Santa Monica has opened its new main library, on Santa Monica Boulevard and Sixth Street, and it’s the best free attraction in town – after the beach and ocean. The first thing you’ll want to see... More
Santa Monica has opened its new main library, on Santa Monica Boulevard and Sixth Street, and it’s the best free attraction in town – after the beach and ocean. The first thing you’ll want to see is the spectacular Depression-era murals painted by Stanton Macdonald-Wright for the original library, which was razed in the 1960s. The murals, which were restored after local cultural activists retrieved them from their ignominious storage in a Smithsonian Institution warehouse, have been remounted on the second floor of the new library -- in unfortunately cramped space. The panels include 160 figures tracing man’s historical progress in technology and the arts. The model for the Hollywood set in the “Moving Picture Industry” panel was Gloria Stuart, who you’ll remember as the elderly Rose in the prologue to the movie “Titanic,” which featured Kate Winslet as the young Rose, who survives the sinking while her lover Jack Dawson (Leonardo DiCaprio), dies in the icy waters. Stuart, who is 95 and a native Santa Monican, was in her early 20s when she modeled for the Hollywood panel -- about the same age as Winslet in the 1997 "Titanic." The new library, besides all its books, magazines and videos, features seven comfy, private study rooms that can be reserved free for two-hour periods. If you’ve got a wireless-equipped laptop, you can get on the Internet through the library’s Wi-Fi hookup. If not, you can plug into the library's slower dial-up service, at no charge. Library hours are 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday and 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday. There's ample underground parking -- 50 cents each half hour. http://www.smpl.org/Default.htm
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