Griffith Park Zoo, Picnic site at former zoo in Griffith Park, Los Angeles, United States
The former Griffith Park Zoo is a picnic site in Griffith Park, Los Angeles, where the ruins of the 1912 zoo remain. One surviving structure is a weathered wooden building with a steep gable roof of rusted corrugated metal panels, its front wall of vertical gray boards with peeling white paint. A louvered vent and a dark open window sit high on the gable, and the word "CAT" is painted in white beside the large rectangular entrance. A long enclosure of thin metal poles and wire mesh fencing is attached to its right.
The site functioned as a city zoo from 1912 to 1966, beginning with a handful of animals and later housing dozens of species. Officials moved the entire operation to a new location two miles (about 3 km) away, leaving the old facilities to decay.
The zoo's name survives in the Old Los Angeles Zoo, as the site is now called. Its animals included Gita the Elephant, Ivan the Terrible and Topsy the Camel. Picnic tables were placed inside some of the former enclosures after the 1966 closure, so visitors eat where animals were once kept.
From the parking lot near the merry-go-round, the site is about a five-minute walk along a gentle uphill path through the woods. Some enclosures offer shaded spots with picnic tables, but the terrain is hilly and partly covered with loose rubble.
Visitors can step through the open barred doors into the cages and enter the same space once occupied by bears, lions, and other animals. In some corners, iron rings and hooks remain, once used to secure chains or food containers.
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