Landmark Hermosa: Public Library

We may not realize it when we’re lost in the words of a favorite book or typing away on a computer inside the , but this landmark is one of the oldest in our city’s history.

Before Hermosa Beach was born as a city, a group of women formed a book club that met weekly at the then Ocean View School. The women would take turns reading to their children, and soon enough, they formed a circulating library run by Mary Montgomery.

In 1913, the library became a part of the Los Angeles County Public Library System. Its headquarters were moved from Ocean View School into a room at the Walker Building on the corner of Pier and Hermosa avenues, where a number of other Hermosa businesses were located during that time.

The library continued to move to different locations—from the Walker Building to the Tower Room in the Pier Auditorium.

In her account of the history of Hermosa Beach’s library, Patricia A. Gazin stated: “During the years between 1927 and 1957,  readers shared the Pier facility with pigeons and gulls, swimmers and sun worshipers: a motley scene, but everyone adjusted and assimilated.”

After the library moved to the former Post Office building at 1106 Hermosa Ave. in 1957, an influx of city newcomers prompted the expansion of a new library. Five years later, and the library made its final move to the building it now occupies on 550 Pier Ave.

From its inception, the library went from circulating 4,427 books to now containing 58,332 books, 90 magazine and newspaper subscriptions, 5,399 audiocassettes and 6,153 videocassettes, according to the County of Los Angeles Public Library website.

Our library also boasts a Friends of the Library organization, which was formed in 1959.

Congratulations to  and  for winning today's Landmark Hermosa. We'll have another trivia to guess next week.