Takin’ It To The Streets (and Parks and Schools) — The Los Angeles Public Library’s Bookmobile

The Los Angeles Public Library has always made it their mission to make library materials accessible to everyone. In today’s virtual and electronically-enhanced world, such a goal is accomplished with e-books, audiobooks, digital downloads, online catalogs, blogs, and video services that make using the library very convenient. You don’t even have to leave your chair! Before the Internet, however, those seeking to use the library had to go to the library. The Los Angeles Public Library, however, was willing to meet you halfway.

As early as 1949, bookmobiles began bringing library materials to various areas in the City of Los Angeles that were not served by community branch libraries. The Los Angeles Public Library’s fleet of bookmobiles included three large vans carrying a collection of 4,000 books plus one smaller van that carried 3,000 books. These libraries on wheels had 28 scheduled stops each week, visiting housing developments, shopping centers, schools, and parks. It is estimated that almost 250,000 books were checked out of LAPL’s bookmobiles in any given year.

The collection of materials in the bookmobiles included literature, the latest novels, children’s books, magazines in various languages, cookbooks, movies, and materials to help library patrons become U.S. citizens, study for their GED, pass the SAT, fix their vehicle, and find a job. Many library patrons credit the bookmobiles that visited their neighborhoods with improving their literacy and English language skills; others state that librarians in the bookmobiles fostered a love of reading in their childhood.

Budget cuts, an increase in branch libraries (nine were built between 1989 and 2004), rising fuel costs, and technological advancements caused the Los Angeles Public Library to retire its bookmobiles in 2004. (Note: The County of Los Angeles Library system still operates bookmobiles.) A perusal of the Los Angeles Public Library’s photo collection provides a look at and into the Library’s bookmobiles, the vehicles that brought information and entertainment to patrons all over the city.

Four young women pose in front of one of the first bookmobiles utilized by the Los Angeles Public Library. The staff of a bookmobile generally consisted of one adult librarian and/or one children’s librarian, a clerk typist, and a driver.

 

LAPL bookmobile in 1949

Security Pacific National Bank Collection, photo taken in 1949.

Two unidentified library employees replenish the shelves of a Los Angeles Public Library Traveling Branch Bookmobile.

Restocking the Bookmobile

Security Pacific National Bank Collection, photo taken in 1949.

A librarian reads to a group of youngsters in front of the bookmobile parked at the Lincoln Heights branch of the Los Angeles Public Library.

Children's books in the LAPL bookmobile

Security Pacific National Bank Collection, photo taken in 1964.

An LAPL bookmobile arrives in Chinatown decorated for the Lunar New Year Parade. The banner in Chinese reads, “Gung Hay Fot Choy” which is a traditional greeting for the New Year meaning “Good luck, may fortune come your way.”

bookmobile in chinatown

Security Pacific National Bank Collection, photo taken in 1974 (Year of the Tiger) by Joe Friezer.

Johanna Sutton, a bookmobile librarian, is interviewed at a Books on Wheels inauguration at Avalon Gardens, a housing project in Southeast Los Angeles. Larry Burrell of KTTV asks Mrs. Sutton questions while cameraman and reporters tape and record the interview.

bookmobile interview

Security Pacific National Bank Collection, photo taken on July 19, 1966, by McClain’s Photo Service.

Children at Stonehurst Avenue Elementary School in Sun Valley check out books from one of the Los Angeles Public Library’s bookmobiles on the eighth anniversary of the library’s traveling branch service. Shortly after this anniversary, voters voted for bond funding to finance construction of a branch library in Sun Valley.


sun valley bookmobile

Herald-Examiner Collection, photographed by Milton Martinez on May 18, 1957.

Little Toot, a bright blue and yellow vehicle, was the smallest of the Los Angeles Public Library’s fleet of bookmobiles. Little Toot was constructed on a truck body and staffed by three librarians and a driver. Its collection included approximately 3,000 books for students from kindergarten through the eighth grade. The name for this bookmobile came from the children’s books by author Hardie Gramatky, one of America’s greatest watercolorists (according to watercolor legend Andrew Wyeth) who wrote and illustrated a series of children’s books about Little Toot, a feisty and helpful little tugboat.

In this photo, school children browse through shelves of books in Little Toot. The bookmobile is constructed much like a food truck with flaps raised to show bookshelves on the side of the truck. Little Toot visited schools in areas where there was no branch library.

little toot

Security Pacific National Bank Collection, photo taken in 1956.

Children stand outside a Los Angeles Public Library bookmobile while Bert Thomas (library employee) hands out balloons. The bookmobile is decorated for Christmas and a boy dressed as Santa Claus is part of the crowd.

christmas celebration at the bookmobile

Security Pacific National Bank Collection, photo taken by Joe Friezer in 1955.

Librarian Joyce Cantrell shows off some of the books offered by the Los Angeles Public Library bookmobile servicing the Platt Ranch area of the West Valley. The bookmobile had just started service in this area and would park in a lot at the corner of Victory Boulevard and Platt Avenue every Tuesday.

Valley Times Collection, photo taken October 22, 1962.

A Los Angeles Public Library bookmobile, parked at an unidentified location, offers books, a place to sit, and shade for the entire family.

library bookmobile

Security Pacific National Bank Collection, photo taken by Jacques Moon in 1955.

Here we see the interior of the San Fernando Valley bookmobile with librarian Helen Jenks at the desk and checking out materials.

san fernando valley bookmobile

Security Pacific National Bank Collection, date of photo unknown.

Several people peruse the collection inside this LAPL bookmobile. Materials available range from comic books to classic literature.

comics and classic literature in bookmobile

Security Pacific National Bank Collection, photo taken in 1955.

Adults look over the materials displayed on the exterior shelves of the Los Angeles Public Library Traveling Branch. Note that the collection includes magazines shelved in interior shelves located just inside the doorway.

magazines in the bookmobile

Security Pacific National Bank Collection, photo taken by Dick Whittington in 1955.

This Los Angeles Public Library bookmobile participated in an annual Korean parade. Those photographed include two actresses, President of the Koreatown Association, a library patron, and two library staff employees.

koreatown bookmobile

Shades of L.A.: Korean American Community, photo taken in 1980.

Librarian Harold Hamill (who headed a 1957 municipal bond issue that resulted in the building of 28 branch libraries) and Los Angeles City Council Member (and then acting mayor) Harold Henry inspect the bookmobile and its collection.

Harold Hamill and Harold Henry inspect bookmobile

Herald-Examiner Collection, photo taken by Howard Ballew on November 15, 1951.

The Los Angeles Public Library bookmobile is parked and patronized in MacArthur Park.

macarthur park bookmobile

Security Pacific National Bank Collection, date of photo unknown. 

LAPL’s bookmobile is parked in Chatsworth, a community located in the northwestern part of the San Fernando Valley.

chatsworth bookmobile

Security Pacific National Bank Collection, photo undated.

A man (who may be a librarian or a driver or both) enters into the New York Public Library Bookmobile which came west for the 1930 Los Angeles Library Convention. It is seen here parked on 5th Street facing Grand Avenue, with the Engstrum Hotel Apartments in the background. (These luxury apartments were located at 623 West 5th Street in downtown Los Angeles and housed many prominent citizens.)

new york bookmobile

Security Pacific National Bank Collection, photo taken in 1930.

It would be almost 20 years before the City of Los Angeles had its own bookmobiles, and, of course, LAPL’s bookmobiles had that California style, with books shelved both in and outside of the bookmobile, offering everyone a chance to browse indoors or outdoors in the Southern California sun.

Patrons gather to read and study outside the Los Angeles Public Library Traveling Branch in the San Fernando Valley. This bookmobile service, headquartered in North Hollywood, made 17 weekly stops in the Valley.

reading outdoors

Valley Times Collection, photo taken on May 25, 1949.