Just past the Griffith Park carousel and not far from the current site of the Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Gardens in the Santa Monica Mountains you’ll find the abandoned remnants of the old Los Angeles Zoo. Open from 1912 until 1965, the majority of construction was completed during the 1930s by WPA workers as part of President Roosevelt’s New Deal program which provided jobs for the millions left unemployed by the Great Depression. These workers hand-sculpted a series of painted concrete enclosures reminiscent of ancient Mayan stone ruins that were also mean to resemble the natural habitats of the animals housed within. Most prominent are the large rock grottoes and caves with maze-like interior structures of stairways, tunnels and cages. Another trail winds behind the concrete habitats and leads to an old stable, bird cages, aviary house and river.
4730 Crystal Springs Boulevard, Los Angeles