This is an adorable Little Free Library on the corner of the lawn of the Calvary Presbyterian…read moreChurch. It's festively painted with lots of butterflies and was stocked with a variety of books. It's only a block or so away from a traditional library which I think is awesome. You've got the "regular" library with a much, much wider selection but limited hours. And you've got this library with a limited selection but it's open day or night. Ready to tempt you with something interesting to read any time you can swing by.

This Little Free Library is right next to the sidewalk with a wall that's a perfect height for…read moreplunking down and getting an amuse bouche of your new literary discovery. I love the crate that the library was made of and the "Hand Selected Quality" painted on the side. But this library was made a while ago and it's showing a little wear. The door doesn't close right and the screws that hold the window to the door are beginning to work their way out. A half an hour of TLC and it would be as good as new.

Oop's As of today, Wednesday, July 24, door is now very broken. Half the wood frame is gone, and…read morethe plexiglass is broken and half gone. It was a nice idea in theory to make the little library out of repurposed items like a fruit orchard box and so on, but it was WAY underbuilt. Sorry guys (owners/builders) but it is: only seven inches deep, too shallow, many books are bigger than that, and the materials were on the whole not up to the long haul. I don't know it the current residents are the ones who put the box there, but any fixing up of the box has been done by ME, a passerby (and maker of the ribbon bookmarks). I have replaced the shelving, replaced missing screws on the door, and ? If the owners or tenets of the property do something, please REPLACE the whole thing, and make it a little bigger and stronger. The BCLR bookmark lady. PS - other little libs are also underbuilt. joneskyjy@yahoo.com

This Little Free Library is tucked in a cool little spot, under a very shady tree, next to a very…read moreprodigious bush. It looks like a little elfin home complete with the moss and everything. It's a tiny little adorable thing. It's a cool, little nook that just might hold a treasure that you can read.

South Pasadena is overrun with Little Free Libraries. You drive down random residential streets and…read moreyou can find 'em accidentally. It's cool, it's encouraging, it's wonderful. It's delightful to see this many people motivated to making reading easier and more natural. And it's fun to see their display of their own unique style in their library. Well this LFL included an item almost never seen in libraries. Food! And not any food but one of the most aromatic, intoxicating fruits ever grown. Guavas. I love that smell so much that I've smeared it on clothing. I've let the fruit nearly go bad in my car just to infuse a bit of that amazing aroma into my car. I've driven slowly through neighborhoods in the summertime relishing in the cloud of fruity perfume. And in addition to a selection of interesting books I got to take a few of those free fruit home with me to share with my family. Just awesome.

Right next to the entrance to a parking lot this little free library was a delightful, unexpected…read morefind. I discovered it nearly packed with cookbooks. Little ones, big ones, themed ones, gobs and gobs of cookbooks. And this is another one of those LFL's that's partitioned off so that both larger books and much smaller books can be fit into their appropriate sections. A very clever idea. I wholeheartedly approve of the whole thing. Unfortunately, I discovered it at night so I wasn't able to fully appreciate the festive purple paint job or to get any really good photos. But maybe another patron will swing by and take care of that for me.

Susie's a rebel…read more The Little Free Libraries may have their program but it looks like Susie's decided to go her own way. She loves the "free" part of things but doesn't have any of that official registration stuff and she's definitely tossed that "little" idea. Susie's thinking big, she's goin' large,....no extra large. She's stacking books two deep and three shelves tall and gettin' it done. My girls have friend that could climb inside this library, that's how big it is. There were Barney videos and big books and little books and goofy books and serious books. There were books in three different languages! One was a French Medieval cookbook. I stood there half stunned and thought "I... have a wife.... that loves to cook and ...can read every word! This baby's mine!! Thank you Susie for that generous rebel's heart. We love what you're doin' and we love that you're doin' it large.

This is a cool, little library just feet away from a roundabout. A roundabout, strangely enough…read morethat also has stop signs. If you're going to spend the money to build a roundabout why install stop signs? They require that you stop. And they negate the elegance of a roundabout, that with light traffic, no one has to stop. That's just stupid. Why would you purposely be stupid? OK, I'm stepping off my soap box. It's like a belt and suspenders. It's dumb. Come on! OK, I'm really done now. The Little Free Library is lovely. It's right next to the street for easy access and you can even get a free bookmark if you like. Not exactly sure what a Little Free Library has to tweet about but you can check 'em out on Twitter too. So there's that.

This is a beautiful, Little Free Library on the lawn of a magnificent home…read more I love driving through this area and starring at these gorgeous homes but I have to check myself. I have to remind myself that I am so supremely, remarkably, overwhelming blessed. That I enjoy ease and health and freedom and options that most people throughout history never imagined. After I consider each of those and the family that I care for deeply and the sweetness I enjoy daily. Then I can say "Thank you God for your incredible blessings" and I can relax a little about how much I'd like to live in this home and just enjoy the generosity and kindness that literally built into every Little Free Library. This one's awesome and I appreciate the owner offering it to the community.

Assuming that it's not completely neglected or abandoned, a little free library can't get fewer…read morethan three stars in my constellation of Yelp rating rubrics. The Gillette Crescent Little Free Library, however, definitely earns all five of its stars for creativity, authenticity, service, and upkeep. CREATIVITY Many little free libraries look like generic boxy buildings or pitched-roof houses, but Gillette Crescent is designed to mimic the flat-roof bungalow style of South Pasadena house on the property. Actually, "mimic" is the wrong word, because mimicry denotes a cheap or ill-intentioned copying, while this LFL is an honest-to-goodness replica of the house. It's amazing! AUTHENTICITY Look closely at edges of he roof of this LFL. You'll see that the design and even the irregularly laid Spanish roof tiles are perfect matches. The builder did an amazing job of copying even the defects of the house SERVICE According to a news article (https://southpasadenan.com/gillette-crescent-gets-a-new-little-library/), the owners created this LFL as a community resource after they were both laid off during the pandemic. Well, while we were bubbling in 2020, my parents and I loved to leave and take books at LFLs on our way to parks while we were social distancing. It felt--and still feels--good to spread books and love around even when we weren't comfortable spending face-to-face time in large groups. We happened upon this lovely LFL after we had made this a habit. We weren't necessarily social-distancing anymore--or at least not as much as we had been--but we were still exploring new parks! UPKEEP When we came and left two books and took one book, the LFL was clean, and the books were well organized. I haven't been back yet, but this definitely looks like one whose owners don't allow it go unattended. W00t for my first LFL FtR! LFL lovers, we really need to start giving these "businesses" unique titles so that they're more easily searched. The default should be how they're listed at https://app.littlefreelibrary.org, but if there's no name, then STREET NAME LITTLE FREE LIBRARY should be the standard. What do you think?