claremont

Claremont Branch Library

Karen Joseph-Smith, Branch Supervisor

2940 Benvenue MAP
Berkeley CA 94705
510-981-6280
510-843-1603 fax

Mon & Tues 10-6; Wed & Thurs 12-8; Fri & Sat 10-6
Closed Sundays HOLIDAYS

AC Transit 51 & 9. No parking lot; metered street parking is almost always scarce. Plan your trip >>

Collection Strengths

Mysteries
Travel

Programs and Services

Preschool and family storytimes
Teen services
Lawyers in the Library
Public meeting room

Building Notes

The public library in the Elmwood has been called the Claremont Branch since its founding at Emerson School in 1909. It grew to contain over 1,000 books after it moved to Adeline Street in 1913. Active Elmwood residents lobbied the city for a closer branch, and from 1917-1923, it was located in a storefront at 2939 College Avenue and then, for one year, at 2704 Russell St.

The Library's current home, the Tudor-style building at 2940 Benvenue, was opened ceremoniously by Berkeley Mayor Frank D. Stringham on the evening of October 27, 1924.... A truly neighborhood branch, the new library was designed to blend in both scale and character with the homes around it. James W. Plachek, who also designed the Berkeley Central building downtown, gave the library an Old World charm still apparent today.

from Tales from the Elmwood, 2000, by Burt Willes

Neighborhood

The Elmwood is a Berkeley neighborhood of old houses, gracious tree-lined streets and a shopping area of small stores that has retained its sense of the past with a spirit of community and neighborhood activism. Artists, writers, musicians, political activists, and lesser-known but interesting people have been attracted to the Elmwood since the beginning.

The name "Elmwood" first appeared in a 1905 promotional real estate brochure extolling its bucolic charms and its wide unpaved avenues of elms and poplars.... Today anyone living within easy walking distance distance of the shopping district at College and Ashby Avenues is part of this pedestrian-friendly neighborhood.