Monrovia Community Center — Local services in Monrovia

Absolutely frustrating. Uneducated staff within their passport dept. Came in to set an appointment for renewal. Was given instruction on what to bring the day of according to my specific case. My passport was expired more than 5 years. On the day of my appointment I came with all that I was directed to bring and they failed to provide me with the proper instructions, accordingly to the young lady's supervisor I would need my birth certificate as well.? They couldn't fix their mistake even after I informed them I waited weeks for this appointment and I lived down the street and could provide the necessary form for them to complete their task/mistake. They offered me a rescheduled appointment at a later date.. More waiting...for weeks!?. Outrageous and unacceptable. I bit my tounge and walked out. Set an appointment with San Marino Crowell libarary and was properly received. I brought everything in that would prevent me from completing this task. What really frustrated me was the fact that the gentleman that handled my appointment was doing this exact business for 15 plus years informed me that the staff at MCC were wrong and or misinformed. My birth certificate wasn't needed according to my case and my previous expired passport would suffice which I had and presented to MCC on my scheduled appointment with them. What the...? I was in and out of San Marino libarary within 18 minutes. If you need to renew your passport don't bother with Monrovia Community Center. Do yourself a favor and save time (weeks) and go elsewhere. Absolutely ridiculous. Get it...

The passport people are helpful and patient. Be warned, you WILL have to either re-write your application by hand, or go home and do it over. There'll be something wrong. There will be. you can re-read it ten times, have people in your family check it, you'll miss something. My recommendation is to save the form as a .pdf on your laptop, download a free .pdf editor to your machine, so you can at least edit the .pdf for any mistakes you see before you leave home. Then something will be discovered when you get there and you'll have to go home and edit it again anyway. Just expect it. Expect to make more than one trip, unless you are good with filling out the form by hand in the office once you're there. And then you'll get your passport and find your birthdate is wrong. LOL

I went to college with a guy who would proofread his papers for errors by reading them backwards, one word at a time. This may be...

Came here to renew my passport. The staff are very friendly and helpful. They'll also take your passport photo for a fee and help you check your renewal docs and pack it in an envelope for you to mail out. The post office is just a couple blocks away. Check is needed to send the payment to US Secretary of State. Can pay credit card for the community center's service. Parking can be a little tough. Little bit small area, but there's also some more parking...