Previous years have seen Cirque du Soleil-style acrobats hanging from the rafters of the library's basement, a 12-piece orchestra playing songs popular during Prohibition and five old-school barbers in a pop-up grooming shop to freshen up any scraggly-bearded gentlemen, gratis, on the spot.

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Machinery was stripped out, the factory demolished, the site developed to a design by Renzo Piano, a leading Italian architect, and the Academia Barilla opened in 2004, its basement housing the library.

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Kern's main library was housed in the basement of the county courthouse in Bakersfield, in quarters so cramped that some of its materials were buried beneath old lighting fixtures, furniture, and other bric-a-brac.

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The small boy grew, the books changing round him, until he was in the basement of UCLA's Powell Library in Los Angeles, 30 years old, banging on a rented typewriter.

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We'd have to set aside an afternoon for John K. King books, four floors and a basement that smell like your favorite corner of the library and bedtime stories at grandma's.

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His view of books and libraries as cornerstones of civilization and communities inspired "Fahrenheit 451, " which Mr. Bradbury wrote on a rental typewriter in the basement of a University of California, Los Angeles library.

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The 49, 300-square-foot, two-story home surrounds a courtyard and includes a two-level basement with amenities including a game room, bowling alley, bar and media library.

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