Ernie Pyle library - sign
 I live near the best library in the entire Bernalillo County library system -- the Ernie Pyle branch. This is the house of renowned World War II journalist Ernie Pyle. After his death, the city of Albuquerque preserved his house, and turned it into a very tiny library. It's one of those libraries that, even though it doesn't have many books, makes you happy that libraries exist. Plus, it has a great sign. More pictures of the library follow. I wrote more on the library here.
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daveshields says:I spent much of my childhood in the 1950's in
the Ernie Pyle Library. See my post Would you like to comment?Sign up for a free account, or sign in (if you're already a member). |
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Shawn Econo says:
During the year I lived in Albuquerque, I only found the time to visit the Pyle library once, but it was an incredibly satisfying experience. I remember checking out Jimmy Santiago Baca's "Martin & Meditations on the South Valley" there, at a time in which I was continually surprised and seduced by a city that continues to amaze and astound me.
The library/house is mentioned in an essay Pyle wrote for the January 1942 issue of New Mexico Magazine:
"Yes, there are lots of nice places in the world. I could live with considerable pleasure in the Pacific Northwest, or in New England, on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, or in Key West or California or Honolulu. But there is only one of me, and I can’t live in all those places. So if we can have only one house — and that’s all we want — then it has to be in New Mexico, and preferably right at the edge of Albuquerque where it is now."
Obviously, the wide open edge-of-town desert space he repeatedly mentions in the essay is nowhere to be found on present-day Girard, and the periodical room/bathroom shows no traces of the time Pyle's wife attempted suicide there by slashing her throat with scissors.
The "re-purposing" of the Pyle house seems to me to be an embodiment of the appeal of ABQ as an entity: it merges past and present in messy, unpolished, and utterly fascinating ways that appeal to those with tolerance for the quirky and the spontaneous. I see this appreciation in your photos and your writing, and enjoy the work of a fellow spirit. Thanks.
Posted 45 months ago. ( permalink )