Los Angeles Library Tour - Fontana Lewis Library & Technology Center

Ok, not technically Los Angeles, but its not too far down the road. As we often do when we're out driving around, we made a turn when we saw a sign that said 'Library' with an arrow pointing towards parts unknown.

We weren't expecting to find the huge 'bright and shiny' Lewis Library & Technology Center. According to a plaque out front the library was dedicated April 19, 2008, with 'funding in the amount of $14,900,000 from the California Reading and Literacy Improvement and Public Library Construction and Renovation Act of 2000'. Overall the library is light, airy, and spacious. The teen section looks like a cross between a Matchbox slick track and an amusement park ride, and was being well-used on the day we visited. There's a coffee bar attached to the library and a nice Friends of the Library bookstore (word of warning- they only sell FOTL books to library cardholders).

Our favorite part of the library was definitely the Fontana Historical Society room on the second floor. Open whenever volunteers are available (call the library before you visit 909-574-4500), we enjoyed a leisurely hour learning about Fontana's Woman's Club (and seeing a photo of the men who were members), the Kaiser plant, and the Fontana Speedway. We also got directions to nearby historical buildings and a couple good places to eat. We'll definitely be back to visit.

Los Angeles Library History: Library Bond of June 1923

Reading through a program for Los Angeles Music Week May 19-26, 1923, I was surprised to find an ad to 'Protect Your Library Site Vote Yes on Library Bonds June 5th, Proposition No. 2'. The ad featured a ditty:

It's up to you to see it through,
Ye voters, one and all.
Don't let our Library fine and new
Be hid by buildings tall.
Then vote for bonds the plot to buy,
The plot that hides our view;
This be our constant battle-cry,
"It's up to you! It's up to YOU!"

I was not a fan of the ditty but I did wonder what the story was, so I did some searching on the Los Angeles Times via LAPL.

By May 1923, the site of the State Normal School on 'Normal Hill' had been acquired and cleared, ready to commence building the Central Library. The Flower Street frontage needed to be purchased still (hence Proposition No. 2), because it was 'covered with unsightly shacks' according to the May 20, 1923 edition of the Los Angeles Times. The article went on to point out that the Flower Street frontage was necessary as the new library would be overshadowed on all other sides - the Bible Institute on the south side, by a hill on the north side and the Biltmore Hotel on the east side.

The Library Bond had many supporters including the Los Angeles Stock Exchange, the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, City Planning Commission, and Sons of the Revolution. According to a May 27, 1923 Los Angeles Times article, three thousand Boy Scouts canvassed door to door to 'vote yes!', and small lunch wagons operating on the east side of the lot 'have printed library slogans on their menu cards.'

The June 6, 1923 edition of the Times lists:
YES - 10,880 votes
NO - 2,484 votes


Another interesting bond passed that day. Should a subway under Pershing Square be approved?
YES - 11,645
NO - 3,373

Los Angeles Library Tour - Lennox Library (CLOSING for remodel June 29, 2012)

We stumbled upon the County of Los Angeles Public Library's Lennox branch recently and were amazed and charmed by both the building and the staff.



According to the Los Angeles Times, the library is part of the Lennox Civic Center that was dedicated May 14, 1948. The then $328,000 (approximately $3,380,000 today) Civic Center also housed a Sheriff's substation, the Los Angeles County Building and Safety Department and the County Charities Department.

Designed by architect Adrian Wilson, the brick building with its rounded corner entrance, and 'County Library' sign, are eye-catching as you drive north towards the intersection of Hawthorne Blvd and Lennox Avenue. Projects Adrian Wilson worked on include the New Chinatown Los Angeles Master Plan (1938), Los Angeles County Courthouse, the Anaheim Convention Center, Ship of the Desert house in Palm Springs, and the recently renovated Casa Verdugo Library in Glendale.

The other offices in the complex are boarded up and appear to have been closed a little while, but we were happy to see the library was open.

On our first visit, Library Manager Peter Hsu couldn't have been nicer or more helpful. He showed us around the library and pointed out the plans for an upcoming remodel the library would be undergoing. I returned some books today and found out that the last day the current library would be open is Friday, June 29. The remodel will take two years to complete.

It is definitely worth the drive to see inside the original library now while you still can. Complete the trip with a stop at the beautiful Chips restaurant nearby, designed in 1957 by architect Harry Harrison.

LAPL's Westwood Branch teams up with the Hammer Museum

I stopped by the Westwood Branch of the Los Angeles Public Library

on Saturday and was excited to see a great promotion with the Hammer Museum. There were posters displayed upon entering the library, and repeated several times throughout the building, which read 'You're only 5 books away from FREE ART.' If you check out five books from the Westwood LAPL branch, and ask a librarian for details, you will receive free admission to the Hammer Museum around the corner. The free pass features a clever library theme and includes Hammer's pertinent details.

Glen Creason on Central Library's 1986 fire

Glen Creason, Los Angeles Public Library's Map Librarian and author of the great book Los Angeles in Maps, remembers the April 29, 1986 arson fire at the Central Library. I loved his article in the Los Angeles Downtown News.

National Library Week in Los Angeles - Check Out a Librarian

Today is the last day of National Library Week 2012. Libraries deserve more than a week of recognition. We should realize how valuable they are now and always have been. Every day, libraries and the people that work in them, are putting information into the hands of people that didn't have it when they entered. That is an incredibly powerful gift to give, and its given free and freely. Even when the library is not open their online databases can be accessed and many have 24/7 Chat Reference. I've met some incredible people that work at the library, thank you for the job you're doing. You are making a difference in people's lives daily.

I remember a day at the library book sale at the La Canada Flintridge branch of the Los Angeles County Library. I picked up a book titled Check Out a Librarian by Johanna E. Tillman. I bought the book, took it home and proceeded to read it that night. It was an amazing tale of Ms. Tillman's of librarianship: graduation of Berkeley's School of Librarianship in 1937, part-time job at UCLA's School of Librarianship, assistant librarian at San Marino Public Library, working her way up at the Los Angeles County Library to become the Technical Reference Librarian, creating the Engineering Library at UCLA and finally Director of Libraries for Caltech. Her tale, and the way she wrote it, was inspirational and practical. Its not easy to find a circulating copy at the library but definitely worth trying.

National Library Week in Los Angeles - Pre-LAPL libraries

The Los Angeles Public Library was established in 1872. According to Ludwig Louis Salvator's 1929 book, Los Angeles in the Sunny Seventies: A Flower From the Golden Land, the membership fee to join was $250, plus 50 cents per month or $5 per year. Members were allowed to take out two volumes at a time. If the membership fee was still charged today it would the equivalent of $6000 to join, and $125 per year dues. Thankfully they went 'free' in 1891.

Bernadette Dominique Sotter's 1993 book, The Light of Learning: An Illustrated History of the Los Angeles Public Library,lists three earlier attempts at libraries in Los Angeles. In 1844, a group known as Los Amigos del Pais opened Amigos Hall, a dance hall with a reading room on the side. Donated books and magazines could be read there for free. It wasn't long before funding gave out. In 1856 it was the Mechanic's Institute that opened a small reading room which lasted until 1858. A Library Association was formed in 1859 and opened a reading room in the Arcadia Block. There was a $5 initiation fee and dues were $1 per month. The money collected funded the library and assured it a longer life than the previous efforts by Los Amigos del Pais and the Mechanic's Institute. That was until the Civil War killed it. Read all about it at a library near you! **UPDATE: I think there was a typo in Salvator's Los Angeles in the Sunny Seventies, other sources cite the membership fee as $2.50.

National Library Week in Los Angeles - Theosophical Library Center

Its still National Library Week!

Thanks to the fact that the Los Angeles Public Library digitized some of their Los Angeles city directories, I can browse library history in Los Angeles. And thanks to the late 19th and early 20th century city boosterism, Los Angeles attracted a lot of 'seekers' of all sorts of things.

The city directories of 1909 through 1929 yielded libraries devoted to religion and the metaphysical, including: the Metaphysical Circulating Library and Free Reading Room, Christian Science Reading Rooms, Brotherhood of Light Library, Christian Science Church of the New Generation Library, Church of Divine Power Library and Reading Room, Rosicrucian Fellowship Study Center Library, First Church of Christ Scientist Reading Room, Vedanta Centre Library, and the Theosophical Library and Lecture Hall.

The Theosophical Society still maintains the Theosophical Library Center in Altadena, which is open daily from 2pm to 4:30 p.m. and closed during the month of August. Although mostly a reference library they do make some material available for circulation. Learn more about their fascinating collection on their website.

Bookmobiles in Los Angeles

Today is National Bookmobile Day, which is part of National Library Week.

I wondered about the history of bookmobiles in Los Angeles. A trip through history via the Los Angeles Times did not disappoint. The Los Angeles Public Library unveiled the first bookmobile that catered exclusively to children at the Los Angeles Children's Show at the Shrine Auditiorium in September 1949. Little Toot, as the bookmobile was affectionately known (the LAPL Photo Collection has a photo here), could carry 2500 books and initially made stops to 20 elementary schools in congested areas of Los Angeles.

Little Toot's big brothers were busy as well. By 1953, three of LAPL's four bookmobiles serviced the San Fernando Valley, an area growing so fast in the post-war years that library branches couldn't be built fast enough. LAPL's 'Traveling Branch' bookmobile service made 28 stops a week and, by 1957, were circulating almost 500,000 volumes a year. A 1961 article mentions that bookmobile librarians don't bat an eye when a patron rides up on horseback in a rural part of the Valley, but do object to patrons leaving books on the street before the bookmobile's arrival.

In 1959, according to the Los Angeles Times, the Los Angeles County Library had six bookmobiles in addition to it's services in 88 communities. By 1972 (and with a budget of $13 million for the year), the County Library had 94 community libraries, serviced 21 libraries in jails and hospitals, and operated nine bookmobiles!

The Los Angeles Public Library has a great collection of their bookmobile photos, which you can find here. This bookmobile photo from LAPL's 1972 centennial celebration is my favorite, check out the Peanuts-esque booth that reads 'Mind-Bending' with the 5 cents sign crossed out.

You should also check out Library History Buff's bookmobile homage which contains links to Pinterest and Flickr.

National Library Week in Los Angeles - LA Law Library

National Library Week has me thinking about special libraries in Los Angeles, both past and present, that I don't know much about. Today I chose the Los Angeles Law Library. According to their website they have been around since 1891 and are the second largest public law library in the United States! Their main library building, in the Los Angeles Civic Center, is nearly 175,000 square feet. In addition to the main building they have branch collections in courthouses in Long Beach, Norwalk, Pomona, Santa Monica and Torrance. Its also interesting to note they have public library partnerships with the Van Nuys branch of Los Angeles Public Library, the Pasadena Public Library, the Compton Library, and the Lancaster Regional Library. An individual can pay a security deposit of $140 and check out up to seven items for five days. Late fees are $2.00 per item, per day, with a cap of $60. The details of their circulation policy can be found on their website.

I did a little digging in the Los Angeles Times and found a notice of incorporation for the Law Library of Los Angeles which took place on August 5, 1886. It's first location was in the tower of the County Courthouse (a photo of which can be found in the LAPL Photo Collection). That must have been a separate law library, as the Times on April 11, 1891 announced that an ordinance had been passed to establish a county law library. Litigants would be charged an extra dollar for every case, suit, or appeal filed with the County Clerk to fund this new library. I'll continue to dig when I have more time.