A 101-Year-Old Pasadena Library Moves Its Book Drop to Make Way for a Bus Station

The book drop at the oldest building in the Pasadena Public Library system is moving around the corner — and it will now be open around the clock.

Beginning Monday, June 22 the Hill Avenue Branch Library will permanently relocate its returns box to the north side of the building, reachable through Giddings Alley. The move clears the way for a new Metro Bus Rapid Transit station rising at the branch’s southern edge, at Hill Avenue and Green Street — the Pasadena end of a 19-mile line Metro is building between Pasadena and North Hollywood. The library itself stays open, its hours unchanged.

The new drop sits at the northeastern corner of the branch property, along the alley that runs behind the building, according to a map posted on the library’s website. Patrons can return materials there at any hour, any day.

The library, in a statement on its website, said the new transit station made the move necessary. Metro began construction in Pasadena in April 2026 to build what it calls enhanced bus stations along Colorado Boulevard and at the line’s eastern terminus near Pasadena City College, which sits directly across Hill Avenue from the branch.

The Metro Board approved the project after environmental review in 2022, and crews held a ceremonial groundbreaking on May 27, 2026. Metro says the line will run roughly 19 miles with 22 stations, connecting Pasadena to North Hollywood through Glendale, Burbank and Eagle Rock, with completion targeted ahead of the 2028 Summer Olympics.

For the Hill Avenue Branch, the construction is the latest chapter in a long life. The building opened May 6, 1925, designed by the Pasadena firm Marston, Van Pelt and Maybury, and is listed among the City of Pasadena’s Cultural Heritage Landmarks. It is the oldest in the city’s library system.

The branch is also a neighborhood anchor. It holds the Pasadena Public Library system’s Asian language collection — books, newspapers and magazines in Chinese, plus materials in Korean, Japanese and Vietnamese — and serves three elementary schools and eight preschools nearby, along with students and faculty from Pasadena City College and Caltech. Its Pasadena Grows program lends seeds for vegetables, fruit, herbs and native plants.

For patrons: The Hill Avenue Branch is at 55 South Hill Ave., Pasadena, CA 91106; (626) 744-7264. It is open Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and closed Sunday. As of June 22, the book drop is on the north side, via Giddings Alley, available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The building has stood at the corner of Hill and Green for 101 years. The bus station is new. The book drop, now just around the corner, will be waiting at any hour.