The Friends of the Chinatown Library is a voluntary organization to help the Chinatown Branch Library of the Los Angeles Public Library (LAPL) system. We provide volunteers and funds to support activities and to purchase materials. Our mission is threefold: (1) Develop community awareness of public use of library materials and services. (2) Raise funds for capital improvement, additional technology, services, reading materials and equipment. (3) Promote education, recreation and cultural programs for the immediate and extended community.

Our board meetings are normally held on the third Tuesday of each month from September through June.  We also host special events every other month.  For more information, click Calendar.

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR 2012

The Chinese Lunar New Year begins on January 23, 2012.  For Chinese families, this is the most important holiday of the year to get together with relatives for a big family meal featuring wonderful Chinese dishes on New Year's Eve.  Children traditionally receive little red envelopes with lucky money for the new year.  The celebration continues with more food,  lion dances, dragon dances, and fireworks for at least 15 days.  On the last day of the full moon, a lantern festival ends the celebration. 

Los Angeles Chinatown welcomes the New Year with a midnight temple ceremony to welcome good health, prosperity and harmony.  Many will gather at the Chuan Thien Hsu (Cam Au) Temple located on North Yale Street on Chinese New Year's Eve (1/22/12) from 10:00 PM to midnight to set off firecrackers and to make offerings to usher in good fortune for the new year. 

The animal sign for this lunar year is the dragon.  Chinese Dragons represent characters with potent, auspicious powers, great strength, and unusual good luck.  Many Chinese families consider Children of the Dragon as exceptional achievers who will reach high social standing.  If you would like to read more about the dragon personality, check out The Handbook of Chinese Horoscopes by Theodora Lau at the Chinatown Branch Library, for more information click on New Books.

Los Angeles Chinatown will celebrate the Year of the Dragon with several events including the 113th Annual Golden Dragon Parade and Chinese New Year Festival on Saturday 1/28/12 and Sunday 1/29/12.  To learn more about the scheduled festivities, click on Events.

During this new year, the library is asking for a few friends to volunteer their time and services to help ease the workload after substantial cuts to the budget.  If you are interested in helping, please click on Library.

 26th Annual Student Scholarship Celebration

The Friends of the Chinatown Library awarded scholarships to ten college-bound seniors who are Chinatown Branch Library users and Los Angeles Public Library users for their first year of college.  The Awards banquet was held on June 10, 2011 at the Empress Pavilion Restaurant located in Chinatown, Los Angeles.  The Friends have awarded these scholarships for 26 years.  The Friends also presented seven awards to graduates from Evans Community Adult School.  And the Friends also awarded a scholarship for a student to study Library Science in honor of Juliana Cheng, the first Chinatown Branch librarian, who is retiring. 

Our Distinguished Speaker was Colonel Mark Toy, the District Commander of the LA District Corps of Engineers.  He grew up in the LA area before joining the Corps of Engineers.   He was happy to return to LA to honor these students.  Our Special Guest was Martin Gomez, the LA City Librarian.  A representative from Senator Carol Liu's office presented certificates of accomplishment to the students.  Senator Liu represents Senate District 21 with offices in Glendale, CA. and she supports scholarship programs.  Ginger Chan, a KTLA reporter, was the entertaining Mistress of Ceremonies.  The major dinner donors were Mary Ellen and Jack Shu.  The Friends would like to thank all the participants and committee members who made this scholarship award dinner such a successful event!  To learn more about this year's scholarship winners, click Scholarships. 

The last board meeting was held on June 21, 2011.  The Friends handled unfinished business before adjourning for the summer.  If you are interested in joining our board or volunteering your services, we welcome you to come to our meetings starting in the fall semester.  To learn more and/or to become a member, click Membership.

   MEASURE L for CITY LIBRARIES PASSED BY 63.3%

We would like to thank all of the people who voted "YES" on Measure L.  This is an historic moment in LA history where a majority of voters, 63.3%, have come together to voice their opinion that the city libraries are valuable assets to the people of  LA.  Hip! Hip! Hooray!

SAVE L.A. CITY  LIBRARIES WITH MEASURE L

The Friends of the Chinatown Library support Measure L for L.A. City Libraries.  Measure L will restore library hours and services with NO New Taxes.  More Library Hours will keep our young people off the streets and inside libraries to learn from books and various media.  The Friends ask you to vote "YES" on Measure L on March 8, 2011.   For more information, go to Library. 

Special Event:  Y.C. Hong Family Papers

The Friends of the Chinatown Library and several other Chinese American Organizations are  sponsoring a presentation on the life of You Chung Hong, who became the first attorney of Chinese American descent to pass the bar and practice law in California.  A few years ago, the family of Y.C. Hong donated his legal files, his personal papers, and photographs to The Huntington Library.  We invite you to come hear about the life of this Chinese American Hero on Wed 7 October 2009 at 7:00 PM at the Castelar Elementary School's Multipurpose Room.  To learn more about Y.C. Hong and about this presentation, click Events.    

                                                         LIU FANG YUAN

"Liu Fang Yuan" is the phonetic Mandarin for the three Chinese characters translated as "flowing fragrance garden."  The Chinese garden at the Huntington Library is called "Liu Fang Yuan."  It is one of the largest public access Chinese gardens outside of China and encompasses 5 acres with a 1.5 acre lake, bridges, pavillons, walkways, stone terraces, streams and the traditional landscape of trees and plants indigenous to China.  The Friends of the Chinatown Library will present a program with slides and video about creating "Liu Fan Yuan" by Suzy Moser and James Folsom, both from the Huntington Library.  The program is scheduled for Saturday, February 28, 2009 at 2:00 p.m. in the Community Room of the Chinatown Library.  For those who would like to walk around the gardens, a field trip to the Huntington Library is also being planned; the date and time will be announced at the end of the program.  Come and join us to learn more about how the Huntington Library created a traditional scholar's Chinese Garden.                                                   

         CHINATOWN BRANCH CELEBRATED LEO POLITI’S 100th BIRTHDAY

During November 2008, the Chinatown Branch Library hosted events to celebrate the 100th birthday of Leo Politi, a Caldecott Medal winner, for his wonderful children's books and artwork.  Three events scheduled in November culminated the Leo Politi Centennial which began in January 2008.  Come to Leo's birthday party at the Chinatown Library on November 21, 2008 at 11:00 AM.  For a listing of events throughout 2008 and details on events in November, click Library.

A beautifully illustrated and well written book entitled Leo Politi: Artist of the Angels by Ann Stalcup, is featured on our website.  To learn more about this beautiful book, click New Books.

The Adventures of Eddie Fung

Eddie Fung is a Chinatown kid who became a Texas Cowboy and a Prisoner of War.  Would you like to learn more about his amazing story?  Eddie's wife, Judy Yung, just completed his biography.  She will present the book in slides and will sign copies of the book on Saturday, November 1, 2008 at the Chinatown Branch Library from 2:00 - 4:00 PM.  For more information, click Events.

                                         Angi Ma Wong's Business Feng Shui

Angi Ma Wong, known internationally as the Feng Shui Lady, will speak on the topic of Business Feng Shui for the "Year of the Rat" at the Chinatown Branch Library on Monday, April 21, 2008 at 6:30 PM in the Community Room.  The Friends invite you to come and learn more about this lively topic, click on Events.

                                         Mei Ling in China City by Icy Smith

The Friends invite you to come to our meeting scheduled at 6:30 PM on Monday, January 28, 2008 in the community room of the Chinatown Library to celebrate the publication of Icy Smith's new children's book entitled Mei Ling in China City.   The story is about the friendship between two young girls during World War II.  One of the girls, of Japanese ancestry, is interned at Manzanar War Relocation Center during World War II.  The other young girl is a Chinese American who lives in China City Los Angeles.  To read more about their story, click on New Books.  To learn more about the celebration meeting, click on Events.                                     

On the Events webpage, Connie Wong presents an historical overview about the "Chinese Heritage Collection" (CHC) at the Chinatown Branch Library.   In addition to books, the CHC has audio visual items on Chinese American History; this collection includes documentaries about how Chinese Americans faced social challenges as they grew up in this country.  The Friends held a screening of a few of these documentaries on February 27, 2006.  For documentary titles, click New Books.

On November 18, 2005, the Friends hosted an author reading with Angi Ma Wong and her new children's book entitled WHO ATE MY SOCKS?   To learn more about the author and her new book, click on Events and New Books.

The Friends of the Chinatown Library invited author Ann Stalcup in February 2005 to speak.  She presented her biography on beloved children's author and artist, Leo Politi, click New Books to learn more about the people who attended this special book event.

Our feature interview is with Jack Hom, benefactor and philanthropist, who has given generously to the Friends' endowment programs, especially the Friends of the Chinatown Library Scholarship Program.  To read about Jack's humble beginnings and his mid-life job transition from owning and running a Chinese restaurant to becoming a stock broker managing investments, click Features.   

On this website, we will continue to update information on efforts to save the South China Tiger.     For more information on the South China Tiger, click Tiger News.

In future months, we hope to provide more articles and photos for your reading pleasure. We would love to hear from you. Please send us your comments. Our street address and our email address are listed in Membership or Contact Us.