🏢 Los Angeles Public Library — Los Angeles, California

Los Feliz Branch Library

A light-filled Barton Phelps building at Hillhurst and Franklin where redwood walls, skylights, and angled windows frame views toward the Griffith Observatory.

📖 About Los Feliz Branch Library

The Los Feliz Branch Library anchors its namesake neighborhood at 1874 Hillhurst Avenue, on the corner of Hillhurst and Franklin. Its roots reach back to 1923, when it began as a private reading room before joining the Los Angeles Public Library the following year as the system's 36th branch. The current 10,500-square-foot building opened on April 8, 1999, replacing a cramped 1,500-square-foot storefront and funded largely through the 1989 library bond issue; the branch had been displaced after the 1994 Northridge earthquake forced it into temporary quarters. Architect Barton Phelps designed the building around an idea of indoor-outdoor ambiguity, bringing warm redwood walls, skylights, and strategically angled windows that open sightlines toward the Griffith Observatory. Distinctive touches include a dome-shaped teen reading room, a whimsical children's room with a tree-trunk entrance and manzanita-branch artwork, and decorative boulders inside and out that double as seating. Today the branch offers Spanish-language collections, children's storytimes, an active Teen Council, and technology help through its Cybernauts program.

⭐ What makes this branch special

• Current 10,500 sq ft building opened April 8, 1999, designed by architect Barton Phelps
• Redwood walls, skylights, and angled windows with views toward Griffith Observatory
• Dome-shaped teen reading room and a children's room with a tree-trunk entrance
• Roots dating to 1923; became LAPL's 36th branch in 1924

📱 Free with a Los Angeles Public Library Card

Any California resident can get an LAPL card free and unlock:

📍 More Los Angeles Public Library branches

← All Los Angeles libraries  ·  All California →

❓ Frequently Asked Questions