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A central library in the heart of the city Los Angeles he has seen his fair share of beautiful moments.
The building block, which turned 100 years old this week, has been behind the battle between Pacino, De Niro et al in Heat, and it was. where the original Ghostbusters they met their first ghost, an old woman who was friendly. Television shows such as Moonlighting; Murder, He Wrote; and LA Law was also filmed there, when the characters were investigating or investigating a case.
But the library has also been touched by the dark side of LA life. Killer “Night Stalker” Richard Ramirez He arrived here in 1985 and asked for books on astrology and torture. Being helpful, the librarian directed him to the right department and he didn’t think too much of the unstable man with the rotten teeth – until he recognized him after he was arrested a few days later.
Then there was the never-ending fire of 1986, which destroyed 400,000 volumes and closed the library for seven years.
“People think that libraries are quiet, but they are not., his bestseller 2018 about the central library.
That was true last week, when the author was one of about 12,000 people who flooded the corridors, halls, courtyards, rotundas, reading rooms and sculpture garden to celebrate his 100th birthday.
The art deco-era library, according to L Is for Librarian: The ABCs of Los Angeles Central Library, houses about 3m books and 89 miles of shelves. The most beautiful and Instagram-worthy feature of the library is the central rotunda – cathedral-like and featuring Dean Cornwell’s loving portraits of California history. Visitors’ eyes are drawn to the zodiac lamp with stained glass and zodiac signs.
Stephen Gee, author of Los Angeles Central Library: A History of Its Art and Construction. “It’s one of the few places in modern Los Angeles where everyone is welcome, regardless of where they come from or what they are.
Growing up in a small town, the dream of a great downtown library was supported by a $2.5m grant approved in 1921.
Designed by architect Bertram Goodhue, the central library opened its doors in 1926.
“Goodhue promised a library that was ‘similar to the Spanish – at least in spirit’,” Gee said in his book, “but what he created was very unusual: a fascinating mix of Spanish, Egyptian, Byzantine and Islamic.”
The combination is visible if you approach the library from Hope Street, where it used to be, the street entrance, or through the art gallery and Maguire Gardens with its fountain.
At the main entrance are Hesper and Phosphorus, the ancient Greek morning and evening stars; Hesper has a scroll with the names of the Eastern philosophers, Moses, Buddha and Mohammad.
Most notable to the first visitor is the multi-colored pyramid on the roof of the building, which features a sunburst and is topped by a hand-held lamp that displays the light of education.
The Egyptian theme also appears in the two black gold bars, which sit above the steps on either side of the female statue representing civilization.
One of the longest lines at the centennial celebration this week was for the old injection molding machines, which they made small sticks of wax of those sphinxes.
Christina Rice, the library’s chief curator of large-scale photography and co-chair of Center 100, called the folding, jukebox-like machine “Mold-A-Central”, and found one had been on her list for years.
“About a dozen years ago, we received an inquiry from someone looking for pictures of this machine,” Rice said.
It brought back a lot of childhood memories for Rice, who recalled finding animal specimens at the LA zoo and admits she was “obsessed with it”. After researching the machine, he placed it on the 100-centimeter scale.
Elsewhere, people were picking up old postcards and using them to tear out poems from old typescripts, while in the history and genealogy department the cards in the big cabinet of family names were being fired with enthusiasm.
Kelly Wallace, from the department, said: “People love the card list California a historian. “I think that the city of Los Angeles is old when it comes to being interested in its own history.
Rice explains that the library is as important as ever, despite those who would say that libraries are “timeless”. He mentions how the central library provides support for job seekers and those seeking citizenship or learning a new language. “We have a program for seniors to earn their high school diploma, many resources to help youth prepare for college and support readers of all ages.”
Under science, technology and patents is the Octavia lab, which offers 3D printers, digitizers, converters, vinyl cutters, large-format printers – and sewing and textile machines. The facility is named after a frequent patron, the late Octavia Butler, a science fiction writer who said: “Public libraries … are America’s open universities.”
The daily business of the library continued during the event, but the most popular book of the day was Luceros y Penumras (translated as “starlight and shadows”) by Daniel González. At 31-by-20ft and 11ft tall, it is the world’s largest pop-up bookaccording to the library, and the 1,800lb project was carefully assembled in the middle of the rotunda.
But perhaps the best news of the day? Five hundred and eighty-eight people were given new library cards.
