Library’s Fate Still a Tale of Suspense

The Los Angeles Public Library Commission has postponed a decision on the fate of a historic 64-year-old library building after an emotional battle of book lovers at a public hearing.

More than 200 mid-city residents crammed into the Washington Irving branch library Thursday night for the hearing on a library administration proposal to construct a larger facility several blocks away from the current Arlington Avenue site.

The Irving branch, a 3,918-square-foot stucco-and-brick building, was named to the city’s list of historic monuments four years ago. It would be turned over to the city for undetermined use if the commission builds a new library on a Washington Boulevard property now occupied by a carwash.

A slight majority of the 39 neighborhood residents addressing the commission favored retaining the old building, which is named after the 19th-Century author of “Rip van Winkle,” the tale of a man who awakens after 20 years’ sleep to find everything different. The airy Irving library, which would have to be upgraded to meet earthquake safety standards, has itself undergone no major physical changes since its construction in 1926.

“What I value is being able to bring my 3 1/2-year-old to a place where you can still open the windows,” said educational researcher Harry Brown-Hiegel. “And (this is) a place that you can say: This is what my granddaddy went to.”

However, a sizable minority of the witnesses spoke in favor of a new library building on the site of Freddy Dee’s Carwash, 13 blocks to the west.

“As a writer, I have to go to the Hollywood branch to do serious research,” said author Kirk Honeycutt. “This service area is in crying need for a new library.”

Other proponents of a new building handed the commissioners statements of support from principals of five schools close to the proposed site.

After the 2 1/2-hour hearing, which library officials said drew the largest turnout in recent memory, the commission voted unanimously to postpone a decision until its May 3 meeting.