SMC Yearbooks

SMC Yearbooks

Santa Monica College’s yearbooks offer a nostalgic look at campus life from the 1930s to the 1970s. In these pages, you will find collages of student activities, portraits of students, and accounts of cherished annual traditions. You will also witness how broader cultural shifts played out at the college, from popular fashion trends across the eras to the effects of World War II and the Vietnam War on the student body. The publications reflect SMC students’ creativity, innovation, and school spirit. 

Explore the Spin-Drift and Reflections Collections, or learn more about the publications below.

The Spin-Drift was the college’s yearbook from 1931 to 1968, produced by the Associated Students group. The Spin-Drift offers a rich record of campus activities during the college’s first decades, back when it was called Santa Monica Junior College and then Santa Monica City College.

 

In its early years, the Spin-Drift included a detailed written narrative of all aspects of the school year. In later years, the Spin-Drift shifted its style to present a candid, impressionistic picture of student life. Typically, the yearbook delineates Fall and Spring semester activities, since each semester includes different graduating classes and different student leaders. Some issues contain an overarching theme to organize the material.

 

Throughout the Spin-Drift’s publication history, the yearbook has commemorated many significant moments in SMC history, such as milestone anniversaries (1939, 1949, 1954, and 1960) and the construction of the new campus at 19th and Pico (1950 and 1955). The yearbook paused publication from 1943-1945 because of World War II. The Spin-Drift published its last issue in 1968.

 

This is a taste of the contents of the Spin-Drift. Visit the collection page to browse all the digitized issues. 

Class Portraits

What’s a yearbook without the students? The Spin-Drift’s photos are a window into the SMC student body over the years. Some yearbooks contain portraits for all enrolled students, while others only contain portraits of graduating students.

Faculty and Staff

The Spin-Drift gives thanks to the faculty, staff, and administrators who keep the college running. 

Athletics

The Spin-Drift celebrates the college’s athletic feats in football, basketball, cross country, track and field, swimming, water polo, tennis, gymnastics, and more. 

Student Life and Traditions

While academics are mentioned in the Spin-Drift, extracurriculars and campus events take center stage: dances, concerts, theater performances, talent shows, field trips, and homecoming. Candid moments in students’ daily lives are also highlighted.

Clubs and Organizations

The Spin-Drift gives insights into students’ passions and interests. Organizations include student government, service clubs, the student newspaper (the Corsair), and the campus radio station (KCRW), as well as more leisurely pursuits, such as the travel club, the jazz club, and the rod and gun club.

In 1969, the Spin-Drift was replaced by the publication Reflections, which combined the yearbook with the campus literary magazine, Dialogue. Reflections is not a traditional yearbook—it features art, poetry, creative writing, and essays to create a “journal of memorabilia.” 

 

Reflections emerged at a pivotal moment in U.S. history when students were developing their political consciousness. The contents display the intertwined, countercultural movements of the time, including Black Power, women’s liberation, and the anti-war movement. The publication was a forum for students to boldly and proudly assert their identities and values as global citizens. 

 

Over time, Reflections became increasingly experimental in both form and content. While its first several issues included some standard yearbook fare, such as information about athletics and student organizations, the publication omitted other yearbook staples, such as class portraits. Later issues eschewed the magazine format altogether and took other forms, like of a deck of cards, a calendar, and a tri-fold book mimicking a vinyl record sleeve. Some issues do not bear a title or even clearly indicate the year of publication.

 

In 1975, the yearbook was split into two publications. That year’s Reflections issue was exclusively literary material. The new publication, Pearl, was a “modern adaptation of the traditional yearbook concept,” according to the Feb. 26, 1975 Corsair. Pearl was only published for one year. Reflections ceased publication in 1979.

 

This is a taste of the contents of Reflections. Visit the collection page to browse the available digitized issues. 

Album Cover

In 1973, Reflections was designed to look like a psychedelic record album. The magazine is arranged as three booklets attached to a large piece of cardboard that resembles a gatefold cover. The booklets are organized into feature writing, creative writing, and campus life sections. Notably, this issue includes an interview with Arnold Schwarzenegger, who was taking classes at SMC.

Board Game

The 1974 issue of Reflections was styled as a survival handbook, with an accompanying SMC-themed game. At the end of the issue, there is a separate section with a rule booklet, a series of cards, and tokens to cut out. The back flap of the book folds out to become a game board. To play, players roll a die, draw cards, and move around the board, with the goal of overcoming obstacles to make it to graduation.

Deck of Cards

One of the most unusual Reflections was borne out of financial constraints. For the 1975 issue, the publication’s budget was cut to a tenth of previous years, which made a traditional print run prohibitively expensive. By partnering with SMC’s Graphic Design class, the editorial staff chose an oversized deck of cards as the most budget-friendly and visually appealing format.