The city-owned Hunt Branch Library has recently experienced extensive vandalism in the form of broken windows and graffiti.

Most of the windows on the north side of the Hunt Library building have been smashed. Photo by Jere Greene

Gifted to the City of Fullerton by industrialist and art collector Norton Simon, who once displayed Rodins, Rembrandts, and Picassos in or around the building, the Hunt served as a branch of the Fullerton Public Library from 1962 to 2013, when the Fullerton City Council chose to defund it and lease it to a neighboring property owner.

Windows on the south side (main entrance) of the Hunt Library have been smashed. Photo by Jere Greene

The Hunt Library was saved from being sold through the efforts of local community members and the Save the Hunt group. A Hunt Library Ad Hoc Committee has sought proposals for possible uses of the Hunt for literacy, arts, and culture programs, although the agreement with the two arts organizations it selected may be terminated soon.

The City has secured over $5 million in state funding to revitalize the Hunt, from efforts by Assemblymember Sharon Quirk-Silva and State Senator Josh Newman.

At their June 8 meeting, the Planning Commission voted to install additional fencing around the Hunt Library area to protect against vandalism. Planning Commission Chair Doug Cox shared recent photos he’d taken of the Hunt Branch Library showing many smashed windows, graffiti, and other vandalism.

“Security issues are paramount, or we won’t have a library left,” Jane Reifer of Save the Hunt told The Observer.

Photo from inside the Hunt Library showing broken and boarded up windows. Photo by Jere Greene