Former Moneta Branch Library (Los Angeles, California)

 library, historic landmark

4255 S Olive St
Los Angeles, CA 90037

Moneta Branch, also known as the Junipero Serra Branch, is a former branch library of the Los Angeles Public Library located south of Downtown Los Angeles.

The Moneta Branch was established in 1908 as a book depository located in a store. In 1915, a formal branch library was opened in a rented store building at 249 West 45th Street, near Moneta Avenue, from which it derived its name. During World War I, the Moneta Branch served as a headquarters for Liberty bonds and the Red Cross.

The existing branch library building was opened in 1923. The name of the branch was changed in 1934 to the Junipero Serra Branch in honor of Junipero Serra, the founder of the California mission system.

The Moneta/Serra Branch was closed in 1987 following the Whittier Narrows earthquake, and a temporary replacement branch in a mini-mall on Figueroa Street was burned in the 1992 riots. A permanent replacement library was opened in 1998 at the former site of a tortilla factory at Main Street and 46th Street. The new branch was three times larger than the old Serra Branch and includes multimedia computer workstations with access to the Internet.

The old 1923 library building on Olive Street has remained closed since the 1987 earthquake.