SOLANA BEACH — Residents gathered to celebrate and honor the 100-year history of the Solana Beach Library on Tuesday, a century after Ira Earl Conner first began operating a little library out of his grocery store near Plaza Street in 1925.
The Solana Beach branch of the San Diego County Library has a storied history, having relocated to several different locations over the years before settling into its current home at Earl Warren Middle School in 2001.
“The Solana Beach Library, over the 100 years, has had some very, very interesting locations and sites,” said Friends of the Solana Beach Library Vice President Melissa Fischel.
After growing too big for Conner’s grocery store, the library was relocated to other storefronts on the 101 until around 1952, when Mrs. Joseph C. Scialdo agreed to move it into her home after no other businesses would take it in, according to a written history from the Friends of the Solana Beach Library.
It was relocated again to a leased space at 145 S. Highway 101 in 1953, and had to move again around 15 years later to a larger space next door due to its growing circulation.
The Friends of the Solana Beach Library was formed in 1983, with the intention of finding a more suitable location for the growing library and supporting its programs. That same year, the library moved into a new location at the Lomas Santa Fe shopping center.
By 1995, community members and city leaders began searching for funding for a more permanent space that would meet the community’s needs for years to come.
The 10,500-square-foot library at Earl Warren Middle School opened in 2001, in a shared-use agreement between the San Diego County Library and the San Dieguito Union High School District.
Nowadays, the library offers numerous programs including toddler story times, adult and kids crafts, bridge, knitting, classes for learning English and Spanish, and even fitness programs.
Branch Manager Kathleen Sullivan-Long has led the Solana Beach Library since 2020, and said it serves as an important space for people of all ages, from the city’s older demographic to the 12- and 13-year-olds who come each day from the middle school.
“The middle school keeps us young, but Solana Beach is an older community, and we try to provide programs for the senior sect. But if you come on a Monday morning, there will be 75 toddlers here,” Sullivan-Long said.
The Solana Beach Library is also adapting to technology-driven changes. The library’s digital circulation has surpassed its physical circulation, and the San Diego County Library system, as a whole, also boasts one of the largest digital libraries in the world.
Connie Zilversmit said she used to come to the Solana Beach library with her son, and now gets to go with her grandson when she visits from Phoenix.
“There’s no place like the library,” Zilversmit said.
Fischel said she appreciates the vision of the original Friends of the Solana Beach Library founders, who pursued a more suitable space for the library. Today, the Friends continue to fundraise for the library and operate the volunteer-run Title Wave bookstore, which sells donated books and other materials from community members.
They remain focused on making the library a place that encourages literacy, love of reading and lifelong learning, she said.
“We are steadfast in our efforts to make this library a community hub,” Fischel said.
The Solana Beach branch of the San Diego County Library is located at 157 Stevens Avenue. It is open Monday, Wednesday and Thursday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Tuesday from noon to 7 p.m., and Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
For more information, visit the San Diego County Library website at sdcl.org/locations/31 or the Friends of the Solana Beach Library Website at friendsofsolanabeachlibrary.org.
