Memorial Park (Public Library Remains), Pasadena, Visitor Guide & Things to Do Nearby

Memorial Park in Pasadena, California, is a small public park on North Raymond Avenue that keeps the surviving entrance of the city's old public library. The library was taken down in 1954, and the entrance was kept as a memorial to a building that once served a fast-growing town. It is a quiet, easy stop close to Old Pasadena.

The story behind it

Pasadena was incorporated in 1886 and quickly became a centre of culture and tourism. Within a short time it had a Shakespeare Club, a Grand Opera House and a public library, which offered free services to residents. The town valued books and art, and its reputation as a winter destination brought visitors, grand hotels and new business districts.

As the population climbed in the early 1900s, the library began to outgrow its building. When the old library was finally taken down in 1954, only the entrance was saved. What you see today is that fragment, set in a park, standing for a building that is gone.

What to look for

• The surviving library entrance is the heart of the park, and it stands as a freestanding fragment rather than part of a building.
• Look closely at the stonework of the entrance, and imagine the rest of the library that once stood behind it.
• Notice how the open green space around the remains contrasts with the busy streets nearby, which makes the fragment easy to photograph.
• Pay attention to how the park sits within the wider civic area of Pasadena, a reminder of how central books and learning were to the early town.

Tips for your visit

• Allow 10 to 15 minutes for the park itself, or longer if you want to sit and take photos.
• It is an open park setting, so you view the remains from outside. There is no interior to enter.
• Morning and late afternoon light is gentler for photos and the park is usually calmer then.
• Old Pasadena is a short walk away for cafes and shops, and the Memorial Park station on the Metro A Line is close by, so it is easy to reach without a car.

See it on a quest

You can reach Memorial Park on foot as one stop of Pasadena: Stop the Bomb, a self-guided quest through the area played on your phone. The app tells you about each place as you arrive and sets a puzzle based on what is in front of you, so the library entrance becomes something to look at closely rather than walk past. One ticket covers the whole group, and you can start whenever suits you, with no guide and no schedule.