1929
The University of California’s Southern Branch, later called UCLA, opens in Westwood with four buildings: Royce Hall, The Library (now Powell Library), Chemistry and Geology Building (now Haines Hall). Physics and Biology Building (now Kaplan Hall)
1931
Kerckhoff Hall (student union) opens in January. Mira Hershey Hall (women’s dormitory) opens in October for 137 residents
1959
West Wing Addition to Mira Hershey Hall opens for male students. Together, both wings can accommodate 327 residents.
1965
The university proposes turning Hershey Hall into a graduate dormitory. Women residents protest against the coed arrangement.
1969
Mira Hershey Hall becomes coed housing for graduate students
1994
The Northridge earthquake causes considerable damage to the West Wing addition; it is deemed unsafe for residential use.
2006
West Wing demolished
2012
Terasaki Life Sciences Building opens
2012
Mira Hershey Hall reopens for administrative uses in the Life Sciences following seismic reinforcement, repairs, and upgrades.
Fun Facts
- Mira Hershey Hall was the first building funded by a woman philanthropist and named for her
- Women residents of Mira Hershey Hall were not allowed to enter the residence’s cafeteria wearing curlers
- Men visiting women in Mira Hershey Hall could only do so on Sundays from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
- Mira Hershey was related to Milton S. Hershey, who created the Hershey’s chocolate empire in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, the city where Mira Hershey was born
- During the 1965 protest against making Hershey Hall a graduate coed residence, slogans of the women included “We love men, but not for breakfast” and “Don’t make our nunnery a brewery”
- Hershey Hall Architect Douglas McLelland departed from the Romanesque style of the original four campus buildings and from the Gothic Revival style of Kerckhoff Hall, designing an Italian Renaissance-style building, light, even feminine in feeling