Founding Date

Mar 21st, 1925

In 1919, a local sorority, Delta Phi, was founded at the Southern Branch of the University of California. This branch consisted of a teacher’s college and the first two years of regular university work. Attendance grew so fast that in 1922, a third year was added and in 1923, a fourth year was granted making the school a full-fledged university. In the summer of 1923, having waited until the standing of the university ranked with the parent institution at Berkeley, Delta Phi, with a membership of 30, filed a formal petition for a charter from Delta Gamma. Delta Gamma was selected because the Delta Phis had respect for Delta Gamma's prestige and because a number of girls they knew and admired were Delta Gammas on other campuses. Delta Phi was the first local group to ask the director of the Southern Branch to write a letter of recommendation to a national fraternity. Two members of the faculty assisted these women their efforts, Dr. Lillian Titcomb, Upsilon-Stanford and Dr. Margaret Carhart, Xi-Michigan. Dr. Lillian Ray Titcomb wrote, "...if I had not found them to be a wonderfully well-organized group of superior young college women--a group capable of standing before any and all of you--I never should have had the courage to recommend them to you as a group which I believe Delta Gamma should claim gladly and quickly." The Dean of Women wrote, "As a group, they are not excelled on our Campus." The chapter was second place in scholarship out of 14 sororities, had two of the five officers elected by the association of women students, and were represented in virtually all campus organizations. The girls were also said to be "very good hostesses." "It is generally conceded upon the campus that they gave the best sorority formal of the year" says a president of Phi Kappa Kappa. From the president of Delta Rho Omega, "If a man rates a Delta Phi bid he is considered to have made the grade socially." The news that the petition had been granted reached the members of Delta Phi from Dr. Titcomb on December 1, 1924. The telegram of official acceptance, which never reached Dr. Titcomb, was dated November 18, 1924. Pledging was conducted on February 21, 1925 at the Alpha Nu house by members of Alpha Nu chapter and Los Angeles alumnae. One month later, March 21 at 10:00 a.m., installation was held at the Alpha Nu chapter house. A joint Founders and Installation banquet was held in the evening at the Men's City Club. The tables were decorated with candles, tulle, and corsage bouquets of sweet peas. An orchestra played music for dancing and the singing of Delta Gamma songs. The last event of the installation week was a tea on March 26 honoring the new chapter at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Guerdon Wattles of Hollywood, site of famous gardens called “Juliata." On the very day of installation, the Regents met to make the final selection of a new location for the campus which was to be named the University of California at Los Angeles. The site chosen was a part of what had been the old Spanish Rancho San Jose de Buenos Ayres, known as Westwood. Alpha Sigma immediately began to plan for a house of its own on the new campus. The chapter incorporated $100 bonds were sold, and a series of theater benefits, bridge benefits, raffles, and rummage sales were held. In the spring of 1926 a half-payment of $4,500 was made on 652 Hilgard, and by 1928 the lot was entirely paid for. The cost of the lot was exorbitant due to the fact that a definite location was set aside for sorority houses and dealings were exclusively with the real estate firm responsible for sub-dividing the property. More benefits of every type were held, and Monday meetings were enlivened by news of generous gifts from alumnae. Still, it was necessary to borrow money in breath-taking amounts. Alpha Sigma was the first to "move in" sorority row. In 1928 Alpha Sigma was a hostess at the Coronado Convention. The high point for Alpha Sigma was the presentation of a musical revue called "Full Steam Ahead." May 5, 1944 saw the birth of a new tradition, Alpha Sigma's Day for Remembrance, which inaugurated the support of the Delta Gamma Nursery School for Visually Handicapped Children. (Blind Children’s Center) It was hoped that like March 15, Founders Day, Alpha Sigma's would think of May 1, May Day, as Nursery School Day and would send one dollar or more to the school each year after graduation. The first Alpha Sigma Anchor Splash was held in 1980 to raise funds for the Blind Children’s Center. It is still the most important and successful philanthropic event.