Down on the Town: Are You Experienced at the Cerritos Library?

by Mike Plunkett

At night, the Cerritos Library looks like a benevolent nuclear power plant. The area is unusually lit and morbidly bright. The inside has this eerie greenish glow that covers every nook and book. (If you listen closely, you might hear the maniacal shrieks of an evil genius emanating from the library ... or it might be an off-key soprano at the Performing Arts Center across the street.) One could imagine the globe sculpture that rests next to the Library doubling as a Tesla coil, emitting rays of electricity as the Count from Sesame Street utters, "Ten, ten people owing late fees, ah, ah, ah!"

photo © Marcus Tate

During the day, the Cerritos Library becomes a three-story cocoon of knowledge and educated procrastination. While very pristine (and the skeleton of the T-Rex in the children's section kicks ass), the Library feels like a storehouse of books from the movie Gattaca than anything else. This ain't your granny's bookmobile.

Libraries. Remember those? They're the tattered, worn, funny-smelling buildings that never had the book you needed for the fifth grade U.S. history project, but had all the romance novels you never wanted. Once (so I have been told by the oral tradition of my ancestors), libraries were the gathering place for a local community. One could get books, read the paper, and join any book group he/she desired. Ah yes, that whole center of information and the locus of community engagement thing. It could be reasonably argued that libraries function as the public square, metaphorically and literally.

At this point, I would esoterically bemoan what happened to those days, but we already know the answers: the Internet, lack of state and county funds and, really, the takeover of the book industry by massive discount retail booksellers. On top of all that, why study when you could soap a fountain at the mall?

While previous articles on Lakewood and Bellflower have dealt specifically with retail, the Cerritos Library also is an interesting case study for development within the patchwork of Los Angeles County. Indeed, the Cerritos Mall, the Towne Center and the Cerritos Auto Square bring in substantial sales revenue for the city. However, what Cerritos has accomplished in creating a legitimate city identity through development is really quite something.

There is a distinct change in pace and feel when coming into the Golden Triangle: the region of Bloomfield Avenue, 183rd Street, and the 91 Freeway, where the city center of Cerritos converges. In the triangle sits the Cerritos Towne Center, the Cerritos Center of the Performing Arts, and City Hall, to which Cerritos Library is adjacent. The retail area is centralized and addresses all the major factors needed for sustenance, as well as Wal-Mart, to contrast out all that is good with America.

I've never known what to think about Cerritos. Though the town is about a minute away, driving to Cerritos is almost like jumping through hyperspace to reach another galaxy. In a sense, one is doing just that. Jammed between Lakewood and Cerritos is Artesia, quite possibly the most culturally diverse area per capita in the state, maybe the nation. Traversing from the Cerritos Mall to Little India to the storefronts on Norwalk Boulevard to the Cerritos Library in the course of about six blocks is akin to a crash course on the history of California migration in the 20th Century.

Like its neighbors, Cerritos has gone through its share of turmoil and tribulation. Yet throughout its history, the city has tried to forge its own identity, seen back in 1972 when Cerritos decided to bypass the county library system and build one of its own, as well as establish a redevelopment agency in 1975. Most associate Cerritos with the 1986 plane crash along the 91 Freeway, during which time current L.A. County Supervisor Don Knabe was moonlighting as mayor.

To this day, Cerritos library technically is a public library. I say technically because it doesn't belong to the L.A. County chain of public libraries. While nearby Lakewood and Bellflower has county libraries, those respective libraries suffer from consistent slashing of funds. Here's the thing with Cerritos: a library card is free to residents, those who work in Cerritos or those who go to a Cerritos school, or are members of the Metropolitan Cooperative Library System. Otherwise, it's $100 a year. Yikes!

photo © Tom Bonner

In 2002, the Cerritos Library became the Experience Library. Titanium-clad and ready to roar, the $40 million project gave the library three stories of building and thousan ds more stories in print and microfiche. Honestly, it's really a sight to see. Voted the best public library in 2004 by virtually everyone and their illiterate mothers, the Experience Library has become a model for modern libraries.

These days, a library has to be an experience to survive. Hell, everything has to be an experience to survive. But let's get real: the "experience" of most modern development that is praised and constructed, be it residential, commercial, or anything mixed, struggles in walking the fine line between engaging what a space is and embracing what a space should be. A space is more than a plot of land; it is a part of a mosaic. If successful, that mosaic looks more like a community than just a spot on Google Maps.

Wouldn't it be cool to have plans for a multi-level loft space with a library on the ground floor? Instead of some over-hyped tower that's going to block the last views of the angelic smog and congestion, complete with a spa room and no parking, why not create a mixed-use plan for living and services that give some identity to a space? As much as I like my lattes, I must say that every time another Starbucks is built, another street block loses its soul.

Cerritos, like Bellflower and Lakewood, has been forced to respond to the changing tides of economics and migration. The town always has enjoyed a higher income median and housing value, and continually has created its own identity apart from its neighbors. It's in the city's DNA to go its own way and use its wealth to provide better services for residents, often at the expense of those who don't live in Cerritos.

As impressed as I am with the Cerritos Library, I'm still waiting for it to be a library/alternative energy generator. Now that's an experience.