• Los Angeles' Palisades Charter High School was damaged by a wildfire on Tuesday.
• The school has a rich pop-culture legacy; alums include J.J. Abrams, Will.i.am, and Forest Whitaker.
• "Carrie," "Teen Wolf," "Freaky Friday," and an Olivia Rodrigo music video were filmed on its campus.

A wildfire damaged an iconic Los Angeles high school with A-list alums that was used as a set for films including "Freaky Friday" and "Carrie."

On Wednesday, as numerous fires raged across the greater Los Angeles area, the California Department of Education said that 335 schools had closed, affecting more than 211,000 students.

Palisades Charter High School, which was set to start a new term next week, caught on fire on Tuesday evening. The Los Angeles Times reported that some of the school's athletic facilities and bungalow structures at the back of its campus burned.

A representative for the school did not immediately respond to a comment request from Business Insider about the extent of the damage.

The Times said staff members and student-athletes who were at the school when the fire broke out were quickly evacuated.

It said that the main building was still standing and that the school's principal, Pam Magee, told the parents of the approximately 3,000 students that 70% of the campus structures may have survived.

The school's website said it would provide updates on when the new term would start.

Palisades Charter High School has a rich pop-culture legacy

PCHS, which opened in 1961 and became an independent charter school in 2003, has appeared in several TV shows and movies.

It was one of the many schools used to represent Bates High School in the 1976 film adaptation of Stephen King's novel "Carrie." The film received two Oscar nominations and has been referenced many times in movies, TV series, and music.

All the school scenes for 2003's "Freaky Friday," starring Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis, were filmed at PCHS. A sequel is in the works and set to premiere in August.

Seasons three to seven of "Teen Wolf," a supernatural teen drama released in the 2010s, used PCHS for the outside shots of Beacon Hills High School. The first two seasons were filmed in Atlanta. The Times reported in 2012 that the production moved to LA to take advantage of tax laws there.

In 2021, the Grammy-winning pop star Olivia Rodrigo recorded part of her "Good 4 U" music video in the school's locker room and sports facilities.

The PCHS website also says that 2012's "Project X," a found-footage teen comedy, was filmed there.

Palisades Charter High School's list of alums is full of stars

J.J. Abrams, a co-creator of the Emmy-winning show "Lost" and the father of the pop star Gracie Abrams, is one of several stars who attended PCHS.

In 2015, Abrams told the community news outlet the Palisadian Post that he based the "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" character Maz Kanata on an English teacher of his at PCHS, Rose Gilbert.

"We really wanted the story to feel authentic, despite being a wild fantasy," Abrams said. "I mentioned Rose in an early story meeting as a sort of timeless, wise figure that I'd actually known in my life." Gilbert, who worked at PCHS for more than 50 years, died in 2013 at 95.

Another PCHS alum is Forest Whitaker, the Oscar-winning actor who has starred in "Black Panther," "Star Wars: Rogue One," and "The Butler."

He told Collider in 2020 that he starred in two high-school musical productions, "Jesus Christ Superstar" and "Cabaret."

The Oscar-nominated actor Jennifer Jason Leigh, Whitaker's costar in the 1982 movie "Fast Times at Ridgemont High," also attended PCHS.

Other successful PCHS alums are Will.i.am, the seven-time Grammy-winning member of the Black Eyed Peas; A. Scott Berg, a Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer; and Steve Kerr, the head coach of the Golden State Warriors.

Correction: January 9, 2025 — An earlier version of this story misstated the year of Rose Gilbert's death. She died in 2013, not 2017.