A walk towards a dead end

Hope's dead end, Los Angeles, Ca c. 2009

Whenever I have some spare time on the weekend, I like to visit the Central library on Sunday afternoons. It has been a pastime of mine over the last 13yrs or so. When I was younger I'd enter through the south side of Hope since it was near the metro station. Since I started driving however, I choose to park in front of the fire station on 1^st st simply because the parking meters aren’t turned on Sundays.

I know this parking spot is a good 5 blocks away from the library but I enjoy the walk. Uphill on 1^st, turn right on Hope, past (sometimes through) the Disney concert hall, down the flight of stairs near the library tower that lead directly to the 5^th street entrance. I enjoy the light exercise and I like to notice new details along the familiar path.

The northern side of Hope St is so peaceful on the weekends. I definitely understand why Downtown L.A. is such a popular location for film production companies. I’ve seen countless commercials and film scenes being shot in the area.

A couple of Saturdays ago I went the library to work on some pictures on my laptop. The library doesn’t have the fastest wi-fi but it’s better than using the public computers. I went late in the afternoon and I thought I was running out of time until I noticed a small sign nearby concerning a change in the library hours. The library now closes at 6 on Saturdays instead of 5. That was a pleasant little surprise. I had an extra hour before I left.

There were more things I wanted to work on and I had every intention of returning the next day, my preferred day. As I went to the bulletin to confirm the hours of operation on Sundays, I then read that the library is now closed on Sundays and Holidays. An adolescent "shut UP" escaped from my mouth.

I understand the state and the city are in some serious debt but I immediately blamed our elected officials. I thought of our mayor offering to pay for Michael Jackson’s funeral service at the staples center last summer. I wondered how much of the city’s money had been misappropriated to get us in a mess where public libraries are taking the hit.

To me, libraries are a place of hope. THIS library is a place of hope. I think it’s interesting that this library is located on Hope St’s dead end. A place where kids want to learn, & where adults want to expand their knowledge even further. With this change, limits have been set even further. Honestly, I wish the library was open all night. I’m sure many of the homeless folks that I see take literal and intellectual refuge would agree.

Time escapes so many of us due to the responsibilities of life. With a weekend day stolen from Los Angelenos, we must now pencil in time to learn and juggle anything else beating down on us . I guess all I can hope is that Saturdays aren’t stripped from us either. At least for the time being...

Directions C.2009 Hollywood, CA

I was hesitant to post this picture. I was trying to reserve this little outlet of mine strictly to 35mm prints. After some thought, I’ve realized if these entries are about my findings while walking through this city, then I have to be ready to share what I’ve captured with whatever I have on me at that moment.

There’s no denying the advantages modern day technology. While there may be a fine line between technological usefulness and uselessness for certain things, I can appreciate the capabilities of our “essential” items, such as cameras and the Internet on mobile phones. Just yesterday one of these features helped me find the one public library in the entire city that had the book I wanted to check out; Istanbul to Cairo on a shoestring.

One of these features also allowed me to capture something that would break my three-month absence from this site.

Upon entrance into the Los Feliz Public library I noticed a piece of paper practically laminated over the center of a payphone.

“Not In Service
Please use the telephone at 2000 Hillhurst Av.
On the northeast corner of Finley Av.
2 blocks north of the library.”

Gutted payphones are becoming commonplace. That’s been my own observation since I started my mad hunt (or obsession) particularly in the last two years. However, this was the first time that I had seen a notice of any kind on a debunked phone. This was also the first time I had seen posted directions to the nearest working phone. I’ve seen notices on newspaper stands and mailboxes but never on a phone.

Why was this odd to me? Of the payphones that are out there in the streets of L.A., its usually quite obvious if they’re working or not… the phones are physically there or physically gone. In my fairly recent encounters with payphones, there hasn’t been a “middle ground”. The payphone at the Los Feliz library is an example of the middle ground.

In my quest to collect the city’s dying communication portal, I suppose its time to acknowledge my preexisting archived digital images…