Library Plans Offerings From Rap to Chamber Music

The recently reopened Los Angeles Public Library Downtown has launched a series of concerts, readings and lectures, ranging from a Sunday afternoon rap performance to an evening with political cartoonist Jules Feiffer.

The cultural events series, scheduled to run through the summer and fall, started last weekend with a presentation on jazz and poetry. The next event is set for 3 p.m. Sunday, with a performance by the Long Beach Symphony chamber ensemble and a lecture by conductor JoAnn Faletta on women composers.

Library Commission President Gary Ross said the series is designed to offer “a wide range of programming that will appeal to a large cross-section of the city.”

Tickets have been priced at $5.50 in advance and $7.50 at the door.

Parking--a persistent vexation in the area around the library, which is at 5th and Flower streets--is available under the Maguire Gardens on Flower Street between 5th and 6th streets for $5.50 all day Sunday.

Several restaurants in the area have also announced that they will offer special dinners on days of library events, Ross said. Weeknight performances have been mostly scheduled for Wednesdays, to coincide with a plan by Downtown merchants to boost the Central City by using Wednesday night events as the core of a marketing campaign.

“The library is the custodian for this part of the city’s cultural life, and there is nothing else like it,” Ross said. “New York and other major cities have long had such events, but Los Angeles hasn’t, and it’s time we did.”

Among the planned summer events will be Sunday afternoon music presentations by country singers Rosie Flores and Katy Moffatt; Latino singer Lalo Guerrero and the Loza Sextet; blues performers Hadda Brooks and Linda Hopkins, and rappers Sin--Strength of Egypt and the Watts Prophets.

Weeknight events will focus on political cartoonists and comic book artists, featuring lectures by Feiffer and Los Angeles Times syndicate political cartoonist Paul Conrad, author Art Spiegelman and cartoonist Trina Robbins, and a panel discussion on comics of the ‘90s.