What are the opening hours?

Tuesday 10am - 5:30pm Wednesday 10am - 8:30pm Thursday 10am - 5:30pm Friday 10am - 5:30pm Saturday 10am - 5:30pm

Athenaeum Music & Arts Library

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Athenaeum Music & Arts Library

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Nonprofit music & arts library with exhibitions, concerts, artist talks, lectures, and art classes. It truly is a feast.

The Athenaeum Music & Arts Library, located in the heart of La Jolla, California, in San Diego County, is one of only 16 nonprofit membership libraries in the United States. This rare cultural institution, an important one to the greater San Diego area, offers a depth and accessibility of resources and programs found nowhere else in the region. The library, devoted exclusively to music and art, has an outstanding and ever-expanding collection of books, periodicals, reference material, compact discs, videocassettes, DVDs, sheet music, and librettos, as well as one of the most significant collections of artists' books in Southern California. The library is open to the public five days a week; members can check out materials for a modest annual fee. The Athenaeum also presents an eclectic, year-round schedule of art exhibitions, concerts (classical, jazz, and new music), lectures, studio art classes through its School of the Arts, tours and special events. We invite you to browse through these pages, learn more about us, and participate in our activities. To quote the San Diego Union-Tribune, "There are few libraries in America as unusual as the Athenaeum Music & Arts Library."

10/30/2026

🐈 Happy National Cat Day! 🐾

Today, we’re celebrating the Cats of the Athenaeum, the beloved feline companions of our staff, including those we’ve loved and lost. ❤️🐈

We’re honoring all our feline friends with a little cat-themed reading! Our collection includes The Illustrated Cat: A Poster Book, Maneki Neko, Japan’s Beckoning Cats: From Talisman to Pop Icon, and Metropolitan Cats. All three are available to check out at the Athenaeum Music & Arts Library!

Stop by, browse our collection, and find a new favorite to take home. 📚🐾

Metropolitan Cats, text by John P. O’Neill, designed by Alvin Grossman (c. 1981).
2. Maneki Neko, Japan’s Beckoning Cats: From Talisman to Pop Icon, text by Alan Scott Pate, with photographs by Lynton Gardiner and Anthony Scroggins (2011).
3. The Illustrated Cat: A Poster Book, compiled by Jean-Claude Suarès, designed by Seymour Chwast, and edited by William E. Maloney (1976).

†In Memoriam

10/29/2026

🐈 Happy National Cat Day! 🐾

Today, we’re celebrating the Cats of the Athenaeum, the beloved feline companions of our staff, including those we’ve loved and lost. ❤️🐈

📖 We’re honoring all our feline friends with a little cat-themed reading! Our collection includes The Illustrated Cat: A Poster Book, Maneki Neko, Japan’s Beckoning Cats: From Talisman to Pop Icon, and Metropolitan Cats. All three are available to check out at the Athenaeum Music & Arts Library!

Stop by, browse our collection, and find a new favorite to take home. 📚🐾

1. Metropolitan Cats, text by John P. O’Neill, designed by Alvin Grossman (c. 1981).
2. Maneki Neko, Japan’s Beckoning Cats: From Talisman to Pop Icon, text by Alan Scott Pate, with photographs by Lynton Gardiner and Anthony Scroggins (2011).
3. The Illustrated Cat: A Poster Book, compiled by Jean-Claude Suarès, designed by Seymour Chwast, and edited by William E. Maloney (1976).

†In Memoriam

10/29/2026

🖨️ Updated Print Studio Hours!

The Athenaeum Art Center’s Print Studio has updated hours for Open Print Studio and Members’ Open Print Studio, offering more opportunities to work with intaglio, screen print, relief, and letterpress.

Open Print Studio is free and open to everyone, with no registration required. Members also receive additional access through Members’ Open Print Studio.

Check the current schedule and plan your next print session: ljathenaeum.org/print-studio

10/28/2026

💀🌼 Celebrate Día de Mu***os with us this Saturday! Join us at the Athenaeum Art Center for a free, all-ages craft celebration honoring the holiday through creativity and remembrance. Make a collage, write a letter, and decorate a frame!

📅 Saturday, October 31, 12–4 PM
📍 Athenaeum Art Center, 1955 Julian Ave, San Diego

🖨️ Plus, the print shop is open this Saturday from 1–6 PM for all printmakers.

Free and open to the public. No registration required.

10/27/2026

GRAMMY® Award-winning saxophonist David Sánchez brings his latest quintet project, Tambó, to the Athenaeum Jazz Fall 2026 Series. Drawing on the rhythms and traditions of Puerto Rico and Colombia, the project explores the connections between jazz and Afro-Caribbean music through Sánchez’s distinctive sound and dynamic ensemble.

📅 Sunday, November 15, 7:30 PM
📍 Scripps Research Auditorium, 10620 John Jay Hopkins Drive, La Jolla
🎟️ Tickets available now at ljathenaeum.org/jazz

Photo credit: Daniela Murillo

10/26/2026

🎻The Valencia Baryton Project returns to the Athenaeum Chamber Concert Series on Monday, November 16, featuring music by Joseph Haydn and contemporary composers written for the baryton, a rare 18th-century instrument.

📅 Monday, November 16, 7:30 PM
📍 Athenaeum Music & Arts Library, 1008 Wall St, La Jolla 92037
🎟️ Tickets available now at ljathenaeum.org/chamber

All Chamber concerts are preceded by a pre-concert talk at 6:45 p.m. and are followed by a reception with the artists in the Sharon & Joel Labovitz Entry Hall.

10/22/2026

🎬 THIS SATURDAY: APERTURA OPENS!
Art, poetry, and moving images come together in APERTURA, an exhibition featuring 14 video works by artists from San Diego and Tijuana.

🗓 Saturday, October 24, 5–8 PM
📍 Athenaeum Art Center | 1955 Julian Avenue, San Diego, CA 92113
🎟️ Free & open to the public
🏛 On view through January 2, 2027

📌 Organized by San Diego Poet Laureate Paola Capó-García and Artist Victor De La Fuente

Participating Artists:
DG Cunanan
Zeinabu irene Davis & Marc Arthur Chery
Cassandra Dhillon
Elyse Farwell
Marinthia Gutiérrez Velazco
Susan Hill
Lev Kalman
Dharma-Julia Leon Valdez
Jason Magabo Perez
Savannah Meraz
Alison O’Daniel
Teem Osborn
Sarita Tánori
Michael Trigilio

10/22/2026

Calling all Athenaeum School of the Arts students! Submit your artwork to the 2026 Student Exhibition!

Artists: Must have completed a class at the Athenaeum School of the Arts or Free Teen Art program within the past two years.

Media: Maximum one (1) work/image per artist (jpegs, no larger than 2 MB).

2-D and 3-D media. Work must be ready-to-hang (framed or with hanging hardware) and may not exceed 60 inches in width or height.

For more information and to submit your entry, visit ljathenaeum.org/student-teacher-exhibitions

Deadline to submit: October 23, 2026

Image credit: Ken Goldman, 40th Athenaeum Art School Anniversary en Trompe-l’oeil, Graphite and Watercolor on Arches paper, 10.5 x 10.5"

10/21/2026

Meet some of the artists behind APERTURA, an exhibition exploring the intersection of poetry and film through 14 video works by multi-generational artists from San Diego and Tijuana.

Organized by San Diego Poet Laureate Paola Capó-García and artist Víctor De La Fuente, APERTURA brings together writers, filmmakers, and visual artists who transform poetry into moving images, offering new ways to experience language, place, and the stories that shape our city.

🗓 Saturday, October 24, 5–8 PM
📍 Athenaeum Art Center | 1955 Julian Avenue, San Diego, CA 92113
🎟️ Free & open to the public
🏛 On view through January 2, 2027

Participating Artists:
DG Cunanan
Zeinabu irene Davis & Marc Arthur Chery
Cassandra Dhillon
Elyse Farwell
Marinthia Gutiérrez Velazco
Susan Hill
Lev Kalman
Dharma-Julia Leon Valdez
Jason Magabo Perez
Savannah Meraz
Alison O’Daniel
Teem Osborn
Sarita Tánori
Michael Trigilio

10/15/2026

🚧 A behind-the-scenes look at bringing Habitando, I Don’t Belong Here, We Belong Everywhere to life! ✨

🌀 Every double-sided painting is suspended from the ceiling, transforming the gallery into a space where the works hover, swirl, and invite visitors to move between perspectives.

🛠️ A huge thank-you to Sylvia Fernández and our installation team for their incredible work in bringing this exhibition together!

Join us for an ARTIST TALK & OPENING RECEPTION this Friday, October 16 from 5:30 PM to 8:30 PM in LA JOLLA.

Admission to the exhibition is free and open to the public. RSVP required for ARTIST TALK: ljathenaeum.org/habitando

Address

1008 Wall Street
San Diego, CA
92037

Opening Hours

Tuesday	10am - 5:30pm
Wednesday	10am - 8:30pm
Thursday	10am - 5:30pm
Friday	10am - 5:30pm
Saturday	10am - 5:30pm

Telephone

+18584545872

Website

http://www.ljathenaeum.org/, https://linktr.ee/athenaeummusicandarts

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