Community Corner

Photo Gallery: Volunteer Recognition Day

The South Pasadena Public Library's Community Room was packed Friday to honor its volunteers' thousands of hours of service, and to take in a presentation on how the Los Angeles area was marketed in the past.

City officials, book lovers and friends of the South Pasadena Public Library gathered Friday for the library's Volunteer Recognition Day. The event celebrated the more than 15,000 hours of volunteer work from January to December of 2010. 

Among the people who took the podium to praise volunteers were Mayor Mike Ten and Ann Penn, the president of the library's Board of Trustees. City Librarian Steve Fjeldsted and Maida Wong also took turns at handing out honors to the library's volunteers of the year, Diana McGrail and Andy Lippman. McGrail's earned recognition for her ability to handle finances, and Lippman was lauded for his role in establishing programs for youth.

Another highlight was the honoring of four volunteers who have put in at least 25 years of service each -- adding up to about a century of experience. They were Beverly Engler, Beverly Gillette, Robert Stauffer and Mary Lee Suter. 

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The latter part of the event belonged to L.A. historian, author and photographer Tom Zimmerman, the day's keynote speaker. Zimmerman presented an educational slideshow culled from his book Paradise Promoted: The Booster Campaign that Created Los Angeles 1870-1930. Zimmerman's slides showed how the city was marketed as a haven of the West, an orange-filled retreat from the harsh weather of the East that also featured access to the stars and a budding aviation industry.


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