LAGUNA BEACH : Library Reopens After Refurbishing

Walking past the branch library this week, a dark-haired woman stopped abruptly on the sidewalk and stared at the library’s front doors.

For the first time in three months, they were flung wide for visitors.

“They’re open!” she said.

Throughout the afternoon Thursday, residents wandered in and out of the freshly refurbished building at Park Avenue and Glenneyre Street, flipping through magazines, checking out books and letting library workers know they are happy to have them back.

“We’ve gotten a lot of compliments, everyone seems to like the changes,” manager Dolores Madrigal said between greetings. “We’ve seen so many of our very loyal patrons. It’s just fun seeing them again.”

The library, the only one in the city, closed April 14 to allow the 22-year-old building to undergo a $500,000 face-lift. The new building is almost 800 square feet larger than before.

While it looks much the same, the building has better lighting, a new alcove for fiction and an expanded local history collection.

Within hours of the building’s reopening, Jay Stallings was perched before one of the computer terminals doing research on Southeast Asia. Stallings said he visits libraries as often as four times a week and has sorely missed his local branch.

The Laguna Beach library is open from noon to 8 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday, noon to 6 p.m. Thursday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday.