At a well attended community meeting organized by the Library Commission and Councilman Hernandez' office, architects displayed a series of tentative floorplan designs for the new Arroyo Seco Regional Branch Library, 6145 N. Figueroa, which is scheduled for demolition and replacement with an enlarged and updated facility.
At this initial meeting to collect data from library patrons
in the neighborhood, only floor configurations (such as where
the entrance should be located, how to divide reading and computer
spaces, and where to provide parking for 28 cars) were discussed.
The floorplans focused on how to utilize most effectively the
small and odd shaped sloping parcel of land the library occupies.
Important issues of architectural design and materials will be
presented at future meetings. Just a few suggestions from the
audience revealed minor disagreements about anticipated architectural
designs for the new building. With the major and crucial exception
of losing use of the facility and library services for up to
two years, demolition of the current building did not appear
to raise any objections. However, it became a different matter
when the planned destruction of the prominent mural on the facade
of the building was revealed!
Local artist, Luis Becerra, painted the mural "Libraries
Educate...Governments Make Cutbacks" about five years ago
at the invitation of Art in the Park (then a part of Los Angeles'
Cultural Affairs Department). The provocative mural has become
a powerful part of the Highland Park streetscape. It must have
surprised the (non-local) architect/moderator of the meeting,
as well as representatives of the Library Commission, to notice
an almost unanimous consensus among the audience when arms were
raised in support of conservation of the mural.
Although moving the library wall that contains the mural was
discussed as an option, it is clear that the original impact
of the art work is going to be greatly diminished by such a move.
It is unquestionably an added challenge to the architects to
incorporate the old wall with its mural in the new facility (either
as part of the building or as an independent monument). Preservation
of the mural in its present location is historically and emotionally
vital.
The Library Commission is now soliciting applications of artists interested in executing art work at new libraries across town (including the proposed facility in Highland Park). It was suggested at the meeting that the available one percent of the construction budget (legally destined for art work and estimated to be about $50,000) could be utilized towards an imaginative preservation project around the old mural.
A petition drive to save the mural in its present location is already underway. Letters of support in our efforts to save the Becerra mural are urgently needed and can be directed to the Library Commission of the City of Los Angeles or sent to the Arroyo Arts Collective, P.O. Box 50835, York StationHighland Park, CA 90050.
Photo: Irene Fertik
1999 Discovery Tour Celebrates ART and Oddity on November 20
