War Memorial Opera House Japanese sneak attack and bombing of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, marking the American entry into World War II in December 1941, the households was regularly blacked out and performances were monitored by air raid wardens. In spring of 1945, the United Nations had its San Francisco Conference (UN Conference on International Organization) first organizing assembly there. The UN Charter was later drafted and signed in the Herbst Theatre next door. Six years later in 1951, the Treaty of San Francisco, declaring peace with Japan was drafted and signed here and in the Herbst Theatre. During the years of Kurt Herbert Adler's
San Francisco Public Library W. Kelham, opened in the Civic Center. Ten major murals by California Tonalist Gottardo Piazzoni were installed in 1931–1932; four more were completed in 1945, but left uninstalled until the 1970s. In 2018 "Library Journal" awarded it the Library of the Year award. In addition to the Main Library, the San Francisco Public Library has 27 branch libraries. In 1930, San Francisco voters approved a charter amendment to increase taxes to fund the construction of the Anza Branch Library. Using the site of the old Lafayette School, architect John W. Reid, Jr. designed and landscaped the new branch building. The