Los Angeles Zoo & Botanical Gardens Does anyone have memories of visiting the old (pre-1966) LA Zoo?

DavidBrown

DavidBrown

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
Howdy. Someone has been posting old photos of LA Zoo construction in the LA Zoo gallery and this got me wondering about what the old zoo was like when it actually had animals in it.

Judging by the grottos and cages that were kept on the old zoo grounds, it looks like it was pretty bad. The historic sign at the old zoo says that there were elephants and other large mammals. I'm curious if anyone who reads and posts on this site has memories of visiting the old zoo and could tell us about what it was like (and maybe post some pictures if you have any).

For anyone interested here is what the old zoo looks like today:
Old Griffith Park Zoo is 'Amazing Abandonment' : Curbed LA

It has been used in several movies including "Anchorman" where it played the San Diego Zoo's bear grotto.
 
Blackduiker said:
I was born and raised in LA, and remember it very well as a young child.
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@Blackduiker: Was the zoo much larger than what currently exists, and did they have big animals like elephants, giraffes, hippos, etc.? I'm curious where they would have kept the larger animals, as its not obvious from what remains.
 
The old zoo grounds were approximately 17 acres. They did have elephants and giraffes, but I don't remember hippos. Most of what remains now are perimeter exhibits; the bear pits being about the last exhibits one viewed before exiting. The grassy picnic areas and some of the surrounding hillsides made up the former zoo grounds. What remains are just a small remnant of enclosures. For several years after its closure, the old zoo served as a holding facility for new and overflow animals.
 
Blackduiker said:
The old zoo grounds were approximately 17 acres. They did have elephants and giraffes, but I don't remember hippos. Most of what remains now are perimeter exhibits; the bear pits being about the last exhibits one viewed before exiting. The grassy picnic areas and some of the surrounding hillsides made up the former zoo grounds. What remains are just a small remnant of enclosures. For several years after its closure, the old zoo served as a holding facility for new and overflow animals.
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This is very informative. Thank you.

I imagine that photos of the old zoo must exist somewhere. I've looked around the web and haven't found any. Perhaps the zoo has some in their archives.

Update:
The Los Angeles Public Library has a photo archive online, including pictures of the old pre-1966 zoo.

I found this picture of an albino kangaroo at the old LA Zoo with Alfred Hitchcock. Maybe he was doing research for a sequel to "The Birds", his abandoned killer kangaroo epic "The Roos".
http://photos.lapl.org/carlweb/jsp/FullRecord?databaseID=968&record=29&controlNumber=4763113

Here is a photo of elands in the SNOW in the old LA Zoo in 1949.
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics20/00019697.jpg

Bear grottoes and kids feeding hoofstock
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics20/00019702.jpg

More bear grotto pictures
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics20/00019690.jpg

Galapagos tortoise being fed by dude in stylish hat from the 1930s
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics20/00019686.jpg

Old LA Zoo elephant exhibit:
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics20/00019691.jpg

Iguana feeding at the zoo:
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics20/00019681.jpg

Old LA Zoo hippo exhibit:
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics20/00019688.jpg

Old LA Zoo aviaries
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics20/00019675.jpg
 
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Thanks DavidBrown, some of those old photos bring back memories. Especially the bear grottoes and elephant exhibit. I've seen the photos from the LA Public Library. That one with
the Eland standing in the snow from 1949, reminds me of my mother often telling of the snow they received here in LA, her first winter after moving here with her family back in 1948, from Arkansas.
 
Blackduiker said:
Thanks DavidBrown, some of those old photos bring back memories. Especially the bear grottoes and elephant exhibit. I've seen the photos from the LA Public Library. That one with
the Eland standing in the snow from 1949, reminds me of my mother often telling of the snow they received here in LA, her first winter after moving here with her family back in 1948, from Arkansas.
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I imagine your mom wasn't too pleased to have bad winter weather follow her to Southern California from Arkansas. That must have been a weird experience to have that much snow falling here.

It's very interesting seeing the old elephant and hippo exhibits and how built up the facility was. You would never know how big the zoo was from what is still standing.
 
Thanks for the links DavidBrown!

The bear grotto photos look very San Diegoish (if that is a word...:p).
 
Blackduiker

Some of my other memories are the little ticket booth that we would pass through, and on first entering there was a hillside exhibit for Mouflons and another with seemingly a lone Galapagos Tortoise, could have been more. Next to a snack stand I remember a tall narrow chain-linked monkey cage that seemed to tilt and sway back-and-forth as he shook it. I also recall a pool with Humboldt Penguins swimming around, and a row of old fashioned big cat cages that seemed to allow you extremely close access to them, which always frightened me a bit; especially the lions. There was also an outdoor rectangular reptile exhibit with several glass fronted displays. But the bear grottoes seem to come to mind most, and at the time appeared to be the best exhibits there. It was all we had, and I enjoyed visiting
whenever I got the chance.
 
Blackduiker said:
Some of my other memories are the little ticket booth that we would pass through, and on first entering there was a hillside exhibit for Mouflons and another with seemingly a lone Galapagos Tortoise, could have been more.
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Thanks for sharing your memories...it is fun to read about what the old zoo was like. If you go through the LA Public Library photo database and enter the keyword "zoo" several other pictures pop out, including the zoo entrance and more pictures of the 1949 snow storm. There are also some pictures of the early days of the current zoo before all of the plants grew up. There were ponds in front of the entrance and in several other areas.

Here is the link to the searchable photo collection:
http://photos.lapl.org/carlweb/jsp/photosearch_pageADV.jsp
 
I was looking through the pics, but it's very confusing knowing which are of the Griffith Park Zoo. When searching "zoo" you get photos from the San Diego Zoo, Selig Zoo (also known as Lincoln Park Zoo, Luna Park Zoo), Gay's Lion Farm, and current LA Zoo.
 
mstickmanp said:
I was looking through the pics, but it's very confusing knowing which are of the Griffith Park Zoo. When searching "zoo" you get photos from the San Diego Zoo, Selig Zoo (also known as Lincoln Park Zoo, Luna Park Zoo), Gay's Lion Farm, and current LA Zoo.
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Yeah, you need to click on the photo and most of them have at least some title information, but the system is kind of clunky.
 
DavidBrown said:
Yeah, you need to click on the photo and most of them have at least some title information, but the system is kind of clunky.
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Yeah, very clunky, hahaha! :D

Anyways, thanks for the link, lots of interesting photos I had never seen before specially the ones that show how the LA Zoo used to look.
 
mstickmanp said:
Yeah, very clunky, hahaha! :D

Anyways, thanks for the link, lots of interesting photos I had never seen before specially the ones that show how the LA Zoo used to look.
Click to expand...

I hope you enjoy the photos. If you are interested I also just added a bunch of photos from the African mammal hall and new dinosaur hall in the new LA County Natural History Museum gallery.
 
I dont personally have any memories of the old griffith park zoo, but what i heard is that they did have 2 western lowland gorillas back in 1965
 
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