Hello there, it’s Megan. It’s March 2019, and I’m taking in these last 2 years . . .
We have been visiting so many of the Los Angeles Public Library locations (our goal is to visit all 72 branches and Central Library) since March 2017 when my daughter Riley was almost one year old.
Two years later, she’s almost 3 years old and we’ve been to 55 branches and Central Library multiple times already! You can look at pictures from each branch, and see what books we checked out from each branch along the way by going through our blog.
Look at her when she’s still a wee baby in Central Library and crawling on the library rugs at some of the earlier branches!
There was even that time we stopped by the Catalina Island LA Country Branch Library in Avalon. . .
And early pictures when Riley had no choice but to be carried into the library with me.
Our love for libraries and children’s books has only grown.
Riley has evolved from a 12 month old, babbling and chewing board books, to a 35 month old saying, “Let’s go to the library!” She is even more picky about what books make it into our bag before going home.
I am grateful and so very thankful for our public libraries. And I hope our journey inspires other people to discover the libraries in your city or town, wherever you live. People often forget what an amazing part of our community is so easy to visit.
Go. Go get that library card that you keep forgetting to sign up for. . . it’s the never-ending gift card brought to you by your community and for your community. It’s like having a little bit of magic in your pocket at all times.
What a great idea to visit all these libraries with Riley and use them as key points to experience L.A. with its various communities, Megan. I remember taking a long road trip (3 months) with El after he finished law school and took the Bar exam, converting our Buick Special into a van with sleeping platform built with plywood and piano hinges after busting through the struts between the trunk and back seat and traveling with Fluffy, our Belgian shepherd, through the Northwest as it rained and rained and taking refuge in all kinds of local libraries along the way. They were the only free indoor (dry) entertainment that we knew we could find everywhere that welcomed everyone–how radical!