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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Pride in the Face of Adversity: How the Herald Examiner Covered the LGBTQIA Community in Los Angeles
As a mainstream news outlet in the 20th Century, it's probably not surprising that the Los Angeles Herald Express (later Herald Examiner) newspaper gave little coverage to the LGBTQIA community.
Jewish American Heritage Month
On April 20, 2006, President George W. Bush declared that May would be Jewish American Heritage Month after resolutions passed unanimously in both the House and Senate. President Barack Obama further supported this resolution with his own proclamation issued on April 30, 2013, in which he stated:
Julian Garnsey: Artist and Architectural Collaborator
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 original 1926 Children's Department, with its decorated ceiling and Ivanhoe-themed murals.
America, We Thank You
One hundred years ago, on April 24th, 1915, the Ottoman Turkish government enacted a systematic policy to annihilate its Armenian population. From 1915-1930, over a million and a half souls perished.
Horsetrading and Angry Feminists: Central’s Backstory
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 before the library even opened its doors for the first time in 1926.
Vacation Without Humiliation
As African American Heritage Month draws to a close, I would like to bring your attention to a largely unknown chapter of American history.
Funicular Heydays in Downtown Los Angeles
A funicular railway or incline railway is a short railway located over a steep incline and operates by a cable wire and pulley system in which two tram-like cars on parallel rail tracks almost counter balance each other. As one car goes up, another goes down.
Poet Laureate? Poet Illiterate? What?
When I received the call last September from Mayor Eric Garcetti that I’d been chosen as the new Poet Laureate of Los Angeles, I had to keep this quiet until the official announcement in October.
Where is the Central Library’s Front Door?
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 question for a landmark building. Here's a bit of background on the many entrances:
Mapping the History of African Americans
To commemorate African American Heritage Month, Central Library offers two maps that exemplify the struggles and triumphs of African-Americans in this country. The first is “Americans of Negro Lineage” by the great Louise E.