Introduction

Nestled on the bustling corner of Fifth Street and Flower, right in the middle of downtown LA, stands an eight-story concrete library with a mosaic pyramid tower, dwarfed by the soaring Bunker Hill skyscrapers surrounding it. Designed by Bertram Goodhue, the Los Angeles Central Library is a community center, the headquarters of the public library system, an institution of knowledge and learning, and a place to rest. On April 29, 1986, sixty years after its founding in 1926, the library erupted into flames. The inferno, raging at temperatures exceeding 2500˚ Fahrenheit, lasted for a total of seven hours and thirty-eight minutes. 700,000 of the 1.1 million books lost or damaged were salvaged, and authorities had deemed the fire arson. The main suspect was an aspiring actor named Harry Peak, which thus led to a long-lasting investigation and trial of this man. This exhibit will dive into all of this, and more.