Free Library

The Mission Branch Library sits behind a heavy, Mediterranean-style facade punctuated by arched windows and a prominent terracotta roof. Built in nineteen thirty-five, it replaced an earlier library destroyed by the nineteen oh six earthquake. When the librarian, Ida Kondor, finally opened these doors, she insisted on filling the shelves with Spanish-language books to serve the neighborhood families who had felt excluded from city services. Her collection became the foundation for the largest Spanish-language library catalog in the city today.