Place Archive

Los Angeles Zoo

The original Griffith Park Zoo in Los Angeles operated from 1912 until 1965, housing animals such as bears, lions, elephants, and reptiles. Abandoned enclosures built in the 1930s, including bear habitats constructed with Works Progress Administration assistance, remain as physical evidence of the zoo’s history within Griffith Park.

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Los Angeles Zoo Photo Locations

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Abandoned bear enclosures at the original Griffith Park Zoo in Los Angeles, which operated from 1912 to 1965. — These stone grottos are remnants of the original Griffith Park Zoo, which operated from 1912 until 1966. The zoo's bear dens were built into artificial rock formations meant to suggest a more natural enclosure than the barred cages common at the time. When the Los Angeles Zoo opened nearby in 1966, the old zoo grounds were left in place rather than demolished. The enclosures now sit along a paved walking path in Griffith Park, open to visitors as a historic ruin rather than a functioning exhibit.

Abandoned enclosures at the Griffith Park Zoo in Los Angeles, built in the 1930s and closed in 1965. — The old Griffith Park Zoo operated on this site from 1912 until 1966, when the animals moved to the newly built Los Angeles Zoo nearby. Many of the barred enclosures along this stretch date to the 1930s, when Works Progress Administration crews rebuilt much of the zoo's infrastructure. After closure, the grounds were absorbed into Griffith Park, and the old cages were left standing rather than demolished. Today the site is known informally as the Old Zoo, a picnic and hiking area where visitors can walk past the original enclosures.

Abandoned concrete stairs descend into a dark tunnel at the former Griffith Park Zoo in Los Angeles, closed in 1965. — Griffith Park Zoo operated from 1912 until 1965, when the Los Angeles Zoo relocated to a new site elsewhere in the park. This stairway once led into one of the old animal enclosures, which held bears, lions, monkeys, and other species during the zoo's five decades of operation. The abandoned structures were left in place after closure and now sit within Griffith Park's Old Zoo Picnic Area, accessible to hikers and visitors. Layers of graffiti have accumulated on the concrete walls in the decades since the enclosures were emptied.

Overlook at Abandoned Old Los Angeles Zoo — This former animal enclosure is a remnant of the old Griffith Park Zoo, which operated from 1912 to 1965 on the eastern side of the park. The zoo closed when its animals were relocated to the newly built Los Angeles Zoo in the adjacent hills, and the original grounds were left largely intact. Several of the old cages and dens still stand along the park's trails, built from wire mesh, wood, and concrete rather than the steel-reinforced enclosures used in modern zoos. The site is now open to hikers and picnickers as part of Griffith Park's public parkland.

Los Angeles Zoo Photo Locations

Minneapolis Photographer