Founders Whitney Weston and Pierson Blaetz approached Fairfax High with the idea of creating a partnership with their arts nonprofit New Attitude Productions, eventually deciding on creating a weekly flea market to benefit both groups.
The weekly flea market opens as Melrose Trading Post on Sunday, October 26, 1997 with student volunteers and about 75 vendors: many local artists and startup businesses.
Melrose Trading Post student leadership programming begins weekly, with volunteer Fairfax student clubs and organizations leading the day-to-day operations alongside Greenway staff.
The founders discover an empty building, called Greenway Court, which was built by Fairfax students in 1939, and requested to renovate it into a theatre space. They renamed their arts non-profit Greenway Arts Alliance in honor of the building.
Renovation of Greenway Court into Greenway Court Theatre begins, led by veteran theatre and set designer, James Eric.
Greenway Arts Alliance receives Most Outstanding Volunteer Award from Los Angeles Administrators Association.
Greenway Court Theatre opens its doors with the production of the world premiere Sonnets for an Old Century by Jose Rivera.
Da’ Poetry Lounge has its first Tuesday night open mic at Greenway Court Theatre and soon becomes the largest and most diverse weekly spoken word event in the country. It later becomes the inspiration for Russell Simmons Def Poetry Jam.
Greenway Arts Alliance starts its first arts education program, naming it the Arts Recovery Project, focusing on restoring Fairfax drama programs that had been cut from the LAUSD budget.
Greenway Court Theatre opens the original stage adaptation of They Shoot Horses, Don’t They, directed by Rick Sparks and garners 18 awards including the LA Weekly and LA Drama Critics Circle Best Production of the Year.
Greenway Arts Alliance co-produces Levy Lee Simon’s Haitian Trilogy, For the Love of Freedom, Part 1: Toussaint with the Robey Theatre Company. Robey and Greenway are nominated for 10 NAACP Image Awards and won three: Directing, Ensemble Acting and Costume Design.
Actor’s Studio Writer and Director Lab begins weekly sessions at Greenway Court Theatre, led by playwright Lyle Kessler and Actors Studio Artistic Directors, Mark Rydell and Martin Landau.
Melrose Trading Post celebrates 5 years, expanding to 160 vendors, and employs 18 Fairfax students to lead hundreds of weekly volunteers.
Fostered at Greenway Court Theatre, Russell Simmons Def Poetry Jam opens on Broadway.
Melrose Trading Post is featured in Lucky, Vogue, Jane and Home and Garden magazines.
Student-produced Public Service Announcements (PSA’s), created by Greenway’s in-school film program, Voices Unheard, are handpicked for national broadcast. Follow this link to view our PSA’s: https://vimeo.com/289772770/20a931c429
Tom Gibbon’s Permanent Collection, co-produced at Greenway Court Theatre with Robey Theatre Company, is a critical and audience favorite.
Greenway Arts Alliance and Actor’s Studio co-produce Orphans, by Lyle Kessler, starring Al Pacino and Jesse Eisenberg for a three-week run at Greenway Court Theatre.
Greenway Court Theatre’s production of Permanent Collection becomes part of the Center Theatre Group season at the Kirk Douglas Theatre.
A campus-wide beautification project and capital campaign begins at Fairfax High School, led by Greenway Arts Alliance and Friends of Fairfax.
Greenway Court Theatre’s production of Butterflies of Uganda: Memories of a Child Soldier, written by Darin Dahms and Sonke C. Weiss, receives a NAACP award for Best Director, Darin Dahms.
Good Bobby, a world premiere play about Bobby F. Kennedy by Brian Lee Franklin, opens at Greenway Court Theatre.
Greenway Court Theatre’s production of Good Bobby moves to New York City at the 59th Street Theatre for a successful four-week run.
Inkslam, Greenway Court Theatre’s new annual poetry festival, begins its first year.
Greenway’s Arts Education program adds dance and poetry programming.
Greenway Arts Alliance revamps its Arts Education program and renames it Greenway Institute for the Arts. Eye of the Lion, Fairfax High’s student news show is produced and broadcast on campus.
Greenway Arts Alliance wins the 2010 Social Enterprise “Fastpitch” Award from SEA Los Angeles.
Greenway Court Theatre’s production of I Love Lucy, Live on Stage, directed by Rick Sparks, premieres to sold-out crowds.
Greenway Arts Alliance renovates and opens new rooms at Fairfax High School to accommodate the increased attendance in the afterschool programming. Greenway’s renovation included a soundstage, media room and dance studio for students.
Melrose Trading Post expands to include Fairfax High’s upper quad and increases to 240 artisan and vintage vendors. CBS News and Travel and Leisure magazine list it as one of the best flea markets in the country. Melrose Trading Post offers additional training to Fairfax students and graduates in areas of leadership and management.
Conducted in partnership with Greenway Arts Alliance and Friends of Fairfax, Fairfax High School’s capital campaign ends with the opening of a $14 million football stadium also supported in part by proceeds from Melrose Trading Post.
Greenway Court Theatre’s production of I Love Lucy, Live on Stage goes on a national tour.
Melrose Trading Post is listed #18 on Trip Advisor’s 100 Top Things to do in Los Angeles, and attendances jumps to thousands of patrons per week.
Greenway Arts Alliance’s unique partnership of a public school and an arts organization is featured in the Winter 2013 issue of the Stanford Social Innovation Review.
Greenway Arts Alliance creates new logos to better represent its programming.
Greenway Arts Alliance creates its arts accessibility initiative called Greenway Go, designed to increase arts programming at Greenway Court Theatre, opportunities for arts education through Greenway Institute for the Arts, and cultural performances at Melrose Trading Post.
Greenway Arts Alliance’s three departments, Greenway Institute for the Arts, Greenway Court Theatre and the Melrose Trading Post, together with Fairfax High School, launches GreenwayREADS, an all-school and community reading of George Orwell’s, 1984.
Inkslam, Greenway’s annual poetry festival, expands to provide a month-long programming and is renamed the LA Get Down Festival.
Greenway celebrates its 20th anniversary with a special event at the Melrose Trading Post and Greenway is honored with declarations from the City of Los Angeles.
GreenwayREADS literacy program expands, adding two additional LAUSD schools and 600 students.
