William Broyles of the "Texas Monthly" wrote that in its pre-desegregation history Lamar was the public equivalent of an exclusive prep school and Houston's "society school". In that period Lamar was the designation of children of Houston's most prominent families who attended public high schools. Many students in the 1950s had referred to River Oaks Boulevard as the only street with a country club at both ends: one being the River Oaks Country Club, and the "other" was Lamar High School. Gregory Curtis of the "Texas Monthly" wrote that "Lamar has always had a reputation as a school of snobs" within Houston's public school system.