Altadena Library

The Altadena Library District: A History

by Mike Manning

It all started in 1908 when the Child's Study Circle of Altadena (an early version of the PTA) installed a bookshelf in the study lounge of the Calaveras Street school. An annual book day was suggested as a means of appropriating new books or money for new books, and for that the reward was a bushel-basket load of books. Soon parents and teachers were placing themselves in charge of the new little library at the school.

In 1913 the Altadena Women's Circle established a branch of the County library in the kindergarten class of the school. In 1916 a proper library was established at the new Altadena School, and in 1918 a librarian was assigned to it . Still another branch was established at Andrew Jackson School which was tended by the teachers.

Through the monetary efforts of the Altadena Citizen's Association, a county library district was formed so that a library building could be provided and services improved. In 1927 the ratification of the State Library Act confirmed the validity of the Altadena Library District. Under authority of the L. A. County Board of Supervisors, Mrs. Zane Grey, wife of the famous western novelist, held a meeting at her Mariposa Street home on March 1, 1927 with the intent of forming the first Altadena Library Board of Trustees. Mrs. Grey was elected president and Mr. William D. Davies was elected secretary. Soon thereafter plans were made to improve the two Altadena branches. In 1929 the Jackson School branch was moved to a new building on Lincoln Avenue and the Altadena School branch was moved to Lake Avenue at Mariposa Street.

The Altadena Library on Lake Avenue built in 1938

In 1936 Mr. Davies became president of the board and was succeeded by Mr. O.K. Earl in 1937. The library branches continued to grow with the community and it was becoming apparent that the main library would need to seek brand new facilities. A 10,000 square foot lot was purchased by the Board of Trustees at the comer of Lake Avenue and Beverly Way and a building was designed by Altadena architect Frederick Marsh. Under the WPA program nearly half the funding was met for construction of the new Altadena Library and on December 4, 1938, the building was officially dedicated. The newer facility served well for nearly 25 years, but again the quickly growing Altadena community of the post-war period outgrew its library. The library's location also suffered for lack of parking space.

In August of 1961 the Altadena Library District Board of Trustees purchased the 1 3/4-acre lot on the southwest comer of Mariposa and Santa Rosa, site of the Colonel G. G. Green mansion which was being occupied by a Mrs. Frances Riccardi. Over the next two years, a hard campaign went out to develop a $500,000 bond issue for the new library. On October 29 1963, nearly 3,000 Altadenans showed up to vote and passed the bond issue by a 200 vote margin. The 14% turnout was a county library district record.

In 1964 architect Boyd Georgi was contracted to design the new library and construction bids were taken by the board. Because of special educational criteria, the library was able to procure a federal grant of $250,000 adding to the $500,000 proposed to build the library. Contractor R. C. Gallyon won the bid to build the library with no scaling back of the plans.

Residents and community groups donated other gifts items such as a flag, a globe, and a bike rack to the new facility. The grand opening celebration was held August 28, 1967. The sculpture at the main doorway entitled "The Tree of Life" was designed by David Green and added in April of 1969.

The Lincoln Avenue (Arroyo Seco) Branch

Head Librarian Gladys V. Babcock retired in 1970 and was succeeded by Russel A. Roberts of Santa Ana and closely in 1973 William J. Tema, the present librarian who had worked in the Pasadena library system for several years.

The library budget faced immediate cuts in 1978 under the new Proposition 13 property tax initiative. With this the Lincoln Avenue (Arroyo Seco) branch was closed and rented to the County for other uses. In 1979 a Save-the-Library campaign, headed by Friends of the Altadena Library, created a fundraising mailer with a donation slip and return envelope. Fine effort that it was, it only raised $27,000. Resulting library curtailments led Altadenans to frequent the Pasadena Library where services were being augmented.

In 1983, a lightly advertised campaign for a $29.00 per-parcel assessment was put on the June ballot. It lost by only a few percentage votes (62%), and in four instances of appeal, the courts upheld the Proposition 13 ruling which states that in order to qualify for an assessment overruling, a full 66 and 2/3% vote was needed.

One group who fought adamantly against such overrides was CANT, Citizens Against New Taxes. The library district also came under harsh criticism from a faction of East Altadenans led by architect and town council member Oscar Werner. He claimed that the district has promised an east side branch going back to the days of Gladys Babcock, and since sought for the district to be dissolved. Mrs. Babcock always insisted she had no idea where Werner got the notion of a promise of a library or why otherwise he was so opposed to the library district.

Bob Lucas Branch Library and Literacy Center

In 1990, the Altadena Library began receiving an annual literacy grant of $65,000 from the State. With this they were able to re-open the Arroyo Seco branch. A special dedication was made on October 21, 1991 renaming the branch the Bob Lucas Branch Library and Literacy Center.

Robert Lucas (1916-1990) came to Altadena in the 1970's. Of African-American heritage, Bob wrote Black Gladiator, a biography of Jack Johnson, and was west coast editor of Jet Magazine from 1975-1981. He served as president of the Altadena Library Board and had a special wish for everyone to learn and love books as he did. To Bob, reading was "the door to the world and personal freedom."

The Wall of Literacy

The Lucas branch only opens on five weekday afternoons. In 2000 local school children were allowed to paint a mural on the parking lot wall now named, "The Wall of Literacy."

In 1993 the Altadena Library District again proposed a per-parcel assessment of Altadena properties to bolster the budget which faced rigorous cuts from the State and County. This time a Save Our Altadena Library (SOAL) Campaign Committee head the community drive. This time it passed handily offering a near $500,000 shot in the arm to the district. The assessment was for to be levied for only 5 years, but a 1998 campaign victory again reasserted the community support.

In 2000 the Altadena Library through several grant applications acquired 13 IBM compatible computers for public use. They were also able to set up their own server and high speed connection to the internet. Later more computers were added with one being dedicated in the Spanish language. With many of the in-house computers, readers can go on-line to search for books across a network of libraries. Four computers were installed at the Bob Lucas branch as well.

Head Librarian Bill Tema will be retiring in June of 2002.