Councilmember Curren D. Price, City Librarian John F. Szabo, and other dignitaries joined 200 community members and former and current library staff to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the City’s oldest library building, the Vermont Square Branch.

The celebration included four cakes, historical displays, activities for kids, and music performed by the Manual Arts High School marching band. 

At the center of the celebration was the Vermont Square Branch building, which was opened  in 1913, During the  same year:

• Cecil B. DeMille filmed his first Hollywood movie;
• Only 320,000 people lived in Los Angeles;
• New houses in the Vermont Square neighborhood sold for $2,500;
• L.A.’s first gas station had only opened one year prior.

The Italian Renaissance style building was the first of six L.A. libraries build with a grant from Andrew Carnegie at a cost of $38,000. In 1990, the building was closed and seismically updated. The renovated building reopened in 1996. More branch history...