In November 1923, the bricklayers working on Grant went on strike after the district tried to cut costs by using a maintenance worker to lay bricks.

[7] Three motion pictures have been filmed at Grant High School: The made-for-TV movie Reunion (1980), Mr. Holland's Opus (1995), and Nearing Grace (2005).

Funded by a $482 million bond measure approved in 2012, a two-year modernization and expansion project of Grant High School began in June 2017 and was completed in the summer of 2019.

The project includes a new two-story common area, a new gymnasium, seismic retrofitting, and additional classroom space.

[13] It has also won the Columbia University Scholastic Press Association's Gold Crown award three years in a row, from 2014 through 2016.