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Image / Performing at Luna Park Zoo, view 1

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Title
Performing at Luna Park Zoo, view 1
Alternative Title
Security Pacific National Bank Photo Collection
Date Created and/or Issued
Circa 1925
Contributing Institution
Los Angeles Public Library
Collection
Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection
Rights Information
Images available for reproduction and use. Please see the Ordering & Use page at http://tessa.lapl.org/OrderingUse.html for additional information.
Description
Opened to the public on June 20, 1915, the Selig Zoo, located at 3800 N. Mission Road, also served as a film production studio for the Selig Polyscope Company, and briefly the Louis B. Mayer Pictures Corporation. Dramatic entrance gates featuring statues of elephants and lions were designed by Italian sculptor Carlo Romanelli, with interior structures by Arthur Burnett Benton. Selig Polyscope became insolvent in 1918, and over the years the zoo changed names and ownership. It was known as the Selig Zoo (1915-1925), Luna Park Zoo (1925-1931), L.A. Wild Animal Farms (1931-1932), the California Zoological Gardens (1932-1936), and Zoopark (1936-1940). The zoo officially closed in 1940 and many of the animals were relocated to the Los Angeles Zoo in Griffith Park. The Mission Road grounds would subsequently serve as the Lincoln Speedway and the Lincoln Amusement Park, before being redeveloped in the 1950s. The entrance gates would remain standing into the 1960s, before being dismantled and moved to an Inland Empire junkyard. The statues were rediscovered in 2000 and donated to the Los Angeles Zoo, where some of them are now on display.
A man and woman are shown performing in an enclosed area with a jaguar at the Luna Park Zoo. The woman is wearing a Spanish-style costume.
Type
image
Format
1 photograph :b&w
Photographic prints
Identifier
00019635
Security Pacific National Bank Collection
L.A.-Zoos-Luna Park Zoo.; G-001-996.1 4x5
CARL0000023449
http://173.196.26.125/cdm/ref/collection/photos/id/89080
Subject
Luna Park Zoo (Lincoln Heights, Los Angeles, Calif.)
Zoos--California--Lincoln Heights (Los Angeles)
Jaguars
Zoo animals--California--Los Angeles
Animal cages--California--Los Angeles
Inclosures--California--Los Angeles
Parks--California--Lincoln Heights (Los Angeles)
Lincoln Park (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Lincoln Heights (Los Angeles, Calif.)

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