Check Out the Sunshine: Central Library’s Outdoor Reading Rooms

Did you know that Central Library once had outdoor reading rooms? The library’s first outdoor reading room was dubbed a "library lawn reading station" by the Los Angeles Times when it opened in July 1936 on the east lawn of the library (the Grand Avenue side). It was initially just a table, a large umbrella, and a book truck loaded with books and magazines, staffed by a Works Progress Administration (WPA) worker due to library budget cuts. Passersby were invited to borrow some reading material and enjoy the Southern California weather. Soon, a sign read, "Visit the Garden Reading Room."

Many visitors to the library’s park-like grounds preferred to chat and people-watch rather than venture inside the Library. They didn’t need a library card for the outdoor reading room. They merely signed their name on a slip, borrowed something, and spent the day reading on the lawn. The outdoor reading room had only one rule—library materials had to be returned before the library lawn reading station was packed up for the evening. The new library service proved successful, and 1,500 books and magazines, consisting of library duplicates, discards, or donations, were borrowed each month.

This success prompted the library to ask the Park Commission (the precursor to today’s Department of Recreation and Parks) for permission to open a “reading corner” in Pershing Square. In December 1936, a cart wheeled from Central Library to Pershing Square and was overseen by a WPA worker, becoming the second outdoor library. It was open approximately five hours a day, Monday through Saturday. At the time, Pershing Square was planted with semi-tropical trees and attracted not only wild birds but up to 100,000 people a day—far more than the 2,500 seats that were then available in the park. This outdoor reading room was even more popular than the first, with more than 20,000 items borrowed in the first six months. Magazines, novels of adventure or romance, and books on economics, philosophy, and psychology were far more popular with the outdoor readers. Due to the success of the outdoor libraries on the Central Library lawn and Pershing Square, a third outdoor library was started in June 1938 in Lafayette Park near the Felipe de Neve Branch. 

Each of these outdoor libraries—under the supervision of Annabel Learned Fleming, head of the library’s Stations department—were open year-round and cared for by WPA workers. Alas, the outdoor reading rooms were short-lived. The Pershing Square location remained open the longest before closing during World War II.