Share your old East L.A. photos with the L.A. County Library

Do you have pictures of birthdays, holidays, parades, celebrations? How about significant events, important people, unusual characters? A garden, a house, a car -- if they’re from East Los Angeles and before 1980, the L.A. County Library hopes you’ll share.

The library is looking for photos of everyday life from East Los Angeles from before 1980 for Foto East LA, an online photo archive of the community. They’re asking people to bring their photos to one of several library events this spring.

At those events, library staff will scan the photographs and immediately return them. They’ll ask for a description of each photo. And then, as a thank-you for sharing, everyone who brings photos in to be scanned will be given a free USB drive loaded with digital copies of their photos.

The first photo-sharing event will take place Tuesday at the El Camino Real Library from 2 to 6 p.m. There are currently 10 sharing sessions planned, with some on weekends to accomodate a variety of schedules.

Some of the things they’re looking for: images of everyday life, including scenes at home, at school, in shops or on public transportation; buildings that have stayed the same, changed or no longer exist; street scenes; local landmarks; performances, protests, cultural events, clubs, organizations in and public figures visiting East L.A.

Information is available online in English and Spanish.

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