Shoppers can fill a paper grocery bag with used books for $5 today at the Friends of the Pasadena Public Library’s Winter Patio Book Sale, running from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the group’s bookstore on the Jefferson Branch Library campus at 1500 E. Villa St.
The sale is the first patio book sale of 2026 for the nonprofit, which has supported Pasadena’s library system for 50 years. Proceeds fund programming at all 10 of the city’s library branches — a role that has taken on added weight since the Central Library closed in 2021 for an earthquake retrofit that remains underway.
The outdoor sale on the bookstore patio will feature used books, DVDs, CDs, vinyl records, and children’s books. Inside the bookstore, all purchases will be half price, according to the format the Friends have used at prior patio sales throughout 2025.
The bookstore normally sells hardback books, audio CDs, DVDs, and Blu-rays for $1 each, and paperbacks for 50 cents, according to the Pasadena Public Library’s website. All proceeds support library services and programs.
Previous patio book sales have drawn book lovers from both Pasadena and neighboring Altadena, according to the Friends’ website.
The Friends of the Pasadena Public Library, founded in 1975, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that funds programs including the Summer Reading Club, One City One Story, and celebrations of Women’s History Month, Black History Month, Latino Heritage Month, Asian American and Pacific Islander Month, and Native American Heritage Month, among others, according to prior City of Pasadena announcements.
The Jefferson Branch Library campus, at 1500 E. Villa St. between Hill and Allen Avenues, became the library system’s hub for children’s and teen services after Pasadena’s Central Library — designed by Myron Hunt and H.C. Chambers and completed in 1927 — closed after a structural assessment found unreinforced masonry-bearing walls that posed a life-safety hazard in an earthquake.
For more information, contact the bookstore at 626-744-4680 or visit friendsppl.org.
