LA's Old Zoo Then and Now

Sunday, we were in the area of the old LA zoo in Griffith Park - the zoo I remember as a little kid.  With all its horrible old cages.  Yet it was a place where this little kid could see lions and tigers and bears, up close, live.  And all those creatures fascinated me.  I was lucky my Dad was willing to take me there frequently.

OK, my older, more aware self has real issues with zoos - they can be seen as both places where great wild creatures are imprisoned in cages as entertainment for humans OR the place where rare species might be able to survive because their natural habitat has been wiped out by humans.  Either way it doesn't say much for humans.  But this post is about nostalgia.  About visiting the zoo I visited as a child.  I remember walking up the canyon and hearing the roar of the lions and the trumpeting of the elephants. 

The old zoo closed down in 1965 and the new LA zoo opened a couple of miles away.  But somehow some remnants of the old zoo have been preserved.  While this is nice for nostalgia, it also is a bit of history that shows people that zoos today are much nicer prisons than they were in the past. 

We walked up what turned out to be the back way.  I first refound the old zoo with my son about 35 years ago one grey, windy day.  It was a very spooky experience walking through this old zoo ground I'd been to many times as a child.

I found it again sometime in the last ten years with my wife.  So, since we were nearby Sunday, I thought I'd go by once more.

Here's part of a row of prison like cages that housed big cats and possibly some bears.  I remembered being here well, watching these amazing creatures.  So last night I asked my mom about old photo albums and she pointed me to one where I found this picture taken pretty close to this spot in 1951.

There I am (in the white shirt), with some family friends, at these very cages.  In those days there was a fence, then an inside walkway, and then the cage itself.  The outer fence is gone today, and the cage doors are open.

 

Here's the leopard's eye view of the people at the zoo.  This may just look like a picture to you, but to me it is amazing, to be able to get on the other side of the bars and look out.

Here's inside one of the cages.  Again, horribly small for the majestic animals that were imprisoned here.  

These were the more modern cages back then.  I remember bears being in cages like this.  There used to be a low wall on the outside and a moat - some with, some without water - between the people and the animals.  Again, walking back where the bears could hide when they got tired of being watched was an amazing experience.  

One of the not particularly well advertised spots where you can see Los Angeles history - and American zoo history.  I suspect that most places like this were simply torn down and built over.  Through some quirk of historical fate, these cages were preserved.  (I'm sure there is a story first of neglect, and then dedicated folks who worked to make sure these remnants were preserved.)  Probably not well advertised because it's part of a public park you can enter without buying a ticket.  It's in Griffith Park about two miles from the 'new' zoo. 

[UPDATE Dec. 20, 2015 - a somewhat related post on pet shops.]