Located in the East Los Angeles-area community, surrounded by El Sereno, Chinatown, Boyle Heights and Cypress Park.

The present school was built extensively in the 1940s under President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Works Progress Administration reform.

Encouraged by Sal Castro, who championed equal educational opportunity as a Lincoln High faculty member, students at Lincoln organized a mass walk-out in protest of sub-standard facilities, vocational program tracking for Chicano youth and discriminatory practices which excluded them from advanced college prep courses.

The "Blow-out" was joined by students from at least three other area high schools, among them Garfield, Roosevelt, Lincoln, Belmont and Wilson.

[7] In 2015, Lincoln High School's baseball team won the CIF Los Angeles City Section Division II baseball championship, defeating Cesar Chavez High School of San Fernando by a score of 3–0 in a game played at Dodger Stadium.

Competing students must have a knowledge base in astronomy, biology, chemistry, mathematics, physics and general science.

Science Bowl uses a buzzer system, in which students must buzz in and wait to be recognized by a moderator before proceeding to answer a question.

Competing students in the program are placed into one of three teams based on their skill level: Varsity, Scholastic and Honors.

In addition, students are required to write essays, participate in interviews, give speeches and take part in a Super Quiz, which focuses on a selected subject determined by the United States Academic Decathlon each year.

Lincoln has a highly successful policy debate team, competing and winning major tournaments both locally and nationally.