Known as "the Jewel of Central Avenue," the Dunbar Hotel holds a special place in Los Angeles history as the first hotel built expressly by and for Black people. While the hotel is most famous for housing greats such as Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie, W.E.B. DuBois, and Duke Ellington, the Angelenos behind its construction, John A. Somerville and Vada Watson Somerville, have a...
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Interview With an Author: Rhys Thomas
Rhys Thomas is the author of The Suicide Club and On the Third Day. He lives in Cardiff, Wales, with his partner and three cats.
Dolores Huerta: A Living Legend
Los Angeles Public Library was given an exclusive interview with the living legend Dolores Huerta. Ms.
Interview With an Author: Sarah Davis Goff
Sarah Davis-Goff was born and lives in Dublin. Her writing has been published in the Irish Times, the Guardian and LitHub.
A Docent’s Life for Me
I have always loved books. When I was five, I pleaded with my mother for books...Little Golden Books, about lambs and engines and whatever...and she helped me learn to read them. In junior high and high school, I was a library helper.
Art Meets Commerce: The Bullocks Wilshire Building at 90
In a city where no structure is guaranteed permanence, the iconic Bullocks Wilshire building turns an astounding 90 years old this week.
Pumpkin Spice-Up Everything!
It's that time of year—fall, aka autumn, aka pumpkin spice season!
Interview With an Author: Dahlia Adler
Dahlia Adler is an associate editor of mathematics by day, a blogger for B&N Teens, LGBTQ Reads, and Frolic by night, and an author of young adult and new adult novels at every spare moment in between.
Six Jewish Girls in Boyle Heights
“I think it’s a wonderful thing to have this sort of situation occur because a memory is something that can’t be reconstructed after a person has died. And after a community’s elders pass away, they take with them a history that we can’t replicate any other way.
Snapshots from the Melting Pot – Celebrating the Heritage of Folks Who Helped Make Los Angeles Great
National Latino Heritage Month is a month dedicated to highlighting the culture and contributions of Americans whose origins can be traced to Mexico plus Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and other Central American countries as well as Cuba and the Caribbean.
Superheros In Your Library
“Let’s have a campaign…every child should obtain a library card and use it”.




![Volunteers clean and check the books against the card catalog to note “survivors” of the fire. Throughout the recovery process, the media showed constant interest in the progress. [Los Angeles Public Library Institutional Collection] Boxing of damaged books](https://www.lapl.org/sites/default/files/styles/whats_on_list_120x90/public/blogs/2025-10/docentheader.jpg?itok=YAf-ySYw)
![Looking southeast across Wilshire Boulevard towards Bullock's Wilshire, [1936]. Blackstock Negative Collection photo of Wilshire Boulevard looking towards Bullock's Wilshire](https://www.lapl.org/sites/default/files/styles/whats_on_list_120x90/public/blogs/2021-02/bullocksheader.jpg?itok=GXNGMU84)



![Group photo of the "Sensations" Mexican American musical group. Includes Jess Margarito (top, left), Jimmy Ortiz (at right, with guitar), and Ronny Rios, [ca. 1960]. Shades of L.A.: Mexican American Community Mexican American musical group ca 1960](https://www.lapl.org/sites/default/files/styles/whats_on_list_120x90/public/blogs/2025-08/photofriendsinsert.jpg?itok=3UJUlqHb)
