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LAPL Blog

Latest Posts

Writer Jennifer O'Callaghan and her latest book, Rear Window: The Making of a Hitchcock Masterpiece in the Hollywood Golden Age
Photo of author: Hayley Andoff
Daryl M., Librarian, West Valley Regional Branch Library, November 6, 2025

Jennifer O'Callaghan is a freelance writer and journalist. She has worked as a reporter for Metro News, The Sundance Channel, Shaw TV, and CKUA radio in news, entertainment, and lifestyle beats. She has also appeared as a red-carpet reporter for the web entertainment site MyBroadway.com , and as host on Paradetown USA on NYC-TV. She has interviewed...

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Ernie Pyle & National Columnists’ Day

Llyr Heller, Senior Librarian, Acquisitions, Tuesday, April 19, 2016

April 18th marks National Columnists’ Day, started in memory of Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, Ernie Pyle, who was killed in World War II. His eloquence in his subject matter, the lives of everyday men in the world of war, struck a chord in America.


tin typeClara Shortridge Foltz

Who the Heck is Clara Shortridge Foltz?

Kelly Wallace, Librarian, History Department, Monday, March 21, 2016

Who hasn’t received that notice in the mail—the one that commands you to report for jury duty at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center?


Luis J Rodriguez

Why Children Should Not be Treated as Adults for Crimes

Luis J. Rodriguez, Poet Laureate of Los Angeles, Wednesday, March 2, 2016

Walk with the young, America;
be young, again, America,
among the defiant and awake,
solid in their dreams.
Be the revolution in the marrow
where passions, ideals, fervors,
purpose and courage,
are not just qualities
people had in history books,


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Celebrating Women's History Month With the Canoga Rockettes

Christina Rice, Senior Librarian, Photo Collection, Tuesday, March 1, 2016

The post-War era brought exponential growth to the San Fernando Valley, transforming the region into the quintessential suburbs.


Slave Premiums table

An Unusual Resource for African American Genealogy

Julie Huffman, Librarian, History & Genealogy Department, Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Insurance companies have long provided policies to cover losses of property but, before the end of the Civil War, this also included pay-outs for injury and death of the formerly enslaved.


Maya Angelou and Tupac Shakur

From Maya Angelou to Tupac Shakur: Spotlight on African-American Poets

Christa Deitrick, Librarian, Literature & Fiction Department, Monday, February 22, 2016

Among the many treasures in the Literature & Fiction department is our poetry collection, which clocks in at around 20,000 titles. Since February is African-American Heritage Month, what better time to spotlight a few of these fabulous poets?


Parapet Walkway below Pyramid of central library

Hidden Spaces and Forgotten Places in the Library

Central Docents, Central Library, Monday, February 8, 2016

Have you ever climbed the old marble staircase in our Central Library and, glancing up, spied a lit window cozily lined with books and plants?


Sanborn Fire Insurance Atlas, Sheet 469, 1950.

Central Avenue: Dunbar Hotel

Glen Creason, Librarian III, History & Genealogy Department, Tuesday, February 2, 2016

As a salute to African American Heritage Month we present a brief glance at the epicenter of Central Avenue in the once glamorous and glorious Dunbar Hotel.


part of Maguire Gardens’ SPINE sculptor

Sculptor Jud Fine Reflects on the Maguire Gardens’ SPINE

Central Docents, Central Library, Monday, January 4, 2016

The incised metal steps that lead from Flower Street to the Central Library are part of an “art plan integrated with an architectural plan” now known as “Spine,” and the highlight of The Maguire Gardens. It is “not an installation or a sole art project,” says primary artist, Jud Fine.


Senior Librarian Mary McCoy at the Teen'Scape Desk

Teen’Scape Revisited: YA Library after Nearly Two Decades

Central Docents, Central Library, Monday, November 23, 2015

When you take our free docent-led art and architecture tours of the Los Angeles Central Library, we always point out Teen’Scape, one of the nation’s first libraries within a library designed by and exclusively for teens. Architect Robert Coffee created the unique space, which opened in 1998.


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