If you've heard it once, you've heard it a million times—the book was better! There's nothing like debating the differences between a favorite book and its translation to the screen. But if you don't know your beloved series is coming out as a movie or that the fun-looking preview you saw was adapted from a book, how can you join the debate? The Library is here to the rescue! Here, we will be...
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The Man Behind the Rotunda Murals
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 unveiling, the 12 panels of scenes from California history still feel modern.
Yiddish: a Living Language
When in the second half of the last century Isaac Bashevich Singer was awarded a Noble Prize for Literature, he raised an interesting question: “People ask me often, ‘Why do you write in a dying language?’” And he tried to explain: “There is a quiet humor in Yiddish and a gratitude for every day of life… e
Resurrecting The Valley's Stories Through Photographs
The Los Angeles Public Library has been the custodian of the photo collection from the Valley Times newspaper (1946-1970) for over thirty years, since receiving as part of the donation from the Security Pacific National Bank in 1981.
Reasons to Visit the History Department in Person
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 experiences.
If These Walls Could Talk: How to Research Murder, Crime and Scandal at the Los Angeles Central Library
I first learned of the Doheny Greystone tragedy while curating an exhibition of manipulated photographs taken from the library’s Herald Examiner photographs.
King, the Kennedys, & Los Angeles
In the early 1960s, John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert Kennedy symbolized hope, change, and the dawn of a new era for a country that was caught in the clutches of Cold War fear, and in many cases, clinging to certain outdated social attitudes.
Let the Library Cast Its Spell On You
Do you believe in magic? While Disney may have the Magic Kingdom, Hollywood has the Magic Castle. It’s there that some of the best magicians in the world perform and where they also mentor aspiring young adult magicians in the Academy of Magical Arts.
A Medieval Manuscript in the Rare Books Collection
Many visitors to Central Library are curious to know what the oldest book in our collection might be. In recent months we have been fortunate enough to find out a great deal of new information about a very special item in our Rare Books collection.
The Photo Collection Year in Review
With the New Year looming ahead of us, it seemed like a perfect time to look back at the 2012 goings on in the Photo Collection.
Snow In Los Angeles
As the start of winter draws near (the winter solstice will be on December 21 in 2012 and it happens at 3:12 am on the West Coast according to the U.S. Naval Observatory), most of us will see snow.