The Hill Avenue Branch Library turns 100!
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Hill Avenue Branch Library located at 55 S. Hill Avenue. The library was designed by noted Pasadena firm Marston, Van Pelt and […]
Happy birthday, Octavia Butler! Celebrating her life, work, and legacy at the La Pintoresca Branch Library
This blog post was written by AnnMarie Kolakowski, Branch Manager of the La Pintoresca Branch Library Today would have been the 76th birthday of author Octavia E. Butler. Last Saturday, […]
Hidden treasures of the Pasadena Public Library: Artifacts, memorabilia, and other miscellanea from Pasadena’s and California’s past
Since ancient times rulers and scholars have made efforts to organize and store records for posterity. What might be considered the very first “libraries” were simply temple and palace rooms […]
Black History Month: Pasadena celebrates its own
Contributing writers: AnnMarie Kolakowski and William Gerber February is Black History Month, which celebrates the accomplishments and contributions African Americans have made throughout U.S. history. It also honors and pays […]
The San Rafael Branch’s victorious opening
When Doris Hoit became the city librarian in 1936, the Pasadena Public Library consisted of the Central Library and four small branches. She envisioned a library system in which no […]
Hey, we got oranges in the dead of winter!
It was sometime in 1889 during a meeting of the Valley Hunt Club that a distinguished professor by the name of Dr. Charles F. Holder shared an idea he had […]
Miss Jeanette Drake takes a bow
When Jeanette M. Drake came to Pasadena to become its third City Librarian in 1919, the Pasadena Public Library consisted of only the castle-like main library located on the corner […]
Lincoln at the Library!
With Lincoln’s birthday coming up—an important day for the nation and for the Pasadena Public Library, which dedicated the Central Library on February 12, 1927—our patrons might be interested in […]
Vacation Reading Club
The start of the Summer Reading Program is just around the corner! Summer reading has been a longstanding tradition of public libraries, and here at the Pasadena Public Library, this […]
Books, not booze! How the anti-saloon movement helped establish the first branch library in North Pasadena
Much of the area generally known as North Pasadena was once considered valueless by H.G. Monk, a New York real estate developer who originally owned this piece of property, because […]