From One Library to Another

I've been working:

     In the building pictured here for 37 years now. Of course, it's larger in real life, though not much larger...

     That's one of the reasons the city'll be tearing the Balboa Branch Library down here in a few weeks and sending me over to work at the Mariners Branch till they get the new building built, a project that they estimate will take a year and a half. I'll miss the old place, but not the bugs that've been eating the wall, the leaks that've been trickling through the ceiling, or the lack of electrical outlets that've made things more and more interesting as folks've started bringing their own devices here, looking to plug in and use them or charge them.

     February 28th is the last day we're open to the public as a library, then the next weekend, the Friends of the Library will be holding a big book sale on the premises, letting folks pay to take home armloads of books and other assorted items from the shelves. If there's anything left: we've been packing up a fair percentage of the collection over the past few months and shipping it up to Mariners and the Central Library. And after that?

     The bulldozers! And the excavators! And the drywall contractors! And the spackle! So much spackle! I assume...

                                                            Mike

Comments

  1. John BaumgartnerFebruary 23, 2026 at 4:43 AM

    Your notice on the Balboa Library's closure brought to mind the sad closing of my favorite bookstore of all time in 2008 - Betrand Smith's Acres of Books in Long Beach. Betrand's was my favorite city block of floor to ceiling books and many finds of out-of-print SciFi, Fantasy, & other favs from years gone by. Good luck to you, and may the new Balboa fulfill your hopes and expectations.

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    Replies
    1. MHPayneFebruary 23, 2026 at 8:45 AM

      Acres of Books:

      Was a place we used to take "family outings" to when I was growing up. Up to six of us--two parents, four children--would pile into out Volkswagen camper and trundle the forty-five or so minutes north on Coast Highway, cutting through Naples and Belmont Shores and would usually discover that we'd managed to choose Grand Prix weekend to make our trip... :)

      Mike

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