Encino-Tarzana Library to Celebrate 10th Anniversary of its Rebuilding

The Encino-Tarzana branch of the Los Angeles Public Library system will celebrate the 10th anniversary of its rebuilding Saturday.

Members of the public are invited to the April 20 celebration, which will begin with a magic show at 1 p.m., followed by a temporary tattoo event. At 2 p.m., former LAPL City Librarian Fontayne Holmes, who was in charge of the 12,000-square-foot library rebuilding project, will give a talk about how the building was reconstructed.

"The original Encino-Tarzana Library was about a third the size of this one and it was torn down in October 2001 to make way for a new, larger and more modern branch," said Senior Librarian David Hagopian.

The library was among 32 LAPL branch libraries that were reconstructed, constructed or expanded to meet the scholastic and cultural needs of surrounding communities.

The projects were enabled by the 1998 voter-approved Library Bond Program. Of the 32 branches in the City of Los Angeles, the Encino-Tarzana Library was among five branches chosen specifically by the city’s Environmental Affairs Department and the Bureau of Engineering for rebuilding by reusing and recycling old material from the buildings.

“The library wasn’t the architectural thing that it is now,” said Adele Druck, president of the Friends of the Encino-Tarzana Library, which is co-sponsoring the event. The library won an architectural award and is a far cry from the “square block building” it once was, Druck said.

In fact, the façade of the Encino-Tarzana library has some African jungle-themed touches—a tribute to Edgar Rice Burroughs, the author of the famous Tarzan books, comics and movies, who lived on a 550-acre ranch in present-day Tarzana and after whom the neighborhood is named.

At 2:30 p.m., local historian Ralph Herman, Sr. will give a talk about Tarzana’s history. “He has a lot of information on the Edgar Rice Burroughs' estate,” on which present-day Tarzana is built, Druck said, adding: “He has a lot of memorabilia on the history of the area.”

Herman grew up on part of the Burroughs' ranch. "He has a lot of great stories about the area, the Burroughs family and San Fernando Valley in general," Hagopian said.

Encino-Tarzan Library, 10th Anniversary of  Rebuilding, Saturday, April 20, 18231 Ventura Blvd., (818) 343-1983