LA Made Presents: Alternative Libraries

In a post-pandemic Los Angeles, a number of alternative libraries have opened up, filling in gaps for the communities they serve, in all kinds of different ways. Come listen to representatives from Libros Schmibros, Radical Hood Library, Coyotl + Macehualli, and Heavy Manners Library as they discuss their goals, successes, challenges, and future hopes.

Libros Schmibros: Libros Schmibros champions the pleasures of literature and its power to change lives. We are a Boyle Heights-based nonprofit lending library dedicated to the proposition that the world distills its best ideas from imaginations nourished on the humanities. Through everything from book-lending at street level to advocacy at the highest levels, Libros Schmibros champions the pleasure of reading and its power to connect.

Radical Hood Library: After years of online organizing, the Radical Hood Library opened in 2021. The space is now the headquarters of the Noname Book Club, a reading group centered on Black voices, founded by Chicago rapper Fatimah Warner, a.k.a. Noname. Over the years, the Radical Hood Library in L.A. has added more programming to include teach-ins, a bi-monthly "Pr*son packing week" for incarcerated members of the Book Club, open-mic nights, game nights, and writing workshops for Black women writers—all with the goal of creating more spaces of Black joy and liberation.

Coyotl + Macehualli: A BIPOC-led environmental justice group based in Northeast Los Angeles directly defending urban woodlands and hillside ecosystems from destruction. In 2025, we opened the Coyotl + Macehualli Lending Library, a community and insurgent learning space committed to the convergence of ideas and sharing of resources. This year we also acquired a threatened Black Walnut woodland hillside in 'Ochuunga and are now in the process of rematriating the Land to members of the Tongva community.

Heavy Manners: Heavy Manners is a lending library, gallery, and bookstore that seeks to provide a space for developing, sharing, and discussing artwork and creative practice. Our collection focuses on self and independently published books, zines, and other media. Additionally, the library collaborates directly with artists and small publishers to make previously overlooked, out-of-print, and hard-to-find materials accessible. Visitors are welcome to browse or scan our collection during our open hours.

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