Recently, we found a folder tucked away at the back of a file cabinet in the Social Science, Philosophy & Religion Department. The folder was full of suggested reading lists and flyers from the…
The elegant Literate Fence, on the Fifth Street side of the library, was designed by Washington state industrial metal artist Ries Niemi (b.1955). The Deco design, completed in 1993, echoes the design…
Our free docent-led art and architecture tour of the Los Angeles Central Library always includes a stop in the International Languages Department, through which visitors can find the library's…
As you learn on our daily docent-led tours, The Richard J Riordan Central Library has almost 90 years of fascinating history. But some of most intriguing chapters in the building’s story occurred…
Our free, docent-led Art and Architecture tours of the downtown Central Library begin and end in the Main Lobby. But we are often asked: where exactly is the library’s front door? It’s a strange…
Anyone who's taken our free daily docent tour of the L.A. Central Library has seen the many contributions that architectural sculptor Lee Lawrie made to the library's 1926 Goodhue Building. Lawrie…
If you’ve ever taken a tour of the Central Library, you’ve probably heard mention of Hartley Burr Alexander, the man who worked with architect Bertram Goodhue on the theme and symbolism of the…
Driving, biking or even walking! around LA we see many place names that we have come to take for granted. Many of these place names were inspired by Angelenos who helped create them. These are just a…
The magnificent stairs at the Flower Street entrance of the Central Library have had several lives. Originally designed by the library’s architect, Bertram Goodhue in 1926, they were plain steps…
When you meet your docent in the main lobby of the Central Library, the first art piece you'll see is the vibrant mural overhead that spans the vaulted ceiling. Our daily, free, hour-long art and…
Banned Books Week offers the opportunity to introduce one of the most colorful librarians in city history and her battle with the moralistic mugwumps of fin de siecle Los Angeles.Publicist and…
One of the most breathtaking stops on our daily Docent-led Art and Architecture Tours is the majestic Grand Rotunda, encircled by the pastel-toned murals by Dean Cornwell. Eighty years after their…
While new technology points toward every reference resource being digitized and on your hand-held something there are library beauties that can only be savored in person, in your actual hand kind of…
I first learned of the Doheny Greystone tragedy while curating an exhibition of manipulated photographs taken from the library’s Herald Examiner photographs. While searching the extensive photo…
