Libraries Fuel the Power of Imagination
The International Languages department contains murals from Sir Walter Scott’s Ivanhoe.
“Books permit us to voyage through time, to tap the wisdom of our ancestors. “- Carl Sagan
What is your favorite escape? where do you want to go when you want to forget the world for a little while and rest, recoup and rejuvenate?
For me books are the vehicle I use to travel the world leaving the mundane, dreary and everyday behind. It started when I was a little girl and learned to string words together and let my imagination fly.
My favorite past time was the school library, and the children’s library that formed a part of the national library. As other children played and romped, I was content to find a chair in the library and travel on the power of the words that I read.
I remember a time when I could only do checked luggage because I had to carry books with me but now thanks to e-readers, I too can travel only with carryon luggage.
In my goal to appreciate all the things closer to home that we ignore to pursue international travel, this week I visited a few of the top libraries here in Los Angeles, that offer an experience that is beyond that of books.
The Richard Riordan Central Library was first opened in 1926 in what is now called the Goodhue building and then added on in 1993 with the modern Tom Bradley wing. The building itself is exquisite and definitely worth the visit and a docent lead tour of the features of the beautiful Goodhue Building.
I planned my visit on a Saturday with the thought that traffic and parking in downtown LA would be much easier. Of course, with my luck a film crew had turned the area next to the library into a street in New York and streets were closed and parking was difficult at best.
Initially I thought I had lucked out and found a parking garage, but when I made my way to the entrance it was closed, and my only option was to back out the twisty entrance, not an easy feat mind you. I was glad of the rear cameras and the proximity alarms that kept me from scratching my car. After that challenging start, however, the visit itself was a total dream.
The creme de le creme of the Goodhue building, is its beautiful heart, the Rotunda. The ceiling is stenciled within patterns by a local artist Julian Garnsey and the murals depicting the four eras of California history are done by Dean Cromwell.
Hanging from the center of the ceiling is the exquisite Zodiac Chandelier.
The special project in the Getty gallery depicts the gentrification of East Los Angeles.
I started my tour by taking an elevator to the fourth floor and stepping into the Tom Bradley Wing and looking at the atrium where three huge chandeliers hang. The first depicts nature, the second human culture and technology and the third emotional and spiritual worlds.
The elevators themselves are lined with glass walls holding old library cards.
A view of the chandeliers from the lower level looking up.
The children’s reading room with its original painted ceiling, painted murals depicting the history of California and the original lamps from the 1920s.
I am determined to bring my grandchildren for an outing to this beautiful library so they can appreciate the beauty and history of the state and city that we live in.
On the staircase near the 5th street entrance are three sculptures: Black and marble bronze sphinxes and in the wall, niche is the Triumph of Civilization which has a copper panel representing the history of the world.
The Powell Library which is one of the 4 original buildings that make up the heart of UCLA. It is where Ray Bradbury wrote Fahrenheit 451 in the basement.
I used to visit here for book fairs etc. but haven’t been on the campus for a long time. Of course, given what’s happening on college campuses it was completely the wrong time to visit and the library itself was closed to boot. I’ve put this one and the library on the USC campus on the back burner to visit once things are calm.
The Brand Library in Glendale was constructed in 1904 by Leslie Coombs Brand as his home modeling it after the East India Pavilion in Chicago’s World Exposition. He left it to the city of Glendale upon his death in 1925.
The library is housed within the home and it’s a delight to wander through and admire the architecture of the original house.
It’s a well-used library with many people sitting around and enjoying the books and ambiance.
The Huntington Library most particularly the gardens are one of my favorite places to visit.
The library collection contains one of the twelve surviving copies of the Gutenberg Bible, the Ellesmere manuscript of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales and the Audubon book of North American birds.
While I have wandered here in the Huntington Gardens many a time it is fitting that today’s nod to the gardens is to the statue of the bard William Shakespeare surrounded by the beautiful roses in bloom in the garden.