COLD CASE

For much of its life, the city of Los Angeles had to clear its throat and change the subject whenever anyone brought up the fact that the metropolis didn’t have its own dedicated public library building. After a civic outcry that included slogans like “Grow up, Los Angeles!,” in 1926 the city dedicated the Central Library. It was a three-story, 260,000-square-foot colossus with a 188-foot tower topped with a hand holding a torch of golden flame.

Designed by legendary architect Bertram Goodhue, the building was everything an aspirational city could want. Socrates and Da Vinci