The 24-acre site south of Wilshire Boulevard in the Koreatown section of Los Angeles signifies different things to different people. To those with fond memories of the golden era of Hollywood glamour, the site is where starlets were discovered, some of the first Academy Award ceremonies were held, and where the Rat Pack hung out. To those responsible for educating the hundreds of thousands of Los Angeles students, the site represents the overcoming of more than 20 years of obstacles to acquire one of the few viable sites for a school in a dense urban area and bring critically needed classrooms to the neighborhood. Today, the 24 acres are home to an education complex that was delivered with a gasp-inducing bill of $578 million. The cost has brought unwanted national attention to the project, labeled in the media as the most expensive school in the nation. Those involved acknowledge the steep price of the campus and point to a number of factors that caused costs to escalate, but they also emphasize the overriding purpose behind the project and the result. The campus has two main facilities: A 92,000-square-foot elementary building on the south end of the site opened in 2009. The six-story high school structure has more than 400,000 square feet and opened in September 2010. Whether the new facilities will help the district improve the education students are receiving and lower the dropout rate is unknown at this point.