Library Opens to High-Spirited Crowds : Books: Turnout at upgraded L.A. landmark is called incredible.

Los Angeles’ Central Library threw a big opening day party Sunday and--judging by the jam-packed reading rooms, the elbow-to-elbow hallway traffic and the block-long lines of people waiting to get in--it looked as if everybody came.

They came in wheelchairs and strollers, on foot and riding on grown-ups’ shoulders--and even by fire engine--drawn by curiosity about the 67-year-old landmark that many of them had watched burn in 1986. Many braved the steamy weather to see what had changed at the library, which now has computerized catalogues and more than twice the floor space. And more than a few came simply to read.

“Where’s ‘Jurassic Park’--the book?” one young man queried Helene Mochedlover, manager of the literature and fiction department and a 27-year veteran of the library. Where were the novels of Toni Morrison, asked the young woman next in line. Where, a gray-haired woman wanted to know, were the self-help books?

“The turnout is incredible,” Mochedlover said happily, taking a moment to catch her breath. “We were expecting 50,000. To me, it feels like 500,000.”

Mayor Richard Riordan arrived in a vintage firetruck that carried city librarian Elizabeth Martinez, Councilwoman Rita Walters and architect Norman Pfeiffer, among others. Barney the dinosaur made an appearance. But the most important guests, said Library Commission President Gary Ross, were the people of Los Angeles.

“A library . . . is both necessary and magnificent. It is bread and roses. It serves the soul,” Ross told the thousands who arrived early to see the dedication of the renovated and expanded facility, which closed after the arson fire seven years ago. “It’s yours. It belongs to you. Enjoy.”

Minutes later, with a blare of trumpets from the USC marching band, the doors were flung open and Los Angeles’ Downtown public library--now the third-largest in the nation--was open for business. Within moments, the place was thronged with book lovers.

Amid the browsers, many people were getting down to work. Jace Miller, a San Diego novelist, was researching mercury shortages during the Second World War. Robert Templeton, a 40-year-old homeless poet who lives at the Weingart Center, was flipping through “The Oxford Book of War Poetry,” while Eric Harris, a senior at Hamilton Music Academy, perused tuba quartets.

Given the vastness of the library--eight floors, 540,000 square feet of space, 2.1 million books--it was difficult to count heads. People spilled onto the balconies of the dramatic glass-roofed atrium--a place Martinez, the city librarian, has called “the Grand Canyon of books.” Outside, where 5th Street was closed to traffic between Flower Street and Grand Avenue, more visitors waited under the hot sun to get new library cards and commemorative T-shirts.

“It’s chaos,” said library security officer Tim Hymen. “We’ve had several people pass out from the heat. I’m expecting several more.”

But those who managed to keep cool said it was worth a little sweat if they could witness a bit of history in the remaking.

Cheron Mitchell of Long Beach said his 86-year-old grandmother, Anita, had been at the first central library opening--in 1926. Mitchell, a 26-year-old medical transcriptionist, said he liked the idea that being at Sunday’s opening carried on a family tradition.

“An old friend has come back,” he said as he gazed around one of the many new reading rooms. “I’m going to enjoy coming back here.”

Like Mitchell, many people brought with them vivid childhood memories of the old library. Author Ray Bradbury recalled that when his family moved to Los Angeles during the Great Depression, the library became a second home.

“I am the product of this library right here,” said Bradbury, who said the opening had moved him to tears. “I started coming when I was 13. I never made it to college, so this is my university. The literature rooms, the short stories, the philosophy and art. I digested them all.”

Jonaas Walton, 49, a social work supervisor who lives in Silver Lake, felt much the same way. As a child in South-Central Los Angeles, Walton said he used the library and its collections as an escape.

“I grew up here. I used to hide out in books. I read a lot of stuff I shouldn’t have read--Sartre at age 12. . . . It was free and it was interesting,” he said. And now? “It’s wonderful!” he said, heading off to find the international languages section.

Mt. Washington resident Antonio Villaraigosa, 40, agreed. During the summers when he was a boy, the library was his daily destination--he would read in the children’s room, waiting until his mother got off work in the state office building nearby.

On Sunday, he sat on a tiny chair in the new children’s literature section, reading “The Little Engine That Could” to his 4-year-old son, Tonito. Around him, dozens of parents were reading with their children. Hardly a seat was empty.

“We’re going to be using this place a lot,” said Villaraigosa, who works for the teachers union. The library, he said, is more than just books--it is a community center.

“I’m excited about what this means for the city,” he said. “You can feel the positive energy. It feels like it’s coming out of the walls.”

Beverly Hills resident Barbara Desforges, an elementary schoolteacher in Hollywood, had similar feelings about the hopeful symbolism of the library’s revitalization.

“We have come back from such devastation, from someone setting fire to books--to learning,” she said as her husband, Bob, snapped pictures. “This will stimulate children to see that learning is fun. It’s a reawakening--a new beginning for our city.”

That was the beauty of it, said Ricardo Hernandez, 46--that something so meaningful was also so enjoyable. Hernandez was a first-time library visitor who brought his wife and daughter to the opening “to be a part of the history.” But it was only after he arrived, he said, that he understood that the library had just what he needed: a quiet corner in which to relax.

“It’s been a busy week for me,” said the Sun Valley restaurant manager, who sat in the popular library room thumbing through a copy of former LAPD Chief Daryl F. Gates’ autobiography. “It’s my day off. I wanted to see the building, but then I decided just to sit.”

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