Wednesday, August 5, 2026

An Altadena Library Van Sets Up in Pasadena Friday, Issuing Cards Free to Any Californian

[photo credit; Kidspace Children’s Museum]

The weekly stop at Kidspace Children’s Museum runs from 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., and opening a card takes $3 off museum admission for up to four guests

The library pulling into Brookside Park on Friday afternoon is not Pasadena’s. It will sign up Pasadena residents anyway.

The Altadena Library District parks its Curiosity Connection Vol. 2 mobile library outside Kidspace Children’s Museum every Friday, and the card it issues is free to any California resident, according to the district’s borrowing policy. The district is running the stop while its own Main Library, at 600 East Mariposa Street, sits closed for renovation. The visit, listed as Altadena Libraries’ Mobile Library at Kidspace, runs Friday, August 7, 2026, from 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. at 480 North Arroyo Boulevard, Pasadena, CA 91103 — inside Pasadena city limits, though the district that operates the van is not.

The two institutions co-present the visit as a community and family activity, and organizer information lists it as included with museum admission. Visitors can browse, check out or return books, sign up for a library card, collect program flyers and use an outdoor reading area near the van, according to the museum’s event listing. Families who open a card receive $3 off Kidspace admission for up to four guests, the listing says.

The stop is part of a yearlong collaboration the district announced on March 26. Weekly visits began April 3, initially from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.; the museum’s current listings show 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.

An Altadena library card is free to any California resident, the district’s borrowing page states. A Community Card requires government-issued photo identification showing a current California address, or other official identification plus address verification, and carries a 50-book borrowing limit.

The district’s website says the Curiosity Connection carries a book collection and laptops funded by a grant from the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Foundation. The van assigned to Kidspace is identified as Curiosity Connection Vol. 2.

The Altadena Library District is an independent special district covering roughly eight square miles of unincorporated Altadena, and Nikki Winslow has served as its director since 2019. In a January statement about her appointment to a statewide special-districts board — not about the Kidspace collaboration — Winslow said “in Altadena, our library district is a hub for our community.”

The Main Library survived the Eaton Fire with minimal damage and reopened on March 4, 2025, then closed again for renovation on February 1, 2026. The district now operates the Bob Lucas Memorial Library and Literacy Center at 2659 Lincoln Avenue and a satellite location at Loma Alta Park, 3330 North Lincoln Avenue.

Kidspace, on a 3.5-acre outdoor campus in Brookside Park, is led by Chief Executive Officer Lisa Clements. General admission is $17 for adults and for children age 1 and older, $15 for seniors 62 and older, and free for infants under 1 and for members. The museum does not accept cash.

The museum’s calendar lists August’s Free “First” Friday for August 14, from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. The mobile library returns that afternoon and again on August 21.

No registration is listed for the mobile library stop. The museum’s telephone number is (626) 449-9144, posted hours are 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. daily, and free parking is available in Rose Bowl Lot I; the campus is also reachable by Metro and Pasadena Transit. Event details are at kidspacemuseum.org/calendar; card requirements are at altadenalibrary.org/borrowing, and the district can be reached at (626) 798-0833.

The building on East Mariposa Street has been closed since February 1. On Friday afternoon, some of the district’s books will be in Pasadena instead.