Added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 19, 1987

The first time I visited the Malabar Branch Library was in early October of 2025. Spooky black widow decorations haunted a fireplace on the west side of the building. A handmade banner of Frida Kahlo hung on the wall to commemorate Latino Heritage Month. A young man perused Malabar’s selection of manga, and an older woman used the public computer while my daughter put on an impromptu puppet show for her grandparents in the children’s section. 

All of these are normal scenes from a public library’s day-to-day, and that’s the point. Malabar is part of the everyday fabric of Boyle Heights. It’s surrounded by homes, schools and small businesses, with a rec center next door and a large sports field just behind it. This library building’s been a focal point of Boyle Heights life since 1927, and the branch itself longer than that. But to survive this long, Malabar’s had to adapt to the shifting demographics and needs of the people who use it. 

Boyle Heights in the 1920s

The Boyle Heights of today is more than 90% Hispanic or Latino. Back in the late 1920s though, Boyle Heights was the center of Jewish Los Angeles, with some 10,000 Jewish families living there by decade’s end, alongside sizable groups of Mexican and Japanese immigrants, and smaller communities of Blacks, Yugoslavs and Russian Molokans. One of the many reasons that Boyle Heights attracted such a salad bowl of residents was that it was one of the few neighborhoods where property deeds didn’t explicitly prohibit homeowners from selling to non-whites.

Boyle Heights was growing in the 1920s, in parallel with LA itself. The city’s population more than doubled between 1920 and 1930, from 577,000 to more than 1.2 million. New Angelenos arrived from all over, attracted to the booming oil, citrus, aviation, manufacturing and film industries, and the expansion of the Port of LA down in San Pedro. 

LA’s branch library system expanded to meet the growing city’s needs. Starting with the Vermont Square Branch in 1913, the city’s Library Board began replacing its network of leased reading rooms and delivery stations with permanent library buildings, staffed by trained librarians. 

Malabar’s Roots 

The Malabar Branch Library evolved out of a small book lending service inside the Brooklyn Heights Methodist Church at Evergreen Avenue & Winter Street. That collection, dating to about 1915, was the result of a campaign by a local Improvement Association and the PTA of the Malabar School. Before long the collection had moved to a small storefront at the corner of Wabash & Evergreen Avenues, between a dairy and a grocery store. 

Statistical reports from those early years outline a picture of a humble but increasingly popular book service. In 1916-1917, Malabar library officials reported a stock of 735 books and 463 card holders; by 1925, the book stock had risen to 4,378 volumes, with 1,946 card holders. Even in this early phase of the library, it was attending to the remarkable diversity of Boyle Heights, with books in Armenian, English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Russian, Serbo-Croatian, Spanish and Yiddish.

In 1925 LA voters passed Proposition 3, a measure that issued $500,000 in bonds to build 14 new permanent library buildings, including the Malabar Branch and the nearby Robert Louis Stevenson Branch. 

By April of 1926 plans were completed for the Malabar building by William Lee Woollett, an architect known for designing the Pilgrimage Theatre (now The Ford), Eagle Rock City Hall and the interior of Sid Grauman’s Million Dollar Theatre. William was the third generation of Woollett men who practiced architecture professionally. His son and grandson extended the dynasty to five generations.

Malabar’s Architecture

In keeping with the general theories that the Library Board developed for their branch buildings, Woollett designed a simple modified rectangle, with one main reading room divided into adults’s and children’s sections by the central circulation desk. Book cases extended from the north wall, and to either side of them were clusters of smaller rooms – bathrooms, a kitchen, a janitor’s closet, etc. On the northwest corner was a large study room, jutting north from the main rectangle. At this point, the northeast wing that currently houses most of the book stacks wasn’t yet part of the floorplan. 

Wooden trusses, hand hewn and stained “driftwood grey,” offered some visual interest below the ceiling. Woollett also specified a second floor and balcony overlooking the west side of the building, reserved for future expansion of the book stacks as it headed towards its maximum capacity of 25,000 books.

Outside the Malabar Branch Library had a simple Spanish colonial feel. There was Spanish tile on the roof and white paint covering the brick facade, perhaps a nod to the rough white stucco siding of traditional adobes. Rough field stones stacked up on each side of the front door, with a bas relief frieze atop the entryway, depicting the loving embrace of a child and adult. The same fieldstones still line the sidewalk underneath each portion of the lawn. 

Early descriptions of Malabar tended to focus on the library’s lack of ornamentation. The Los Angeles Times described it as “all of a primitive type” in a 1927 blurb. Writing in a 1936 history of the Malabar Branch, branch librarian Louise Parks Banes stated “The branch is a building of simplicity and directness, with no rococo features to mar its impressiveness…The whole effect is one of simplicity, with a primitive note.” Presumably the “primitive” part was a reference to the carvings on the lintels above the windows and the frieze above the door.

Construction began in October of 1926, took about seven months and cost $38,721 including equipment and furnishings. Banes described the reports of her predecessors in the months leading up to opening day:

Though many blue notes sound in the monthly reports before May, there was always an undertone of hopefulness as the new building drew closer and closer. Insufficient shelf-room, crowded tables, and lack of light and ventilation could all be borne when one realized that they were but temporary evils.

-Louise Parks Banes, “History of Malabar Branch, Los Angeles Public Library”

After a few days of moving books from the old location, the new Malabar Branch Library building flung open its doors to the public on May 26, 1927 – just a few days before the John C. Fremont Branch. Workmen were still installing light fixtures on opening day, and so many kids flooded the place that they had to close down after four hours to let the electricians finish. For that first week, with the lighting scheme still incomplete, the library shut down before sunset.

Kids and Community

Children and students were a particular focus of the Malabar Branch for much of its early history. A children’s librarian joined the staff one day a week in 1924, the same year that the portion of “juvenile” books in Malabar’s collection rose to 60%. After the new building opened in 1927, staff would regularly invite students from local schools to stop in and learn about library etiquette. Older kids stuffed the library after school, and younger ones would come with their parents in the afternoon. By 1930, kids made up the majority of new registrants for library cards, and the circulation was “preponderantly juvenile.”  

It’s a hoot to read the annual librarian reports to see how the librarians of the era balanced their kid and adult audiences. Branch Librarian Dorothy Pinneo tried to restrict the youngest kids to afternoon hours; in 1932, she got students from Roosevelt High School to enforce discipline, but that program was discontinued after one year (“snitches get stitches” and all that). Then in 1934 Malabar started requiring admission cards for students ninth grade and older, and kicked them out after 7pm, except to check out or return books. Reports from the 1940s lament the scourge of juvenile delinquency and the youth gangs that marauded outside, especially during the WWII years. But in the words of Branch Librarian Eunice L. Watkins, writing in 1949: “discipline as the other branch librarians knew it, is a thing of the past.”

In the ‘20s and early ‘30s the library was also a popular meeting space for community groups. The Boyle Heights Property Owners’ Association, the Los Angeles County Rifle Club, the Camp Fire Girls, the Los Angeles Women’s Art and Music Club and the East Los Angeles Forum all used the club room. Free seminars drew crowds to the library, too. A notice in the Eastside Journal advertised a 1937 lecture at the library about “How to Meet the Ever Increasing Prices of Rent and Food,” given by Mrs. E. Kievitz of the Women Shoppers League. 

In 1930, the Wabash Playground opened just west of the library. While it meant that errant baseballs were a common nuisance at the library for a while, Banes cites “a most friendly spirit of co-operation between library and playground.” For years, the playground and library collaborated on holiday celebrations on the library lawn. During the summer of 1934 the library hosted the first of several “Will-o’-the-Wisp Playshops” that found kids from eight different playgrounds presenting weekly drama, dancing and musical performances.

Boyle Heights & Malabar Evolve

Boyle Heights was majority Jewish in the late 1920s and early ‘30s. The Malabar staff served the community especially well by compiling a regularly-updated list of books called “The Jew in Literature of the Last Decade,” and purchasing a permanent collection of books in Yiddish in 1931. In 1935, Banes observed that its collection included books in French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Hebrew, Polish, Russian, Spanish and Yiddish. 

But the community was changing by the mid-’30s. Towards the end of her 1936 history of the Malabar Branch, Banes writes “There are several dark spots in Malabar history…among these may be counted the sad fact that the Jewish people are ceasing to move into the district, and the Mexicans are moving in, which means a decreasing use of the library.” 

World War II brought a large drop in library circulation rates, attributed to the heavily European population of Boyle Heights focusing their attention on news reports from their home countries. In October of 1940 Malabar’s open hours were limited to Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 1 to 9pm, to meet a huge reduction in library tax receipts during the war. The library also did its part in the war effort, hosting a “Send Your Books to War” drive to drum up reading material for American servicemen and women. 

At some point before 1945, the white paint was stripped off the library’s facade to expose the red brick underneath. That move undermined the Spanish colonial vibe, but it also revealed the playful, slightly off-kilter masonry work.

The ‘50s was a transitional decade for Malabar. Boyle Heights had become a largely working class town of Mexican immigrants by then. According to librarian John Bruckman’s report from this era, much of the community suffered from financial hardship and huge unemployment rates during the recession of 1958. Bruckman also points to language boundaries and “the lack of interest in book use as leisure time activity” to explain the dramatic decline in library usage. For the 1956/57 year, circulation fell to a dismal low of 60,000, compared to 100,000 in 1949. Malabar was switched to sub-branch status in 1957. 

Two glimmers of hope in Bruckman’s report were “the coming of Japanese people in large numbers, with their devotion to education” and the “small but increasing number of Mexican-Americans who have seized on education, and on the public library, as a means to betterment for themselves and their people.” It must be acknowledged that Bruckman’s words sound patronizing, even borderline racist to modern ears. But they’re also telling of how keenly librarians of the time were tracking and interpreting usage.

To keep the collection relevant, Bruckman advocated for a collection that emphasized “popular reading, do-it-yourself, and journeyman level technical books on the adult side,” along with “Catholic material on a popular level…particularly as parochial school students now are a large portion of Malabar’s users.” A huge difference from a generation prior, when Jewish readers made up the majority of library patrons. 

The reports from 1959-1969 paint a portrait of a sub-branch grappling with librarian turnover and the difficulties of meeting the needs of a changing readership. Immigrants continued to pour in from Mexico, South America and Europe, joined by new groups of Japanese and Black residents. With fewer resources to engage with the community, Malabar struggled to educate new neighbors about the value of the library. 

The library witnessed some improvements during the early ‘70s. Circulation ticked up to 58,207 items in the 1971-’72 fiscal year, an increase of some 37%. Malabar converted to machine-readable book cards in 1972, part of a city-wide effort to adopt an automated library circulation system. And there were some notable new efforts to bring in library patrons. Malabar tried luring visitors with nontraditional programming like karate demonstrations and biology seminars. A 1977 notice in the Eastside Journal advertised a “Draw Your Pet Cat” contest for kids under 16. 

Another ’70s milestone: in 1974 Malabar regained its full branch status, part of a $101,000 appropriation by the Library Board that also lifted the Atwater, Cypress Park, Echo Park, Junipero Serra and Robert Louis Stevenson out of the sub-branch doldrums.

Shake Up at Malabar

After the Whittier Earthquake on October 1, 1987, the City of LA shuttered the Malabar Branch along with 14 other branches deemed seismically unsafe, owing to their unreinforced masonry construction. Unlike the Wilshire, Junipero Serra, Pio Pico and Robert Louis Stevenson Branches, all of which found temporary locations, Malabar resorted to bookmobile service.

The city of Los Angeles’s principal architect Paul McCarty told the Los Angeles Times that he expected Malabar would be open again within one year. It ended up taking five. During that time, LA voters approved Proposition 1 in 1989, raising $53.4 million in bond money to repair earthquake-damaged library buildings and build a few new ones in the San Fernando Valley. The City took the opportunity to expand the original Malabar building with a 40’ x 40’ addition at the northeast, and a 16’ x 26’ addition at the northwest corner. 

This increase in space shifted the layout of Malabar significantly. The large reading room that used to take up the entire width of the library now has two sets of dividers, separating it into three segments, with DVDs and other media on the west side and the circulation desk in the middle. Book stacks and the children’s section are now housed on the long, high-ceilinged east side of the library. The second story mezzanine is now enclosed by a short wall – perhaps not as charming as the iron balcony that used to be there, but at least now there’s space for the massive artwork hanging from the wall now. 

Soon after reopening in 1992, the Malabar Branch received a new computer-powered homework center, funded by a grant from the J. Paul Getty Trust. About 100 Boyle Heights students per week came through to work on assignments at the keyboard, assisted by a college student hired through the grant. That wasn’t the only strategy Malabar staff employed to keep kids engaged at the library in the ‘90s. According to the Los Angeles Times, in 1993 students requested a jukebox during homework time. So they found a donor and installed one. Can’t imagine that lasted too long.

Malabar Today

The Malabar Branch Library of today is equipped to serve Boyle Heights as it continues to change. There’s a large section of Spanish books and a bilingual story hour in English and Spanish, aimed at the huge Latino population of the area. Citizenship classes are offered through the New Americans Initiative.

I spoke with Malabar’s Branch Librarian Lupie Leyva, a Boyle Heights native who has worked at all three LAPL branches in the area. She emphasized how the public library is about much more than the physical book collection. Circulation rates for physical books are down these days, while e-book readership is soaring. And beyond reading, the library now serves as a de facto social services center. At Malabar, like many other branches, staffers offer homework help and free printing. Public computers are available for anyone without access to one at home. On hot days, Boyle Heights residents stop in to relax in Malabar’s air conditioning.

Next year, Malabar Branch Library turns 100 years old. It’s heartening to see that an institution with this much history behind it is still so embedded in its community.

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Thanks to Malabar Branch Librarian Lupie Leyva and LAPL librarian Jim Sherman for their insights and assistance on this piece. 

Sources & Recommended Reading

+ “9 Library Branch Offices Tell Increase in Circulation” (Valley News, September 1, 1972 – via newspapers.com)

+ Banes, Louise Parks & Eunice L. Watkins: “History of Malabar Branch, Los Angeles Public Library” (PDF – Los Angeles Public Library, 1936 / 1949)

+ Bernstein, I. Irving: “Journal Club Column” (Eastside Journal, March 4, 1937 – via newspapers.com)

+ “Bond Issues Deserve Yes Votes” (Los Angeles Times, March 31, 1989)

+ “Branch Library Bonds Vote Victory Is Children’s Hope” (Los Angeles Evening Post-Record, May 21, 1925 – via newspapers.com)

+ Bruckman, John: “Malabar Branch History *** 1949-1959 (PDF – Los Angeles Public Library, 1959) History 1949-59

+ “Cat drawing contest at library” (Eastside Journal, August 17, 1977 – via newspapers.com)

+ “City of Los Angeles Neighborhoods Population & Race Based Upon 2024 U.S. Census Estimates” (Los Angeles Almanac © 1998-2019 Given Place Media, publishing as Los Angeles Almanac)

+ “Close Malabar Branch Library for Improvements” (El Sereno Star, October 12, 1972 – via newspapers.com)

+ Harris, Lee: “Homework Centers Log On at City Libraries” (Los Angeles Times, June 27, 1993 – via newspapers.com)

+ Harvey, Steve: “No skateboarding in the aisles, though” (Los Angeles Times, April 16, 1993 – via newspapers.com)

+ Hyers, Faith Holmes, compiler: Hand Book of the Branch Libraries (PDF – Los Angeles Public Library, 1928)

+ Japanese American National Museum: “Boyle Heights: The Power of Place” (JANM, 2002-2003)

+ Kahn, Ava F. & Marc Dollinger, editors: California Jews (Brandeis University Press / University Press of New England, 2003)

+ Levya, Lupita: “Gentefied and the Libraries of Boyle Heights” (Los Angeles Public Library, February 28, 2020)

+ “Library Hours Slashed Here” (Eastside Journal, October 3, 1940 – via newspapers.com)

+ “Library Will Require New Admission Cards” (Eastside Journal, April 4, 1940 – via newspapers.com)

+ Love, Keith: “Library System: Tree Is Dying in Los Angeles” (Los Angeles Times, August 24, 1981 – via newspapers.com)

+ Luce, Caroline, Ph.D., Chief Curator & Author: “Jewish Histories in Multiethnic Boyle Heights: A Digital Exhibit” (UCLA Alan D. Leve Center for Jewish Studies, updated 2021)

+ “Malabar Branch: History 1959-69” (PDF – Los Angeles Public Library, 1969)

+ “Malabar Branch Library Dates Back 25 Years” (Eastside Journal, March 9, 1939 – via newspapers.com)

+ Malabar Branch Library’s NRHP nomination form (NPS.gov, 1985)

+ Malabar Branch Staff: “The Jew in the Literature of the Last Decade” (Los Angeles Public Library, 1928)

+ “Malabar Library; Wabash Playground Histories” (Eastside Journal, March 11, 1937 – via newspapers.com)

+ Maxtone-Graham, Guy: “New Chapter: 3 Branch Libraries Shut by Quake to Reopen” (Los Angeles Times, July 28, 1988 – via ProQuest)

+ Mouck, Richard, John Miller, Robert Chattel, Ruthann Lehrer &  Denver Miller, LA Conservancy: Multiple Property Submission to the NRHP for LA Public Library Branches, 1913-1930 (NPS.gov, revised 1985)

+ “New Branch Library” (Daily News, April 10, 1926 – via newspapers.com)

+ “Outreach at ‘New’ Libraries: From Paint-ins to Drug Seminars” (Los Angeles Times, March 17, 1976 – via newspapers.com)

+ “Playground Dramatics Scheduled” (Los Angeles Times, July 2, 1934)

+ “Seek Books for Servicemen Here” (Eastside Journal, March 8, 1944 – via newspapers.com)

+ Soble, Ronald L.: “Quake Shuts Key Units, 7 Branches of L.A. Library” (Los Angeles Times, October 18, 1987)

+ Soble, Ronald L. & Bob Pool: “Quake-Damaged Libraries to Be Closed” (Los Angeles Times, March 24, 1989 – via newspapers.com)

+ Spitzzeri, Paul R.: “Sharing the Evolution of the East Side from 1900-1930 with Boyle Heights Community Partners” (The Homestead Blog, July 25, 2021)

+ “Student Library Use Restricted” (Eastside Journal, October 24, 1938 – via newspapers.com)

+ Tobar, Hector: “A look back at the Boyle Heights melting pot” (Los Angeles Times, December 9, 2011)

+ “Two New Library Branches to Open” (Los Angeles Times, May 26, 1927)

+ Watkins, Eunice L.: “History of Malabar Branch, Los Angeles Public Library (Los Angeles Public Library, 49)

+ “William Lee Woollett (Architect)” (Pacific Coast Architecture Database)