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The '''Selig Zoo''' in Los Angeles, California was an early 20th century animal collection created by [[Col. W.N. Selig]] for use in [[Selig Polyscope Company]] films and as a tourist attraction. Over the years the zoo was also known as the '''Luna Park Zoo''', '''California Zoological Gardens''', '''Zoopark''', and, eventually, '''Lincoln Amusement Park'''.
The '''Selig Zoo''' in Los Angeles, California was an early 20th century animal collection created by [[Col. W.N. Selig]] for use in [[Selig Polyscope Company]] films and as a tourist attraction. Over the years the zoo was also known as the '''Luna Park Zoo''', '''California Zoological Gardens''', '''Zoopark''', and, eventually, '''Lincoln Amusement Park'''.


Beginning in December 1911,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Slide |first=Anthony |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gABqNFQkjR4C&pg=PA27&dq=%22Selig+Zoo%22&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&source=gb_mobile_search&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwitj-uJ_Zb9AhV3hu4BHbRtDu4Q6AF6BAgLEAM#v=onepage&q=%22Selig%20Zoo%22&f=false |title=Early American Cinema |date=1994 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=978-0-8108-2722-6 |page=27 |language=en}}</ref> Selig had gathered a large collection of animals for his films and spent substantial funds acquiring and developing {{convert|32|acre|m2 km2}} of land in [[Lincoln Heights, Los Angeles|Lincoln Heights]] northeast of [[downtown Los Angeles]], where he opened a large public zoo. The public opening day of the zoo was June 20, 1915.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HHRJAQAAMAAJ&pg=RA4-PA24&dq=%22Selig+Zoo%22&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&source=gb_mobile_search&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjgr-WxgZf9AhUjhu4BHaIfA_04ChDoAXoECAIQAw#v=onepage&q=%22Selig%20Zoo%22&f=false |title=The Movie Magazine: A National Motion Picture Magazine ... |date=1915 |publisher=Movie Magazine Publishing Company, Incorporated |pages=24 |language=en}}</ref> As of September 1915, the Selig Zoo housed over 700 animals including two giraffes, nine lions, sacred cows from India, llamas from Peru, and sacred monkeys of temple monkeys.<ref name=":0" /> The head zookeeper was John Robinson.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |title=Libyan Desert| newspaper=[[The Los Angeles Times]] | date=1915-09-05 | page=13 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/380357798/ |access-date=2023-02-15 |via=Newspapers.com |language=en}}</ref>
Beginning in December 1911,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Slide |first=Anthony |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gABqNFQkjR4C&pg=PA27&dq=%22Selig+Zoo%22&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&source=gb_mobile_search&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwitj-uJ_Zb9AhV3hu4BHbRtDu4Q6AF6BAgLEAM#v=onepage&q=%22Selig%20Zoo%22&f=false |title=Early American Cinema |date=1994 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=978-0-8108-2722-6 |page=27 |language=en}}</ref> Selig had gathered a large collection of animals for his films. Per Haenni, "Selig became the owner of [[Big Otto Breitkreutz]]'s circus after the latter was unable to repay a debt, and a Selig troupe spent the winter 1910–11 making films in Florida..."<ref>{{Citation |last=Haenni |first=Sabine |title=Animal Empire: Thrill and Legitimation at William Selig’s Zoo and Jungle Pictures |date=2016 |url=http://link.springer.com/10.1057/978-1-137-53561-0_5 |work=The Zoo and Screen Media |pages=87–110 |editor-last=Lawrence |editor-first=Michael |place=New York |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan US |language=en |doi=10.1057/978-1-137-53561-0_5 |isbn=978-1-137-54342-4 |access-date=2023-02-15 |editor2-last=Lury |editor2-first=Karen}}</ref> In the mid-teens, Selig spent substantial funds acquiring and developing {{convert|32|acre|m2 km2}} of land in [[Lincoln Heights, Los Angeles|Lincoln Heights]] northeast of [[downtown Los Angeles]], where he opened a large public zoo. The public opening day of the zoo was June 20, 1915.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HHRJAQAAMAAJ&pg=RA4-PA24&dq=%22Selig+Zoo%22&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&source=gb_mobile_search&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjgr-WxgZf9AhUjhu4BHaIfA_04ChDoAXoECAIQAw#v=onepage&q=%22Selig%20Zoo%22&f=false |title=The Movie Magazine: A National Motion Picture Magazine ... |date=1915 |publisher=Movie Magazine Publishing Company, Incorporated |pages=24 |language=en}}</ref> As of September 1915, the Selig Zoo housed over 700 animals including two giraffes, nine lions, sacred cows from India, llamas from Peru, and sacred monkeys of temple monkeys.<ref name=":0" /> The head zookeeper was John Robinson.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |title=Libyan Desert| newspaper=[[The Los Angeles Times]] | date=1915-09-05 | page=13 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/380357798/ |access-date=2023-02-15 |via=Newspapers.com |language=en}}</ref>


Circa 1915, the [[Selig Zoo]] held a five-year-old orangutan called Prince Chang.<ref>{{Cite newspaper |date=1915-08-14 |title=Los Angeles Letter |volume=25 |page=1144 |newspaper=[[Moving Picture World]] |issue=7 |url=https://lantern.mediahist.org/catalog/movingpicturewor25newy_1198 |access-date=2022-11-25 |via=[[Media History Digital Library]]}}</ref><ref name=":42">{{Cite news |date=1915-06-26 |title=Chang's Throne Totters |volume=97 |page=9 |work=[[The San Francisco Call]] |issue=154 |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SFC19150626.2.176&srpos=1&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN-%22Prince+chang%22+Selig------- |access-date=2022-11-25 |via=[[California Digital Newspaper Collection]]}}</ref> He supposedly lived in a castle with a southern exposure and its own garden;<ref name=":42" /> his enclosure was said to be electrically heated.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Blaisdell |first1=George |date=1915-07-10 |title=Great Selig Enterprise |volume=25 |pages=227–229 |newspaper=[[Moving Picture World]] |issue=2 |url=https://lantern.mediahist.org/catalog/movingpicturewor25newy_0248 |access-date=2022-11-25 |via=[[Media History Digital Library]]}}</ref> He appeared in a one-reel Selig film called ''The Orang-Outang''.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1915-08-07 |title=Selig display ad |volume=25 |page=1095 |newspaper=[[Moving Picture World]] |issue=6 |url=https://lantern.mediahist.org/catalog/movingpicturewor25newy_1149 |access-date=2022-11-25 |via=[[Media History Digital Library]]}}</ref> Described as "enormous," Chang did not immediately take to the rigors of film production. He reportedly chased costar [[George Larkin]] around the studio while brandishing a cane, and wrecked two sets. Eventually, furniture made of [[cast iron]] bolted to the floor allowed production to continue.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1915-08-12 |title=A Wild Animal Film |volume=xxviii |page=655 |work=[[The Bioscope (film magazine)|The Bioscope]] |issue=461 |location=London |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002396/19150812/095/0025 |url-access=registration |access-date=2022-12-04 |via=[[British Newspaper Archive]]}}</ref>
Circa 1915, the [[Selig Zoo]] held a five-year-old orangutan called Prince Chang.<ref>{{Cite newspaper |date=1915-08-14 |title=Los Angeles Letter |volume=25 |page=1144 |newspaper=[[Moving Picture World]] |issue=7 |url=https://lantern.mediahist.org/catalog/movingpicturewor25newy_1198 |access-date=2022-11-25 |via=[[Media History Digital Library]]}}</ref><ref name=":42">{{Cite news |date=1915-06-26 |title=Chang's Throne Totters |volume=97 |page=9 |work=[[The San Francisco Call]] |issue=154 |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SFC19150626.2.176&srpos=1&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN-%22Prince+chang%22+Selig------- |access-date=2022-11-25 |via=[[California Digital Newspaper Collection]]}}</ref> He supposedly lived in a castle with a southern exposure and its own garden;<ref name=":42" /> his enclosure was said to be electrically heated.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Blaisdell |first1=George |date=1915-07-10 |title=Great Selig Enterprise |volume=25 |pages=227–229 |newspaper=[[Moving Picture World]] |issue=2 |url=https://lantern.mediahist.org/catalog/movingpicturewor25newy_0248 |access-date=2022-11-25 |via=[[Media History Digital Library]]}}</ref> He appeared in a one-reel Selig film called ''The Orang-Outang''.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1915-08-07 |title=Selig display ad |volume=25 |page=1095 |newspaper=[[Moving Picture World]] |issue=6 |url=https://lantern.mediahist.org/catalog/movingpicturewor25newy_1149 |access-date=2022-11-25 |via=[[Media History Digital Library]]}}</ref> Described as "enormous," Chang did not immediately take to the rigors of film production. He reportedly chased costar [[George Larkin]] around the studio while brandishing a cane, and wrecked two sets. Eventually, furniture made of [[cast iron]] bolted to the floor allowed production to continue.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1915-08-12 |title=A Wild Animal Film |volume=xxviii |page=655 |work=[[The Bioscope (film magazine)|The Bioscope]] |issue=461 |location=London |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002396/19150812/095/0025 |url-access=registration |access-date=2022-12-04 |via=[[British Newspaper Archive]]}}</ref>

Revision as of 08:53, 15 February 2023

Selig Zoo
Selig Zoo archway, 1955
Map
Date opened1915
Date closed1935
Location3800 Mission Road, Lincoln Park, Los Angeles, California

The Selig Zoo in Los Angeles, California was an early 20th century animal collection created by Col. W.N. Selig for use in Selig Polyscope Company films and as a tourist attraction. Over the years the zoo was also known as the Luna Park Zoo, California Zoological Gardens, Zoopark, and, eventually, Lincoln Amusement Park.

Beginning in December 1911,[1] Selig had gathered a large collection of animals for his films. Per Haenni, "Selig became the owner of Big Otto Breitkreutz's circus after the latter was unable to repay a debt, and a Selig troupe spent the winter 1910–11 making films in Florida..."[2] In the mid-teens, Selig spent substantial funds acquiring and developing 32 acres (130,000 m2; 0.13 km2) of land in Lincoln Heights northeast of downtown Los Angeles, where he opened a large public zoo. The public opening day of the zoo was June 20, 1915.[3] As of September 1915, the Selig Zoo housed over 700 animals including two giraffes, nine lions, sacred cows from India, llamas from Peru, and sacred monkeys of temple monkeys.[4] The head zookeeper was John Robinson.[4]

Circa 1915, the Selig Zoo held a five-year-old orangutan called Prince Chang.[5][6] He supposedly lived in a castle with a southern exposure and its own garden;[6] his enclosure was said to be electrically heated.[7] He appeared in a one-reel Selig film called The Orang-Outang.[8] Described as "enormous," Chang did not immediately take to the rigors of film production. He reportedly chased costar George Larkin around the studio while brandishing a cane, and wrecked two sets. Eventually, furniture made of cast iron bolted to the floor allowed production to continue.[9]

Two of the keepers at the Selig Zoo were brothers Clarence and noted animal trainer Melvin Koontz.[10] A noted historian of American circuses and circus elephants, Chang Reynolds, worked at the Selig Zoo as a young man.[11]

In 1917 Selig sold the Edendale facility to producer William Fox and moved his movie studio to the zoo in East Los Angeles. Meanwhile, World War I cut severely into the substantial revenues Selig Polyscope had been garnering in Europe and the company shunned profitable movie industry trends, which had shifted towards dramatic (and more costly) full length feature films. Selig Polyscope became insolvent and ceased operations in 1918.

Movie studios rented animals and staged many shoots at the Selig zoo (sometimes later claiming they had been filmed in Africa). The first Tarzan movie (1918) was filmed there. In 1920 Louis B. Mayer rented his first studio space for Mayer Pictures at the site. Selig planned to develop it into a major tourist attraction, amusement park and popular resort named Selig Zoo Park with a Ferris wheel, carousels, mechanical rides, an enormous swimming pool with a sandy beach and a wave-making machine, hotel, theatre, cinema, restaurants and thousands of daily visitors (more than 30 years before Disneyland). Only a single carousel was built. Selig Polyscope's extensive collection of props and furnishings were auctioned off at the zoo in 1923. A year-old California condor captured in Ventura County was installed at the zoo in 1924.[12]


In 1925 a guidebook outlined the attractions for tourists:[13]

On entering, the visitor proceeds first to the Lion House, a low, quadrangular structure in Mission style, with the cages facing inward upon an arcade surrounding a central patio. There are 44 of these cages, containing lions, leopards and monkeys.

Proceeding S., we reach (on R.) a row of outdoor cages containing various birds and animals. Beyond are nine enclosures containing a large collection of pheasants, including some interesting hybrids. Oppo site are the Bear Dens, also a few smaller animals.

Further N. (on R.) are various birds. Opposite are the Ostrich pens. Behind the latter is the Elephant House.

Nearby is a circular Training Cage, where the process of training young lions and tigers for use in e may often be seen in the morning, and where Animal Acts are given Saturdays and Sundays at 3 o'clock .

Returning to entrance by E. path, we pass a group of cages containing a numerous assortment of Storks and Cranes.

The zoo was in operation until about 1935.[14][15] Selig finally sold out following a flood during the Great Depression. Some of the animals were donated to Los Angeles County, forming a substantial addition to Griffith Park Zoo. The property was used as a jalopy racetrack during the 1940s and early 1950s. In 1955 the site was described as "an inactive amusement park."[16]

The carousel survived on the site until 1976 when it was destroyed by fire. The former Selig Zoo's arched front gate with its lavish animal sculptures was a crumbling landmark in Lincoln Heights for many decades. By 2003 the sculptures were reportedly being restored for installation at the Los Angeles Zoo and in 2007 tennis courts were on the site.[17]

Gallery

Selig Zoo

See also

References

  1. ^ Slide, Anthony (1994). Early American Cinema. Scarecrow Press. p. 27. ISBN 978-0-8108-2722-6.
  2. ^ Haenni, Sabine (2016), Lawrence, Michael; Lury, Karen (eds.), "Animal Empire: Thrill and Legitimation at William Selig's Zoo and Jungle Pictures", The Zoo and Screen Media, New York: Palgrave Macmillan US, pp. 87–110, doi:10.1057/978-1-137-53561-0_5, ISBN 978-1-137-54342-4, retrieved 2023-02-15
  3. ^ The Movie Magazine: A National Motion Picture Magazine ... Movie Magazine Publishing Company, Incorporated. 1915. p. 24.
  4. ^ a b "Libyan Desert". The Los Angeles Times. September 5, 1915. p. 13. Retrieved 2023-02-15 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ "Los Angeles Letter". Moving Picture World. Vol. 25, no. 7. August 14, 1915. p. 1144. Retrieved 2022-11-25 – via Media History Digital Library.
  6. ^ a b "Chang's Throne Totters". The San Francisco Call. Vol. 97, no. 154. June 26, 1915. p. 9. Retrieved 2022-11-25 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
  7. ^ Blaisdell, George (July 10, 1915). "Great Selig Enterprise". Moving Picture World. Vol. 25, no. 2. pp. 227–229. Retrieved 2022-11-25 – via Media History Digital Library.
  8. ^ "Selig display ad". Moving Picture World. Vol. 25, no. 6. August 7, 1915. p. 1095. Retrieved 2022-11-25 – via Media History Digital Library.
  9. ^ "A Wild Animal Film". The Bioscope. Vol. xxviii, no. 461. London. August 12, 1915. p. 655. Retrieved 2022-12-04 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  10. ^ Buck, Frank; Weld, Carol (1939). Animals are like that. New York: R.M. McBride and Co.
  11. ^ Reynolds, Chang (1966). Pioneer circuses of the West. Westernlore Press. OCLC 1352405.
  12. ^ Law, J. Eugene; Wyman, L. E.; Wright, W. S.; Bryant, Harold C. (July 1924). "From Field and Study". The Condor. 26 (4): 153–155. doi:10.2307/1363221. ISSN 1938-5129.
  13. ^ Rider, Fremont; Cooper, Frederic Taber (1925). Rider's California; a guide-book for travelers, with 28 maps and plans. New York: The Macmillan company: London, G. Allen & Unwin, ltd.
  14. ^ Locke, Michael (November 11, 2014). Silver Lake Chronicles: Exploring an Urban Oasis in Los Angeles. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 978-1-62584-682-2.
  15. ^ Dangcil, Thomas; Dangcil, Tommy (2002). Hollywood, 1900-1950, in Vintage Postcards. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7385-2073-5.
  16. ^ "Los Angeles Times: Lionesses on archway of entrance to the Selig Zoo". UCLA Digital Library. Retrieved 2018-06-21.
  17. ^ Hall, Carla (May 14, 2009). "Zoo to display lion statues from early L.A. menagerie". LA Times. Retrieved 2018-06-21.
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