Little Free Libraries, A Sign Of Gentrification?

Being a book lover from childhood, I was pleased when Little Free Library kiosks, described in a recent Los Angeles Times article as "charming, birdhouse-like structures," began to pop up in different areas of Harlem, including two inside Marcus Garvey Park.

Not for one minute did I suspect they were a harbinger of gentrification, like a Starbucks or a Whole Foods store moving into a vacant commercial space or the construction of luxury housing.

To me, these book kiosks existed solely as a celebration and promotion of good literature by people like me, dyed-in-the-wool bookworms.

That was my thought until I read Jack Flemming's online Los Angeles Times real estate article, "Black-Trimmed Homes, Tiny Libraries, And Other Signs Your Neighborhood Is About To Be Gentrified" (December 7, 2023).

Flemming, a staff writer at the paper, assures the reader that the kiosks "don't cause gentrification." Instead they are "a product of gentrification" and that they "usually" appear "where home prices are rising and well-to-do residents are moving in."

And, he further notes, most of the books he has seen in these kiosks "generally seem to be stocked exclusively with James Patterson novels and unreadable how-to books."

Fortunately, the book kiosks in Harlem offer more diverse selections than the ones in the L.A. area. I have found children's books, black history books, reference books, travel guides, cookbooks, and novels by Octavia Butler, Michael Connelly, Amy Tan, Nadine Gordimer, Marlon James, to name a few. ( I have also donated many books, DVDs, and CDs.)

These kiosks may be a "product of gentrification," but I'm glad they're in my neighborhood, where there are no longer any bookstores. They, and the local branch libraries, are making literature available to everyone.

Like the community fridges that allow people to donate and take food, the Little Free Library kiosks have become community assets.

Penelope Cruz Is Not A Non-White Actress

Wendy McClellan Anderson, of Altadena, California, is a self-described "Angeleno, white woman and film fan.

In her letter that was published online by the Los Angeles Times (December 29, 2017), Ms. Anderson complained that she "was deeply upset to see only white women grace the cover of your latest issue and be interviewed as leading actresses of Hollywood."

She goes on to name non-white women who were snubbed by the paper such as Mary J. Blige, Tessa Thompson, and "[t]he entire cast of 'Girls Trip,' the biggest comedy of the year."

Included in the list was Penelope Cruz. Obviously Ms. Anderson thinks anyone with a Spanish surname is automatically non-white and probably from Latin America.

In fact, Penelope Cruz is a white woman, from Madrid, Spain, a European city and country.

Touring Across The Soviet Union

"[Maya Angelou] won a role in a touring production of  Porgy and Bess and performed in 22 countries from 1954 to 1955," writes Elaine Woo in her Los Angeles Times obituary (May 28, 2014) of the world-renowned poet and memoirist.

That sentence brought to mind Truman Capote's 1958 nonfiction book, And the Muses Were Heard, in which he chronicled the activities of a troupe of African American actors traveling across the Soviet Union by train to perform Porgy and Bess. I'm certain that Maya Angelou, not mentioned by name, was one of the actors on that trip. The timeline seems to fit.

PBS To Air Documentary On Slain Mexican-American Journalist

Shortly after Mexican-American journalist Ruben Salazar's untimely death in 1970 at the age of 42, I received from the Los Angeles Times a booklet containing some of his columns for the paper. In the back of the booklet was the eulogy delivered by Times publisher Otis Chandler at Salazar's funeral.
Said Chandler: "He [Salazar] was a fighter, a firm believer that all men, regardless of color or language barrier, could, in the end, live together peacefully and productively in our city.


"But he knew that before this could happen," continued Chandler, "the Anglo community had to understand the basic problems in the minority communities."

The Los Angeles Times published an article (January 8, 2014) that reported that on April 29, PBS will air a documentary called Ruben Salazar: Man in the Middle. I eagerly await the broadcast of this documentary about a courageous and important journalist whose name and work should never be forgotten.

No doubt public radio's On the Media will do a segment on the documentary prior to its scheduled airdate.