The Los Angeles Central Library has reintroduced a nostalgic piece of mid-20th century Americana with the installation of a Mold-A-Rama machine, a vending device that creates molded plastic souvenirs in under a minute. The project was led by Christina Rice, senior librarian overseeing the library’s photo collection, who pursued the idea over six years after a patron inquired about photographs of Mold-A-Rama machines that had disappeared from the city in 2006.
Mold-A-Rama machines gained prominence in the 1960s as novelty vending devices producing small sculptures by injecting molten plastic into two-sided molds, then hollowing them with compressed air. The machines were commonly found in zoos, museums, and tourist venues across the United States but eventually waned due to high maintenance costs and the exit of their original operator, Aramark.
At the Central Library, the new machine, dubbed “Mold-a-Central,” allows visitors to purchase a $5 souvenir—a miniature black sphinx modeled after the sculptor Lee Lawrie’s Belgian black marble and bronze sphinxes that flank the library’s north staircase. The mold was custom designed by Pittsburgh sculptor Brian McGuire, who is also working on a replica of the 1926 library building. Since its installation on the lower fourth floor, the machine has molded over 3,000 figures and drew significant attention during the library’s Centennial Festival in July, producing 255 items in one day.
Rice’s enthusiasm for Mold-A-Rama machines is rooted in personal nostalgia; she collected figures representing iconic Los Angeles landmarks such as the Hollywood Bowl bandshell and the Chinese Theatre pagoda during her youth. She viewed the acquisition of the machine as a way to engage new and existing library patrons by blending retro technology with the institution’s public spaces.
The Mold-A-Rama concept was invented in the late 1930s by Illinois native J.H. “Tike” Miller, who was inspired to make individual figurines after encountering difficulties sourcing single pieces for his nativity scene. After initial success with injection-molded plastic toys such as dinosaurs and space aliens, the technology was licensed to Aramark in the late 1950s. The machines debuted prominently at the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair and the 1964 New York World’s Fair before widespread distribution.
Today, operational Mold-A-Rama machines are mainly found in the Midwest and South, managed by two companies with divided regions: Mold-A-Rama Inc. in Illinois and Unique Souvenirs Inc. in Florida, which runs “Mold-a-Matic” machines. Unique Souvenirs’ owner, Tim Striggow, supplied the Los Angeles Central Library with its machine, which cost approximately $32,000 and is expected to generate revenue through souvenir sales within a few years.
Maintenance was a key consideration before acquiring the vintage machine. Rice enlisted Hirschel Riley, a mechanic for Angels Flight—the historic funicular railway in Los Angeles—to service the device. Riley has since become deeply involved in the machine’s upkeep, helping ensure its reliability.
While the library offers advanced 3D printing technology at its Octavia Lab, the Mold-a-Central machine taps into ongoing interest in analog and retro devices among a diverse range of visitors, including teenagers. Rice hopes that the machine’s success will inspire the return of additional vintage technologies to the Los Angeles public sphere.
Notably, filmmaker Quentin Tarantino once had a Mold-A-Rama machine sourced for an early scene in "Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood," underscoring the machine’s enduring cultural resonance.