This weekend, Brian Humphrey of the LAFD postedabout the Central Library Fire's 20th anniversary . He called it "one of the most remarkable structure fires in American history," and that strikes a chord with me. Here we are with this amazing resource that was not what you see today. But remember, this was only the first of two arson fires that closed the library for over 7 years. Also, after the library underwent a $216 million renovation, the Bradley Wing was added which doubled the size of the Central Library. This made it the largest public research library west of the Mississippi River.So, here's the challenge for folks like myself who didn't know the library before its 1993 re-opening. What did the inside of library look like before the reconstruction? I found a few pics on the LAPL site, but only black & white of the aftermath of the fire and some photos from the 1960s.
I did find the original layout:
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| Here are the few other interesting photos from 40 years ago: |
I wonder if there are any color photos online anywhere?
Perhaps in someone's personal collection?
I'm sure there had to be some funky, early 80's color photos of the inside... right?
3 comments:
Have you checked the photo database at lapl.org?
Yes, that's where these are from... but they don't have anything that is recent (early 80s) or in color.
Thank you for posting these. It was such a wonderful space before the fires. The redesign is chaotic and sprawling, and all the cool, restrained intimacy of the building has been lost. It still makes me sad to go inside. Gawd, that horrible splayed escalator!
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