East Los Angeles Library

History:

The East Los Angeles Library was established on May 1, 1923, with a small collection of books in the corner of a local store. Three months later, a small building was constructed to house the collection. In 1924, another building was constructed at Kern Avenue near Whittier Boulevard to become the new site of the public library. Then in 1932, the library moved to 679 Fetterly Avenue, where it was located for 35 years before being moved to a new building, on the corner of Third and Fetterly in 1967.

Thanks to funding from Gloria Molina, Supervisor of the First District, Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, the library moved into its new location in September 2004. This brand new library building is over 26,000 square feet, nearly double the size of the old building. The library now offers expanded services and collections and an expanded Chicano Resource Center in a separate room.

The library is proud of its history of excellent service to the residents in the surrounding neighborhoods. With a bilingual staff, bilingual signage and one of the largest Spanish language adult and children's collections in the County Library, the East Los Angeles Library sets high standards for service to its clientele, which is predominantly Latino. The library is also host to the Chicano Resource Center, established in 1976, which is a multimedia collection, primarily in English, of materials on the history and culture of the Mexican American people.