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You remember high school, right? It's that magical time of life where a young adult finally experiences that first taste of freedom...and totally \makes an ass of themselves in the process. Salem has six such places - each with its own unique personality - which will be made painfully apparent. Here's a curious (and telling) fact: Until |
 North Salem High School (formerly just Salem High School). |
 The sense of dignity you get from this photo is the same kind you get from an old family that has long lost its money, but not its influence. |
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See that bell tower? Before the big crackdown on climbing about
on the roof of the building, there used to be a grand old
tradition of painting the big steeple. By the way, there's no
bell there.
  Now, I know the building was put up in the early 1930's, but defense of the state? Wow. |
You're damn skippy, this is the home of the Vikings!
This is the outside of the gym. You'll be seeing this kind of shot more than once throughout this scholastic jaunt. Let us have a closer look at those doors... |
 These are the windows to my old Japanese class. I guess there's still some Pearl Harbor animosity lurking in this building. |
 Lou Littlejohn Field. It's more known to be the home of the Pride of the Vikings Marching Band and Colorguard than the home of the perennial Valley League cellar-dwelling football team. |
 Oh, before you "Enter to Grow in Wisdom" at the stadium, you'd best know the rules. This goes doubly for you pesky middle-schoolers. |
 Yes. Those are butt-prints. Don't ask. |
 Lookie! Brick People! Actually, these bricks sponsored the concessions stand at the staduim - and "pavilion". See how well they're cared for? |
 Look up from the bricks! |
 This place just got a gajillion times cooler. No one ever found where the shelter actually was, though... It's a shame, really. We could have used it. Adieu, North Salem... |
 It would seem that in the 1950's, there was a great split in the city. Not feeling content with the grand dame of the ORIGINAL Salem High, a splinter group in the southern area of town very nearly started a municipal civil war. I give you the second high school - devoted to the ideals Stupid Saxons. (Please note that the author of this site makes no claim against bias. He went to North, after all.) |
 This is the front entrance of the building... I think. It's such a confusing layout. Think "one long-ass hallway" that goes nowhere. Oh, there used to be a middle school buried in this building - adding to the weirdness. |
 This is the gym. Nothing strikes fear into the hearts of opponents more than baby blue and off-red. Stupid Saxons... |
 This WAS the entrance to the middle school part of the building. Now, it's the "annex" entrance. Riddle me this, Mathman: if a building is one continuous hall -- even through here -- how can there be an "annex"? Stupid Saxons. |
  Let's take a gander inside... hmm...Early 1950's interior design at its FINEST! You can also see the LOOONNNGG hallway. I assume it leads somewhere. |
  Bennett Field. Slaying ground of Vikings. Stupid Saxons. |
 Leslie "pool". Wanna take a dip? |
 This wil be the only time you'll ever see me want to get into the building. As you can see, I don't cotton to signs. |
 DO NOT FEED THE STUDENTS. |
 The great seal of the stupid Saxons. What's with the Olympic rings? Methinks that there's going to be another school that'll take issue with that... Let's get out of here - this place is giving me a rash. |
 School number three - McNary! See that blue and white? Get used to it. Oh, and though technically this McSchool isn't in Salem (it's in a town on the northern border called Keizer), it's still in the Salem-Keizer School District and it's still applicable...sort of. |
 No turning back now... OOO! Look! They got their steet named after them! |
 I had to get this out of the way... Here's your requisite gym shot - complete with jingoistic color scheme and mascot worship. Hmm...let's take a closer look at the mascot, shall we? |
 It's a Viking! or...is it a Saxon? I know! It's a Vandal! oorrr...a Visigoth? I'm so confused... |
 Front of the school. It's so...festive, isn't it? |
 Students sit in these rooms and get knowledge stuffed in their heads. It's so very pretty...in a maximum-security kind of way. |
 Blue, white, and dreary. The McNary way. If you go into the school through the front door, this is the view that greets you. Let's have another look at the inside... |
 Ahhh...hah... You probably can't read the writing on the wall (heh) |
  I mentioned football. Well, here's where the (insert generic barbarian mascot here) team plays it. Flesher Field. In the...uhhh...flesh. |
 Sorry middle schoolers, Nary loves you about as much as North Salem does. Thank you for your cooperation! |
 ...and next to the stadium entrance, you see this...thing In blue, no less. |
 Ok, this is too much. |
 There was a pay phone here once - I think. |
 Well, la-tee-da. Look who's the man. |
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I really want to get out of here...  Awww....crap - no dice. |
 Jeebus! This place IS a prison!!! |
 FINALLY! My favorite part of McNary! |
 Remember the Olympic rings in South Salem's seal? These are the guys that will take exception... Sprague High School. Home of the Olympians. ...and of the worst color scheme in all of Salem - orange and brown... |
 Crappy colors confirmed. There used to be a perception that because this school was located in a "rich" suburb, that Sprague was the "rich" school. For the most part, that perception would be incorrect. It's not a wealthy place as much as it is snooty as hell. |
  Zounds! Not just ANY stadium, but an OLYMPIC stadium. At the annual PCI marching band competition, they actually have a torch-carrying dim-bulb run around the track and light a "caldera" at the opposite side. Woo-hoo! Let the games begin! |
 The back woods behind the school. I heard some interesting stories of students and others congregating here...and not for scholarly activities. |
 Sort of the gym, I think. In any case, this lets you know that you're viewing the color-blind home of the Olympians. (Update: My pal - and Sprague alumni - Jon tells me |
 Let's look inside... Yep. Orange. |
 Oly Foundation? Like...the beer? Maybe this place isn't as annoying as I thought! There's still WAY too much orange, though. |
 An auto shop? Bunker? Armory? Little help here? |
 Yes, that's a car door - detached from some car and in the parking lot. Shouldn't this be at the "auto shop"? |
 ...a random pile of parking lot flotsam. THIS is Salem... ONWARD! |
 Vikings, (stupid) Saxons, Celts, Olympians...Royal Scots? Another McSchool? Well, Salem isn't known for its imagination. I really feel bad for McKay. As you'll see, it's not all that bad looking and it's got a lot of spunk, but this place has problems. |
 I love the font! Notice the heavy use of brick and not-so-heavy use of windows. |
 Here's a good look at the school as a whole. It was built in the early 80's and really hasn't aged much at all - kinda like Dick Clark... <shudder> |
 No weird photo tricks here - these are classrooms! It's also the greatest concentration of glass in the building. Feast or famine, I guess. |
 Brick people!!! Let's see who they are! |
 uhhhh... |
 erm...let's move on. |
 Have you ever seen the movie Stalag 17? What about The Great Escape? |
 Sorry, Tony Hawk |
 Mechs! They have Mechs! |
 Football stadium. Track. Yawn. Wait a sec...what's this on the left? |
 A track-side greenhouse? |
 Ladies and gentlemen, the world's thinnest turnstiles. |
 A scottish mascot and a genuine bog! Where's the whiskey? |
 Well, I'll be! It's the second month of the year, and I find a program from a fall football game... ...against North Salem? Why those sons of.. |
 I know you can't read this, but on the inside of the program one finds lectures on sportsmanship and being and good spectator. BE A ROLE MODEL PARENTS / STUDENTS / SPECTATORS. |
 Barbeque! I love this place. |
  Ok, I couldn't help myself... |
 Awww...thank you! This poor school has so many problems with gangs, poor funding, bad reputation... Ok - one more to go. |
 The newest high school - the great money sink of the school district... West Salem High School - Home of the Titans ...and a place you'll learn to hate as much as I when you see it (incomparison to the other schools, at least)... |
 Yes, this is the front of the school. Remember, we're talking HIGH SCHOOLS here - not college or corperate campuses. |
 I'm told that this place cost the school district about 100 million to construct. I'm also told that McKay high can't afford textbooks and is a gang-ridden cess-pool. Priorities, I guess... |
 Titan Field. It's astroturf. |
 Uhhh..."seeds"? |
 Nice rack... |
 Well...that's good to know. |
 Free-standing pushbuttons for the handicapped. That means automatic doors. Ugh... I just HOPE it's a new-fangled building code requirement. |
 I know, Chastine...I feel the same way... |
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 Aren't we all? |
 Golly-gee! Loogat the time! The big clock on West's enterance is telling me |
