Griffith Park Zoo (Old LA Zoo)
An editorial in the Los Angeles Times in 1907 suggested that “Griffith Park is an ideal location for a zoological garden.” The Griffith Park Zoo that opened in 1912 was constructed with a next-to-nothing budget from the L.A. City Council and was pretty much as basic as it gets. It was populated in its first few years with animals from abandoned menageries and the shuttered Eastlake Zoo. They were housed in rudimentary cages and enclosures, hillside caves and jerry-rigged corrals. In 1914, an aviary, bear pits and more cages were constructed, but fragile structures, slipshod facilities and restrictive quarters continued to plague the zoo. Calls for a new zoo began in the late 1940s. In 1958, voters supported an $8 million dollar bond to fund a new zoo. The Griffith Park Zoo was closed in 1966 and the animals moved to the new Los Angeles Zoo just two miles away.
Los Angeles, Los Angeles County
Photographer: Andrew Schmidt