Book covers combusted, and the heat within the building became so intense that the fire took on the color of transparent glass. Initially, there was hardly any sign of smoke when the fire broke out. Some of the irreplaceable items included a Shakespeare folio, car manuals for every make and model dating back to the Model T, and the largest collections of restaurant menus and cookbooks in the nation. What is clear is that, at the time, Central Library contained nearly 2 million books, irreplaceable manuscripts, and musical scores valued around $69 million. It remains unclear who or what started the Central Library fire. Peak contracted HIV and died in 1993 from complications due to AIDS, two years after his settlement. Unfortunately, the money from Peak’s settlement was quickly consumed by the medications that he needed to stay alive. He countersued the city for slander, due to the high-profile nature of the case. Peak was eventually exonerated for the crime of arson, due to a lack of physical evidence. Peak aspired to grandiosity and claimed that he was an actor, though he never appeared in any film or television show. Peak was a ne’er-do-well from Santa Fe Springs, who hailed from a family whose primary legacy was a tendency to attract misfortune. Like The Orchid Thief, The Library Book tells the story of an eccentric character, Harry Peak, who became the chief suspect in setting the fire that consumed the Los Angeles Central Public Library in downtown Los Angeles on April 29, 1986.
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