The History of

SAN DIEGO MILITARY ACADEMY

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

San Diego Military Academy (SDMA) was founded in 1958, in Solana Beach, California by Mr. Louis J. Bitterlin. Louis J. Bitterlin was headmaster of Brown Military Academy. When Brown Military Academy moved its campus from 1800 Garner Avenue, San Diego to Glendora California, he decided to not make the move with them.

 

Bitterlin organized a small group of investors and purchased the Las Flores Inn in Solana Beach, California. The Inn, on 17 acres in the Santa Fe Hills, overlooked the small neighborhood of Eden Gardens. The Las Flores Inn was built in 1938-40 to facilitate the seasonal horse racing spectators that came to Del Mar in early summer. The Inn housed 50 rooms and suites in three bungalow stylized wings. A large swimming pool with flagstone decking was the centerpoint of the property. A dining room and lounge sat on the bluff overlooking the racetrack. The west coast invasion scare of WWII caused the temporary closing of Del Mar Racetrack and the Inn fell into financial decline. It struggled until Bitterlin and the investors saw new potential in the site as San Diego Military Academy.

 

The rooms and suites were converted into suitable cadet barracks and the dining room expanded into a proper mess hall. Portable classrooms were obtained from San Diego Public Schools as a temporary classroom solution. The portable classrooms were well maintained and served the academy for 19 years, then used by the succeeding Santa Fe Christian School for a few years more. The Academy expanded quickly in its first decade. A chapel with offices was built in 1962 and the two story lower school dormitory in 1965. The senior class of 1968 funded and dedicated a student lounge building adjoining the mess hall. The acreage below the bluff was leveled for the athletic field. The main drive to the academy was named Academy Drive and remains so to this day. A few sections of the original Inn (cadet barracks) are fully restored and remain in service today as Santa Fe Christian School.

 

SDMA succeeded in building a sound reputation and proving each year its worth to parents, students and the community.  Through small classes, extra help periods, individual attention and special classes in reading and study skills, the Cadets acquired self-confidence, motivation and the pride of achievement necessary for ultimate success.  

 

SDMA never lost sight of its primary goal.  It's first goal was being a school and to educate its students. Nothing was permitted to stand in the way of education; not the military training, the physical training, the interscholastic sports or any of the extracurricular activities.  Those were a part of the San Diego Military Academy education program, a vital part, but the development of the mind came first.  A credo of SDMA was if a boy was first taught how to think, he would more easily know how to act to become a whole man.    

 

San Diego Military Academy was a military academy not because it produced soldiers but because the military provided the structure and framework, in which a more orderly and organized student body could efficiently achieve its purposes. 

 

The paramount function of the military program was to develop self-discipline and to give boys the invaluable experience of earned leadership.  These were accomplished by teaching students to follow directions, to obey the rules and to respect proper authority.  In addition, good posture, proper dress, orderliness and prind in personal appearance were qualities instilled with ease.

 

San Diego Military Academy believed participation in interscholastic sports built character, sportsmanship and the spirit of fair play.  Most every student participated in team sports or intramural athletics, such as football, basketball, baseball, track, wrestling, soccer, cross country, tennis, golf and swimming. SDMA held many league, conference and state titles over the years.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

San Diego Military Academy was fully accredited by "The Western Association of Schools and Colleges" and was a "ROTC Honor School".

 

SDMA was a proud member of:

 

     - National Association of Independent Schools

     - Education Records Bureau

     - California Interscholastic Federation - Southern League

     - American Camping Assocation

     - National Rifle Association

 

 

The End of an Era for

SAN DIEGO MILITARY ACADEMY

 

In 1977, San Diego Military Academy was the last remaining independant military school in the southwest.  In a newspaper article, Mr. Louis J. Bittlerlin stated, "If we had wanted to cease to be a military school, we probably could have gone on, incorporated so we could accept gifts, borrowed money for new buildings but there didn't seem to be any point."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"We as a proprietary school, without any other support than our stockholders, were not supposed to make it but did.  We ran a business putting out a good product, paid our bills, met the payrolls, are not waiting to get into financial trouble," said Bitterlin.  

 

Although there were still remnants of the anti-militarism backlash after the Vietnam War, the prevailing cause of the decreasing enrollment was parents, falling on hard times and pulling their children from private school.  

 

Original partners in the Academy, included the SDMA Chef, Al Diodate and music teacher and bandmaster, Myron D.Collins, Adm. Elliot Senn, USN ret. and Dr. Edward Toussaint, an educator.  Bitterlin said his partners were older than him and they had put their capitol and efforts into making SDMA a great school.  They were ready to take their shares from the selling of the school, valued (in 1977) at slightly over $1,000.000.00.  

 

"Our mission is not to make 'good soldiers' but to give cadets a good education, good life understanding and a good set of values."