After a Decade of Debate, Echo Park to Get 2nd Library

Echo Park, which surrounds what some think is the city’s most picturesque lake, soon will have another claim to fame. The mainly low-income neighborhood near downtown will be in the enviable position of possessing two branches of the Los Angeles Public Library system.

That is the result of more than a decade of debate over how to provide library services to the pedestrian-oriented area, which is pierced by the Hollywood Freeway.

The decision, however, has irked some activists in adjacent Silver Lake who think they are being shortchanged while Echo Park gets double helpings of books and reading rooms.

By next summer, construction is expected to be underway for a library, known as the Edendale branch, near Sunset Boulevard and North Alvarado Street at a site occupied by a hardware store. Less than a mile away, just south of the Hollywood Freeway, an Echo Park library opened in 1997 on Temple Street.

The prospect of a second branch has excited many in Echo Park.

“I’m very happy about it,” says Susan Borden, who lobbied library commissioners to give Echo Park a second branch.

The $3-million branch, designed by Killefer Flammang Purtill Architects of Santa Monica, will total 12,500 square feet and feature a collection of 35,000 books, magazines, CDs and books on tape.

Three indoor murals by artist Ernesto de la Loza and an outdoor patio area also are planned.

Although the single-story building will face Sunset, it also will include a separate entrance for autos off Alvarado.

The Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Commission approved the plans last week and demolition is expected to begin soon at the now-vacant Peerless Hardware store at 2011 W. Sunset Blvd.

Funds for the branch, one of four being built or planned in Los Angeles, come from a 1998 bond issue for library construction.

Library officials stress that the Edendale branch is just a few blocks from Silver Lake and will provide convenient service to that area too.

Still, some Silver Lake residents were upset when they failed to persuade the city to build the coveted branch more in the heart of their community.

“I don’t begrudge Echo Park,” said Silver Lake resident Mary Ann Kuk, “but we wanted a library branch too, and we were given short shrift.”

For many years, Echo Park was served by a tiny library branch on Laveta Terrace--just on the south side of the noisy Hollywood Freeway. When discussions began in the early 1990s about replacing it, battle lines for many in Echo Park were drawn on where one lived.

Those south of the freeway, like Marta Herrera, argued that the branch should remain in the area. Students at nearby Betty Plasencia Elementary School could use it without having to get to the other side of the freeway. Others in the area could use it too.

“It makes sense for them to keep it here,” Herrera, a housewife and mother of three, said in Spanish.

Those North of Freeway Wanted Library There

On the other hand, Borden and others north of the freeway argued that the new branch should be more centrally located in Echo Park’s main shopping district on Sunset.

Also, some complained that it was difficult to get to the southerly location because it meant walking underneath an unpleasant freeway overpass on Glendale Boulevard. “Anything could happen there,” said one worried mother.

In the end, library commissioners settled on a site south of the freeway on Temple Street, next door to the Plasencia school. But then-City Councilman Mike Hernandez, who represented parts of the area, said he would push for a second branch to assuage the complaints from northerners.

Discussions in the mid-’90s focused on a site occupied by a car wash at the southeast corner of Sunset and Alvarado. But at least one of the parcel’s owners was reluctant to sell.

Meanwhile, Kuk and other Silver Lake residents began pressing for a library branch in their neighborhood. The closest library branch to them, they said, was either in Atwater Village or Los Feliz.

Two sites in Silver Lake were considered: the popular Club Los Globos on Sunset Boulevard and a stretch of small Sunset Boulevard shops a few blocks west. Kuk, however, had the sense that Echo Park would get the branch.

Former Official Denies Manipulation Rumors

Some accused former council member Jackie Goldberg, who also represented parts of the area, of manipulating the selection to favor Echo Park, an assertion she denied. Goldberg said the hardware store site was centrally located for mass transit and was easily accessible for Silver Lake residents.

The issue was decided earlier this year when the owners of Peerless Hardware offered to sell their building.

Faced with a willing seller and little dissent from Echo Park partisans, the library commissioners quickly agreed to put the Edendale branch on the site, which is near the popular Taix French restaurant. Having two branches in one community is rare but not unheard of. Woodland Hills has two as well, although in a more sprawling suburban area than densely populated Echo Park.

Some concerns about the branch remain.

Members of the Echo Park Historical Society are pressing the city to relocate two apartment buildings on Alvarado that could be demolished to make way for a driveway and parking lot for the library.

The group’s Kevin Kuzma said the vintage craftsman-style fourplexes, built around 1913, should be saved because they represent the style and look of many older apartment buildings in Echo Park.

“We think it’s important to keep that part of our history,” said Kuzma, who added that the city so far has been willing to explore options.

Meanwhile, day laborers continue to gather in front of the empty hardware store, a spot where they have congregated for years.

“Libraries are nice, but I need work,” said one man in his 30s, who wouldn’t give his name.

A companion broke in in Spanish, “Maybe I could get a job helping to build the library. That would be good for me and my family.”