Selig Zoo

About

The Selig Zoo originated from the ambitions of William Nicholas Selig, a silent film pioneer who founded the Selig Polyscope Company in Chicago in 1896. After establishing Southern California's first permanent film studio in 1909, Selig began collecting animals for his popular "jungle pictures" and other films. This led to the creation of Selig's Wild Animal Farm in Santa Monica around 1911. In 1915, Selig opened the much larger and more elaborate Selig Zoo on 32 acres in Lincoln Heights, northeast of downtown Los Angeles, initially housing over 700 animals. The zoo functioned as a public attraction while simultaneously serving as a backlot for film productions, with animals starring in movies and even being rented to other studios. Its famous entrance gates, adorned with elaborate lion and elephant sculptures by Carlo Romanelli, greeted an estimated 150,000 visitors in its first six months. However, due to financial struggles, changing film industry trends, and the devastations of the Great Depression and a major flood in 1938, the Selig Polyscope Company became insolvent by 1918, and the zoo underwent several ownership changes and rebrandings, including Luna Park Zoo, California Zoological Gardens, and Zoopark. The zoo finally ceased operations around 1940, with some animals donated to the nascent Los Angeles Zoo. The iconic entrance sculptures were eventually rediscovered, restored, and installed at the modern Los Angeles Zoo in 2009, while the original site is now occupied by tennis courts and commercial structures.