A Sunday at the Los Angeles Central Library With free Street Parking

The Los Angeles Central Library is an architectural gem and the pride of Los Angeles. I hardly ever go there because I usually go to my neighborhood branch library which has ample parking while I can never find parking at the Central Library. You can park at its garage with validation, but it still costs money. I have a thing against having to pay for an experience that should be free, like going to the public library!

After years of budget cuts, Through some bond measure that we all had to pay for, Los Angeles finally restored the weekend hours at the library. I was downtown this weekend and decided to drop by the library to walk about. I circled the library a couple of times and found a parking spot right in front of the side entrance. Street parking was free on a Sunday in Los Angeles, so that suited me very well.

My destination was the map room in the history section and the Chinese books section, so I was in the newer part of the library and taking the escalator up and down. The atrium in this part of the library is so grand with hanging sculptures everywhere.The book collection here is also so much better than the local branches. I borrowed some books that I wouldn't have been able to find in my local branch, so that was good. 

WARNING: While walking through the 4th level history section of the library, I smelled stale urine. Someone must have peed on the carpet. THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE in a public space that belongs to all of us. Library staff, please clean it up thoroughly. If it's the homeless peeing in the library, they should be directed to the restrooms! I guess homeless people using the library for not just book browsing happens everywhere. I remember when we went to visit what was a brand new Seattle Public Library a few years ago, we were told that the restrooms were painted a horrible puke green to discourage the homeless from loitering there. Libraries should be for book browsing and reading. However, I guess one cannot prevent the homeless from using this beautiful facility as well since it is public space. This is an urban problem that probably cannot be avoided. But still we must try. Otherwise who will visit the library?

Open Past Midnight: Side Show Books

After "A Letter to Momo" at the Nuart Theatre in West Los Angeles, it was close to midnight. We walked out of the theatre into the dark side street where our car was parked.  A few steps away, a quaint stand alone building was lit up in the darkness with welcoming strands of mini light bulbs.  A display stand outside the open door ways announces: "SideShow Rare Remarkable Books, Art and Curiosities".

photo by Boffinart

The store that was open at midnight conjures up images of bookstores from literature such as Mr. Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore, or the toy/curio store from The Invention of Hugo Cabret, where one might find books or objects that open up a new world. Here at Side Show Books, we founds old movie posters, matchbooks, old scripts, signed art books, paintings, original pulp fiction, comic books, music scores, and much more.

My daughter bought a copy of Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger for $3.  Hubby couldn't resist ponying up $150 for an old movie poster of "The Cincinnati Kid" with Steve McQueen.

Well, there weren't any real magical occurrences there or even a mysteriously ancient bookseller. Yet the fact that the store was just there, open past midnight and beckoning to the night owls, was a treat in itself.

Sideshow Books: 11323 Idaho Ave Los Angeles, CA 90025‎(310) 428-4631

Imagined Worlds: Donald Evans' World of Stamps

A while ago, my friend Julia lent me a copy of "The World of Donald Evans" by Willy Eisenhart. I liked it so much, I kept it for a couple of  years, and finally returned the book to her last year.  Because the book is so unique, I went and bought a copy of it for myself.

Donald Evans was an American artist who painted postage stamps and cataloged them in a compilation called "Catalogue of the World". The stamps are of fictitious countries with their own history, geography, climate, currency and customs.

Displayed on the pages of The World of Donald Evans are exquisitely drawn postage stamps of imagined countries in imagined worlds. Evan's attention to details can be seen in his taxonomic elaborations of his invented stamp collections. Plants, fruits and objects of one imagined country, quilt designs of another, all demonstrate the research and detail Evans placed in his art.

Stamps from the republic of Banana

Stamps of quilts from the Tropides Islands.

Check it out. One can't help but be mesmerized at the wild imagination of a non-existent yet orderly world and at the same time, be impressed with the artistry of Evans' work.