National Register visit 193: Azusa Civic Center📍213 E Foothill Blvd, Azusa
The Azusa Civic Center is a trio of buildings situated near the center of Azusa’s historic downtown. It houses the bureaucratic offices that keep the city humming - the Mayor’s office, finance department, the economic and community development divisions, etc. As Azusa’s grown and evolved, the Civic Center has stayed at the center of the city’s political and social life, while keeping a direct link to Azusa’s past.
The Spanish colonial-style City Hall and Auditorium buildings date back to 1928, when Azusa’s population was creeping up to 5000. In between the two, there was a Carnegie library from 1910, built in a very different style but covered by a Spanish-style arcade to harmonize the whole shebang. The old Carnegie library was converted into an admin building when a new library was built in 1959; after the Sylmar earthquake struck in 1971, the middle building was demolished and replaced with the more modern facility we see today.
City council meetings and office upgrades may not make for the juiciest stories. But I can tell you that Jack Benny and Will Rogers both feature into the history of the Azusa Civic Center in unexpected ways, in case that piques your curiosity! And if it doesn’t, it’s worth a look at some of the cleanest stucco walls I’ve ever seen. Bravo to whomever is responsible for making these buildings gleam!
Get the full history at EtanDoesLA.com - 🔗 in my bio.
Historic photo credits:
📷 1: Henry Dalton (PD, via USC Libraries & CA Historical Society)
📷 2: Bird’s eye view of Azusa, 1887 (Library of Congress Geography & Map Division)
📷 3 & 5: 1910 Carnegie library (courtesy Azusa City Library Special Collection)
📷 4: Auditorium interior, 2004 (by Wayne Thom, USC Libraries Special Collections)
📷 6: Azusa Public Library building & fishpond (courtesy Azusa City Library Special Collection)
I’m visiting all the LA landmarks on the National Register of Historic Places. Read about this one and many more at Etandoesla.com: etandoesla.com...
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