Council approves renaming of historic library building, desert landscaping as capital campaign nears $2.1 million

The Palm Springs City Council on Wednesday approved renaming two areas of the Palm Springs Public Library campus, accepting a combined $375,000 in gifts as part of a capital campaign that has raised nearly $2.1 million toward a $45 million renovation of the facility.

The council voted to accept a $250,000 gift from the Friends of the Palm Springs Library, a nonprofit that has supported the library for more than 50 years, and approved renaming the J.C. Frey Building on the library campus as the Friends of the Palm Springs Library Building.

The council also accepted a $125,000 multi-year sustaining gift from the Estate of Jane Lykken Hoff, administered through the Inland Empire Community Foundation, and approved naming the library’s desert landscaping in her memory.

The J.C. Frey Building has a history dating to 1965, when the Junior Chamber of Commerce — known as the Jaycees — constructed it at a cost of $45,000 and deeded it to the city. Dr. Russell G. Frey, an avid bridge player, donated $7,000 to help the Jaycees reach their fundraising goal, and the building has carried variations of his name since.

According to the staff report, the name has long created confusion between Dr. Frey and noted architect Albert Frey, who has no connection to the building. The J.C. Frey name will now be retired.

Director of Library Services Jeannie Kays told the council the building historically served as the archive for Palm Springs and library history, making it a fitting home for interpretive displays about its own past.

Councilmember Grace Garner asked that even as the building receives its new name, its history be preserved inside through plaques or a series of historic photographs documenting the building’s origins — its construction by the Jaycees, Dr. Frey’s role, and its decades as the library’s archive.

Kays said the interior display was something library staff intended to pursue, describing the idea of a hallway lined with historic photos, similar to curated displays in City Hall, as a fitting tribute to the building’s past.

Lykken Hoff was born in Palm Springs in 1920 and died in 2023 at the age of 103. She was the daughter of Carl and Edith Lykken, a pioneer family that operated a grocery store, hardware store, and post office, and held the city’s first telegram service. Her father, Carl Lykken, served as the town’s first postmaster and was a founding member of the Palm Springs Library Board, on which he served until his death in 1972.

Her estate left gifts to numerous local nonprofit organizations through the Inland Empire Community Foundation, including the sustaining gift to the Palm Springs Public Library Foundation that will fund the desert landscaping naming.

The two gifts approved by the council Wednesday are among more than 35 donations committed to the capital campaign, which the Palm Springs Public Library Foundation launched Oct. 27, 2025. During the campaign’s initial phase, the Foundation raised more than $1 million, which triggered a $1 million matching gift from the Library Board of Trustees Trust Fund.

Under a Memorandum of Understanding between the city and the Foundation approved by the council in May 2023, any naming gift valued at more than $100,000 requires City Council approval. Seven additional donations ranging from $25,000 to $100,000 were set to be approved by City Manager Scott Stiles following Wednesday’s meeting, with those gifts naming additional spaces throughout the library campus.

Under the terms of the MOU, all costs associated with signage, plaques, and other naming elements are to be paid by the Foundation or donors, not the city.

The naming gifts support the $45 million renovation project and are designated specifically for capital campaign purposes. Separately, the Foundation is working to build a $5 million endowment to provide long-term support for library services and programs.

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