San Luis Obispo Library in Downtown SLO
Posted by SanLuisObispoMom.com on Sunday, May 12, 2019 Under: For Kids
When visiting the San Luis Obispo Library in downtown San Luis Obispo, you would either have to park along the street or park in a parking structure so be ready to have coins or money handy to pay for parking in downtown, even if you're just going to the library.

Unless you're within walking distance or using public transportation, you'll most likely have to pay to park. There are a few parking structures that allow you to park for the first hour for free but in my experience, I've never stayed in a library for less than 1 hour.
In downtown, there were metered parking spots along the streets but during the day, those are all usually taken. There were also parking structures all around but only the first hour is free. At least the 2 that I saw nearby were like that. If you're only planning on being there for a quick hour or less, I think that's okay. But towing 2 kids down a couple flights of stairs from the parking structure and then walking along the busy road with them seemed daunting.
Then I realized it was only 53 degrees as I walked outside and attempted to unbuckle the car seats for both of my kids. The walk would have been miserable for them from the parking structure all the way down to the street of the library in such cold wintry weather. So, I climbed back to the driver's seat and drove us out of the parking structure and went home. I know, what a waste of time!
However, today, we did it! We visited the San Luis Obispo Library.
It wasn't planned but since we were already walking around downtown as a family (my husband had a day off), we decided to stop in before we went home. The kid's section is on the second floor.

There are 2 main areas for the little ones: one near the restrooms with play food, legos, and other toys and the other one is the reading side with nice, comfy pillows.


We were there at the library for at least an hour. The little ones had fun playing with the toys there and learning to play educational games on the computers. I'm not sure if we can make this location a regular visit because there are so many other libraries in the county that have an easier parking situation but if we're in downtown for a special event, we'd consider stopping in. They have two weekly story times for kids here.
Address of San Luis Obispo Library: 995 Palm St, San Luis Obispo, CA 93403
See the free storytime schedule for all libraries in San Luis Obispo county.
See the blog post about our visits at Arroyo Grande Library.

Unless you're within walking distance or using public transportation, you'll most likely have to pay to park. There are a few parking structures that allow you to park for the first hour for free but in my experience, I've never stayed in a library for less than 1 hour.
In downtown, there were metered parking spots along the streets but during the day, those are all usually taken. There were also parking structures all around but only the first hour is free. At least the 2 that I saw nearby were like that. If you're only planning on being there for a quick hour or less, I think that's okay. But towing 2 kids down a couple flights of stairs from the parking structure and then walking along the busy road with them seemed daunting.
Then I realized it was only 53 degrees as I walked outside and attempted to unbuckle the car seats for both of my kids. The walk would have been miserable for them from the parking structure all the way down to the street of the library in such cold wintry weather. So, I climbed back to the driver's seat and drove us out of the parking structure and went home. I know, what a waste of time!
However, today, we did it! We visited the San Luis Obispo Library.
It wasn't planned but since we were already walking around downtown as a family (my husband had a day off), we decided to stop in before we went home. The kid's section is on the second floor.

There are 2 main areas for the little ones: one near the restrooms with play food, legos, and other toys and the other one is the reading side with nice, comfy pillows.


We were there at the library for at least an hour. The little ones had fun playing with the toys there and learning to play educational games on the computers. I'm not sure if we can make this location a regular visit because there are so many other libraries in the county that have an easier parking situation but if we're in downtown for a special event, we'd consider stopping in. They have two weekly story times for kids here.
Address of San Luis Obispo Library: 995 Palm St, San Luis Obispo, CA 93403
See the free storytime schedule for all libraries in San Luis Obispo county.
See the blog post about our visits at Arroyo Grande Library.
In : For Kids
Tags: san luis obispo library downtown slo story time