Cahuenga Branch Library

Cahuenga Branch Library is a historic public library at 4591 Santa Monica Boulevard in East Hollywood, Los Angeles. The building was constructed with funding from industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie and opened on 4 December 1916. Designed by architect Clarence H. Russell in the Italian Renaissance style, the brick-faced building originally followed a so-called butterfly floor plan, with separate reading rooms extending from either side of the central entrance, along with book stacks, an auditorium, children’s spaces and an open-air reading room. It was the last and smallest of six Los Angeles branch libraries constructed with Carnegie funding during the 1910s and is one of only three of those six buildings that survive. Cahuenga Branch Library was designated Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument No. 314 in 1986 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1987. After seismic problems forced its closure, the building was renovated and expanded during the 1990s and continues to operate as part of the Los Angeles Public Library system.

Cahuenga Branch Library has appeared in Carrie (1976) and A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984). Carrie (1976) uses the interior as the library at Bates High School, while A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) transforms the exterior into the 5th Precinct police station in the fictional town of Springwood, Ohio. The two appearances make use of entirely different sides of the building, with its real function retained in the earlier film and completely disguised in Wes Craven’s horror classic.

In Carrie (1976), Cahuenga Branch Library represents the library at Bates High School. Carrie White has begun to suspect that the strange events happening around her are connected to an ability to move objects with her mind, and she visits the school library to research telekinesis. While looking through books dealing with psychic abilities and the hidden powers of the mind, she is approached by Tommy Ross. Acting on a suggestion from his girlfriend Sue Snell, who feels guilty about taking part in Carrie’s humiliation in the locker room, Tommy awkwardly asks Carrie to accompany him to the senior prom. Carrie immediately suspects that it is another cruel trick and leaves rather than accepting his invitation. The library scene is important to both sides of the story: Carrie’s research helps her understand that her telekinetic abilities may be real, while Tommy’s invitation begins the chain of events leading towards the disastrous prom night.

In A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), Cahuenga Branch Library provides the exterior of Springwood’s 5th Precinct police station, where Nancy Thompson’s father Donald works and where Rod Lane is being held following Tina Gray’s murder. The building is seen most memorably during one of Nancy’s nightmares. She suddenly finds herself outside the police station and approaches a low window, through which she sees the sleeping Rod in his cell as Freddy Krueger enters and threatens him. After waking, Nancy becomes convinced that Rod is in genuine danger. She and Glen Lantz later race to the police station in the middle of the night, with the library exterior appearing again as they arrive. Nancy desperately tries to persuade the officers to check on Rod, but they are too late to prevent his death. Only the exterior of Cahuenga Branch Library was used as the police station; the interior police-station material was filmed elsewhere, while Rod’s jail cell was created separately for the production.

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