Successful Library opening validates City's Old Town strategy

It was probably the grandest of all grand opening ceremonies in Santa Clarita in the last ten years. The Signal reported that 2,000 attended. Another source said 1,000. But those numbers are wrong: door clickers counted over 4,000 visitors.

You just don't see those kinds of numbers in the SCV unless it's a high school football game or Concerts in the Park.

But we saw it Saturday for the opening of the library in Old Town Newhall, the City's pièce de résistance in its decade-plus long effort to redevelop, rebuild and revitalize Old Town Newhall.


Indeed, the crowd was so large on Saturday in front of the library  that officials had to queue all the visitors up. Show me a place in the SCV that has such lines and is not a shopping center on Black Friday or Six Flags. Go on, I bet you can't.

And this line was for a library! In 2012. I thought the interwebs and the Twitters and Facebooks were supposed to be kill such things off by now.

Inside the library, visitors were noisy, almost jubilant while exploring the building. The interior architecture met and exceeded my own expectations; this is a building with real character, interesting features, great views, and solid materials & craftsmanship. Everywhere you look there is some detail to study: clean wooden lines in the ceiling, an interesting interactive display, an historic local picture with a great caption beneath, a nice view of Main Street from the couches near the fireplace, the library chairs with an oak tree cut-out. You could easily spend an hour or two just staring at stuff on the walls, and that's before you get to the 70,000+ item collection.

And the best part is that it's our's. This is a public building. It is without a doubt the finest civic building in Santa Clarita; it's a landmark building people can take real pride in. I only wish it had some sort of public square in front of it where we could hold public events.

Of course, as a library, it needs to function and not just look good. I'm told that on opening day, the 4,000+ visitors circulated some 4,500 items, twice the usual amount at the Valencia library. Hundreds of new library cards were issued and the place was packed all day Saturday and was still crowded Sunday as some 1,100 people entered the library in the space of only four hours. The children's section was crowded with kids on computers, adults tending to them, and books scattered about.

In two days, the new Newhall Library had over half the visitors (5,160) as the old Newhall library had in a month (8,564).

Clearly there was a demand for this library in the southern SCV.



One reader wrote me with his observation:

Jeff, I avoided the library on Saturday but went on Sunday along with my son (age 21).  It was well used and we were both impressed. It was full of kids, teens and adults of all ages.  I saw one old gentleman with a walker on the second floor and the elevator was out of order.  I guess he really wanted to see it all.  The laptop kiosks are amazing.  All you need is a library card and you can check out a computer. I was also pleased to see that “my” seat in front of the fireplace was not taken.  I sat down and realized all I needed was my iPad or a good book and a cup of coffee.