Old Los Angeles Zoo

Walking Through Zoo History

The Old LA Zoo sits in a quiet canyon where concrete and steel meet overgrown hillside. Start at the lower picnic area where massive grottos rise from the ground. These aren’t natural caves but WPA-built structures from the 1930s designed to house large predators. Walk right inside where bears once paced. Picnic tables now occupy spaces that held sleeping platforms and feeding areas. The concrete walls show their age, covered in layers of graffiti that date back decades.

Move up the paved path to find more enclosures. Each structure tells a story about Depression-era design and limited budgets. County Relief workers and WPA crews built these exhibits using whatever materials they could source. The craftsmanship holds up well, but the small dimensions reveal why the zoo eventually closed. Cages that housed tigers and lions measure just a few yards across.

What You’ll See

The site splits into distinct areas. Lower grottos feature cave-like structures big enough to stand in. Some have picnic setups, others remain empty shells with barred windows and locked back passages. Look through these gates to see steep stairways where keepers once accessed the exhibits. Most passages fill up with trash and debris now, though some determined explorers still break through to climb the graffiti-covered walls.

Continue around the curve to reach iron-bar cages built into the hillside. These smaller enclosures likely held primates and smaller mammals. You can enter a few through pulled-back gates, but most remain fenced off. The trail behind the grottos gives you the keeper’s perspective, revealing how staff moved between exhibits and what animals saw from their confined spaces.

Further up the trail, discover more cages partially buried under landslides. These low-profile structures force visitors to crouch to enter, providing an uncomfortable reminder of the conditions animals endured.

The Filming Location Legacy

Hollywood loves this place. The bear grottos appeared in Anchorman when Ron Burgundy and Veronica Corningstone fell into the “San Diego Zoo” bear pit. Parks & Recreation filmed the Pawnee Zoo penguin wedding episode here. CSI: NY used the tiger cages for a murder scene. Police Academy II and other productions have shot at the site because it doubles convincingly as an operating zoo while being minutes from major studios.

Planning Your Visit

The zoo functions primarily as a picnic spot now. Families set up at tables inside former animal dens. Photographers use the ruins as backdrops. Artists sketch the decaying structures. Hikers treat it as a waypoint on longer Griffith Park trails. You can explore the entire site in 30 minutes or spend a couple hours if you combine it with trails leading to Bee Rock or other park destinations.

Expect graffiti. Expect some areas to smell musty or look neglected. The city maintains the space as a picnic area but doesn’t actively preserve the structures as museum pieces. Part of the appeal comes from this benign neglect, which lets visitors experience the ruins without heavy-handed interpretation or restrictions.

Bring water and sun protection. The canyon offers some shade but trails and open areas expose you to direct sun. Dogs on leashes are welcome. The nearby Merry-Go-Round provides restrooms and a vintage carousel ride if you want to extend your visit.

Why It Matters

The Old LA Zoo captures a specific moment in American attitudes toward wildlife and entertainment. When it opened in 1912, confining wild animals in small spaces seemed acceptable, even educational. By the 1960s, those same practices drew criticism as “inadequate, ugly, poorly designed and under-financed.” The structures now stand as artifacts of changing values and a reminder that what we consider normal today might horrify future generations.

You leave with mixed feelings. The ruins fascinate, but imagining animals confined here for decades brings discomfort. That tension makes the experience more meaningful than a simple hike or picnic. You’re confronting history, not just observing it.