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Old Zoo Picnic Area

Abandoned LA zoo is a perfect place to experience what it is like to be on the other side of the bars

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Category Ghost Towns, Incredible Ruins, Obscura Day Location

Old Zoo Picnic area in Griffith Park.

Source www.flickr.com

Source www.flickr.com

In a quiet area of Griffith Park in Los Angeles, you can picnic in a bear grotto and climb inside abandoned monkey cages. If you have ever wondered what you appear like to the animals in the zoo, this abandoned LA zoo is your chance to find out.

The site of the first Los Angeles zoo, the zoo opened in 1912 with 15 animals. Many of the enclosures were built in the 1930’s by Works Progress Administration crews and were made in the iron bars/pacing animal style that was standard for zoos of that era. The zoo was abandoned in 1966 when the current zoo opened.

Today the cave enclosures have now been outfitted with picnic benches and grills. A trail leading up from the caves gives you a zookeeper’s view of the lion’s den and leads to ever more abandoned cages, and giving one an eerie feeling of what it is like to be on the other side of the bars.

We explored the old Zoo on Obscura Day - March 20th, 2010. Photos, stories and more here

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Hours 6:00 AM - 10 PM daily
Website Griffith Park
Address Griffith Park Drive, Los Angeles, California, United States
Cost Free

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Map/Directions

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The picnic area is just a little hard to find, and well it should be to preserve this historic site. From Crystal Springs Drive/Griffith Park Drive, turn west at Griffith Park Drive (this is not a typo, heading north, the name Griffith Park Drive makes a hard left as the pavement continues straight and changes name to Crystal Springs Drive. If going south, watch for the Griffith Park Drive sign and turn right). Watch closely for the sign a few hundred feet after the turn. The parking area is on the left. The picnic area is not clearly marked and as often as I've visited, I still have trouble finding it.