New Sites Studied for Echo Park Library

The Los Angeles Board of Library Commissioners last week broadened its search for a site for a new Echo Park Branch Library by adding two locations near Sunset Boulevard.

The library commission Thursday asked its staff to report in 60 days on whether a library could be built on property north of Sunset near Lemoyne Street--proposed by community members at a January hearing--without displacing the tenants of an adjoining apartment building.

The commission also requested a report on the possibility of acquiring a parcel owned by the Los Angeles Unified School District near Montana and Logan streets near Logan Street School. The district at one time had intended to build a day-care center there.

A third site, at Temple and Douglas streets, appeared to become a less-likely choice because its owner opened escrow to sell it for private development, library officials said. The commission asked the staff to continue investigating purchase of that land, either through negotiation or eminent domain.

The staff recommended selection of the Temple Street site in January, but commissioners postponed a decision after members of the Friends of the Echo Park Library and several Echo Park residents protested that it is outside the community, cut off by the Hollywood Freeway.

Opponents of the Temple Street site initially hoped to have the branch library built in the former fire station on Edgeware Road just north of the Hollywood Freeway. However, the commission turned down the request because of concern over the cost of renovating the historic building and the Fire Department’s insistence that it planned to keep the building for administrative use.