Art, Music & Recreation Department - Los Angeles Public Library

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Art, Music & Recreation Department - Los Angeles Public Library

The Art, Music & Recreation Department is located on Upper Level 2 at Central Library.

The Art, Music & Recreation Department at Central Library houses materials in the following areas: art history, gardening, architecture, decorative arts, crafts, fashion, artists, photography, music history, music biographies, sheet music and scores, film, dance and indoor and outdoor recreation and sports.

09/21/2026

Join the Los Angeles Public Library’s Art, Music, and Recreation Department for an online conversation with author Doug Levy as we celebrate the recent release of his book Hero Redefined: Profiles of Olympic Athletes Under the Radar.

Doug Levy’s author appearance will be moderated by Marina Del Rey resident Brian Jenkins, an lowa-born journalist who earned a bachelor’s degree in broadcasting from the University of Missouri School of Journalism. Brian went on to serve for 16 years as an anchor and correspondent on CNN, based in Los Angeles from 1982 to 1986, then Tokyo until 1989, and in New York until 1998. Brian subsequently ran his own video news production company for 12 years, became a fully licensed financial advisor, did public relations consulting, and has just signed on as VP of Business Development for an Al advisory firm.

The author’s talk will showcase award-winning sports journalist Doug Levy’s vision of what constitutes heroism. In his book, he shows that there is more than one path to greatness, chronicling extraordinary acts of resilience and personal sacrifice by “under the radar” athletes who left their own indelible marks on the spirit of the Olympic Games in quiet but heroic ways.

As the 2028 Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles draws closer, Doug will preview different chapters of his book, each revealing a different face of heroism - immense resilience, strength of character, standing up for human rights, overcoming horrific medical and psychological setbacks, and a seemingly superhuman will to finish. Throughout, Levy celebrates the heroic human spirit and its relentless drive to carry the torch forward - both inside and outside of the Olympic Games.
Please sign up here to receive a Zoom link: https://shorturl.at/JOdNt
Or email [email protected] We will send the Zoom link by Tuesday, September 29, 2026.

09/02/2026

September’s calendar is here! Catch you soon. :)

08/23/2026

Join the Los Angeles Public Library’s Art, Music, and Recreation Department for an online conversation with author Martin Dugard as we celebrate the release of his latest book The Long Run: Steve Prefontaine, Frank Shorter, Joan Benoit, Grete Waitz, and the Decade That Made the Marathon Cool

Martin Dugard is the author of a dozen #1 New York Times bestsellers. Among these works of running and history is the international sensation Into Africa. He is also a Fellow of Great Britain’s Royal Geographical Society, Board Member of the USA Track and Field Foundation, and high school distance running coach of more than two decades experience. Mr. Dugard blogs weekly on martindugard.com. The author lives on a hill in Southern California.

Martin Dugard’s author appearance will be moderated by Steve Sandoval a veteran producer of multi-camera television comedies, with more than three decades of experience producing high-profile series for major studios, networks, and streaming platforms.

Please sign up here to receive a Zoom link: https://shorturl.at/j1lKg

Or email [email protected]

08/20/2026

Join us for an exciting hybrid panel discussion and book signing celebrating international baseball!

SAT, Aug 22nd 2 PM - 4 PM

Featuring special guests:

Aaron Fischman - Award winning sports writer, editor, multimedia journalist with a Master’s in Journalism from USC’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, and creator and longtime host of the On the NBA Beat podcast. Author of A Baseball Gaijin: Chasing a Dream to Japan and Back

Robert Fitts - Award-winning baseball historian, author, and founder of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) Asian Baseball Committee, receiving the prestigious Henry Chadwick Award and author of In the Japanese Ballpark: Behind the Scenes of Nippon Professional Baseball

Michael Clair - Senior manager of storytelling and special projects at MLB.com, specializing in international baseball and the World Baseball Classic and author of We Sacrifice Everything to Baseball: How the Czech Republic’s Amateur Underdogs Became World Baseball Classic

Director Yuriko Gamo Romer - Award-winning director based in San Francisco with a Master’s degree in documentary filmmaking from Stanford University and director of Diamond Diplomacy

The event will be moderated by Jim Small, who served as President of the World Baseball Classic from 2019 to 2026. Founder and principal of Ascendant Sports and Entertainment (ASE), a New York-based global advisory firm.

Aaron Fischman’s A Baseball Gaijin will be available for purchase and signing throughout the in-person event. No RSVP required to attend in person. Please sign up at
https://shorturl.at/7WfiL to attend virtually.

08/19/2026

LAPL’s Art, Music and Recreation is pleased to host Colin Asher on the occasion of his newly published work “The Midnight Special: The Secret Prison History of American Music” on Saturday September 12th.

In American popular music, we often glorify rebellious artists and “outlaws.” But in “The Midnight Special,” Colin Asher tells a deeper story about the criminal justice system’s impact on our musicians, explored through compelling portraits of five artists whose careers span the twentieth century. 
Opening with folk and blues artist Huddie “Lead Belly” Ledbetter, who was made to perform wearing prison clothes, Asher traces the intertwined histories of music and incarceration, from Southern prison farms of the Jim Crow era, through the heroin-driven mid-century drug wars that villainized a generation of jazz artists, and to our present era of mass incarceration. 
This in-person event will be located in the Central Library’s Art, Music and Recreation Department on Upper Level 2. Join the author for an in-person discussion, followed by book sales (provided by The Loved One ) and signing.

08/03/2026

August’s calendar is here! Crafts, author talks, chess and more.
Email art [at] LAPL.org to be added to the mailing list and receive the calendar as a far easier to read PDF!

07/29/2026

LAPL’s Art Department is pleased to have the opportunity to host author Andy Beta’s on the occasion of “Cosmic Music”, his in-depth biography of the jazz harpist, keyboardist, pianist, singer, composer and spiritual leader, Alice Coltrane.

Joining Beta in conversation will be writer, dancer, and filmmaker Harmony Holiday, author of “Maafa”, “A Jazz Funeral for Uncle Tom”, and others.

This event will take place in the Art, Music and Recreation Department on the second floor of LAPL’s Central Library. Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis.

07/24/2026

CHALK DRAWING FOR ADULTS
AFTER LEARNING DRAWING TECHNIQUES
WE WILL DRAW A PORTRAIT OF CHUCK CLOSE
SATURDAY, JULY 25TH @ 1:00PM
CENTRAL LIBRARY
ART + MUSIC DEPARTMENT (2ND FLOOR)
630 W. 5TH STREET
LOS ANGELES, CA 90071
BEGINNERS AND ALL SKILL LEVELS WELCOME - ALL SUPPLIES WILL BE PROVIDED
NO RESERVATION REQUIRED - FIRST COME FIRST SERVED
ONLY 18 SPOTS AVAILABLE
FOR ADA ACCOMMOVATIONS, CALL (213) 228-7430 AT LEAST 72 HOURS PRIOR TO THE EVENT

07/21/2026

This virtual discussion, on the occasion of ‘The Sound of Thinking: A Listener’s Companion to Conceptual Music’, will explore the history of musical approaches which forego the expressive for impersonal strategies.
John Cage - sure! But also Marcel Duchamp, Yoko Ono, Steve Reich, Sun Ra and many, many more.

Author Craig Dworkin will be joined by Nancy Perloff, curator of modern and contemporary collections at the Getty Research Institute. The talk will be streaming on LAPL’s YouTube channel; write to [email protected] for the link!

07/15/2026

LA Made x La Plaza Presents: A Great Day in East L.A.®

Join moderator Rubén Martínez for a special conversation on the history, culture, and legacy of the Eastside Sound featuring creator of A Great Day in East LA® Piero F. Giunti, David Hidalgo of Los Lobos, Uli Bella of Ozomatli, Bertha Oropeza of Chico, and Yolanda Ferrer of Fatima Records. Through stories, music history, photography, and personal experiences, the panel will explore how East Los Angeles artists and communities helped shape Los Angeles’s cultural identity during times of change and uncertainty.

Following the talk, there will be a special performance by the band, Very Be Careful.

Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis.

This program is made possible by the LA Made Fund.

Address

630 W 5th Street
Los Angeles, CA
90071

Telephone

+12132287225

Website

http://www.lapl.org/branches/central-library/departments/art-music-recreation, http://disclaimer.lacity.gov/accessibilit

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