the controversial Sunset Ride bus service was discussed. As a compromise, SMC officials scheduled two presentations of the construction projects for Wednesday night in order to accommodate those residents that wanted to attend both meetings. Both the project and Sunset Ride meetings were reported to have low attendance. “The relationship \[between neighbors and the college\] has been very contentious through the years and it’s for this very reason that the college does what it wants to do with pro forma involvement of the neighborhood,” said Lorraine Sanchez, the vice-president of neighborhood group the Friends of Sunset Park, and a member of the Bond Oversight Committee at SMC. College officials stressed they are taking every measure possible to ensure that the community is informed about the pair of Pico Boulevard construction projects to be sure that the impact to the neighborhood is minimized as much as possible once ground breaks. “We have always been very concerned in taking great care in the community,” Tsang said. “We will continue to do that with this construction project.” Sunset Park resident Susan Hartley, who also serves on the Friends of Sunset Park board, said she was worried that the new buildings would generate more traffic in the neighborhood, which is already inundated with vehicular congestion. “People need to remember that a very small percentage of the student population at SMC is from Santa Monica or even the Westside,” Hartley said. “The notice to the neighborhood was severely deficient and came when people were away or busy with the holidays.” Santa Monica College was established in 1929 as a junior college program for the public school district, but didn’t become its own college district until the 1970s. The public school district’s Board of Education served as the governing body for the college until 1984 when the Board of Trustees became a separate elected body, according to Don Girard, the senior director of government relations and Institutional Communications for SMC. “In some ways, it’s an 80-year-old institution, in some ways it’s a 20-year-old institution,” Girard said. The campus was purchased in the 1940s and development began in the early 1950s on the Pearl Street side of the campus, which served as the front entrance and the address for the college until about 25 years ago. The clock tower on the southeastern part of the campus served as the center of the college in its early days and several surrounding structures, including the Liberal Arts building and the Letters and Science building, are original to the campus. Among other original structures is the football stadium and the gymnasium, Girard said. Much of the remainder of the campus has been renovated or reconstructed, mainly due to the 1994 Northridge earthquake. A total of 16 buildings overall suffered significant damage from the earthquake. Two buildings were red-tagged and destroyed and three additional buildings sustained damages in excess of $1 million. The school received about $55 million in FEMA assistance. “It’s been a very long recovery process,” Girard said. As a result of the earthquake came the drafting of the Facilities Master Plan in 1998 which guided the redevelopment of the college campus. The upcoming projects along Pico Boulevard are said to be the final implementation of that master plan. A second-year student at SMC, Clark Smith remembers the days when the college campus seemed to be a collection of old buildings. It was in 2000 when Smith first took a few classes at SMC, before the new Humanities and Social Sciences building and the Theater Arts building. While construction can be a nuisance, Smith sees it only as beneficial for students. “It’s definitely an inconvenience,” Smith said on Thursday during his break-time, sitting near the clock tower. “However, the facilities need to be improved and you need to understand that and make due.” Smith sees a clear difference between the learning environment in an old and new building. Pointing to the Letters and Science building, Smith said he has taken classes in the old structure during the summer when the classrooms are warm and during the winter when it’s cold. “The newer buildings definitely offer a better study environment,” he said. The goal for Tsang, who became the president of the college in February 2006, is to have a college with modern facilities. He also wants a college with a sound transportation system that will encourage students to utilize public transit and in effect, reduce congestion. “By and large, we want to have a facility that can match the service that we’re providing,” Tsang said. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/55/9f/559f9abc-8372-4a2e-8c2d-27386da4e363/content/images/2026/10/010508-01_01.jpg) SMC THE FUTURE IS NEAR: Santa Monica College has embarked on an ambitious construction project to drastically improve the college’s main entrance, which faces Pico Boulevard. (Photo: Photo courtesy) *Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on January 5, 2008.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/010508.pdf?ref=smdp.com)