OK, so it is November and that means it is National Novel Writing Month (aka NaNoWriMo), a challenge to write 50,000 words (a novel) in 30 days. Since I have too many distractions at home, I thought it would be best to go to a Library to do some writing. Usually, I would head over to Vroman’s and hang out at Zeli’s Coffeehouse but the last time I was there, a young couple sat next to me on the couch and started molesting each other. So wanting to avoid the experience of having to swallow back some vomit from all the PDAs, I decided I would continue my search for the perfect library and/or writing locale.
Still wanting to stay close to home, I decided to continue my search in Pasadena. Since the Pasadena Central Library is recommended by so many in books and on websites, I figured I would check it out. It is located by Pasadena City Hall so I could easily take the Metro Gold Line to the Memorial Park Station and just walk a few blocks north to the Library.
I was in awe when I first saw the Pasadena Central Library. It is absolutely beautiful. Just like everything else in Old Town Pasadena, it is an Architectural masterpiece. I was wishing I had my real camera with me instead of my phone. I would have had a blast with a Central Library photo safari. But alas, I had to remind myself that I was there to write.
So I made my way up the stairs, into the cute little courtyard with a beautiful fountain, up a few more stairs, through some gouregously designed doors and into the lobby of the Library. I think I gasped when I walked in. Now this was a Library.
I felt like I had stepped onto a movie set. This was the kind of Library that you would see in films. I haven’t seen a Library like this seen my days at USC and I used to study at Doheny Library (another Amazing, but haunted library).
If you looked to the left or to the right, you saw these wooden tables with lamps on them. Then there were all of these rooms, behind closed doors, filled with more tables with the lamps—again, just like the kinds from the movies. And it was deliciously quiet. I was in book nerd heaven. I wanted to live there.
So after walking around in amazement, and with a look like a kid who just saw her presents on Christmas morning, I finally made my way into one of the rooms, found a spot at a table, pulled out my netbook and started to write.
Out of all the places I have been to in Los Angeles, the Pasadena Central Library is by far the best writing spot. It is so quiet and if you are a book nerd like me, it is paradise. My imagination was inspired by my surroundings and I was able to just sit there and write for hours. This is my new happy place. (And it has free Wifi—bonus).
