The old Zoo, Griffith Park

Los Angeles has the one of the largest urban parks in the country – Griffith park. In 1912 a zoo was built there, by 1965 it was felt that the zoo was too small and inhumane to the animals. So a new zoo was built, also in the park.

Today the old zoo  is a picnic area.Some of the old enclosures are now open and even have picnic tables in them. Btw, it looks like these people are doing some kind of photography shoot, very common in LA. I have no idea if this is an advertisement or part of a movie or simply a home video.Those people up there? They didn’t climb up, they entered from the back and actually came down some pretty steep steps.The back road goes behind the enclosures. You can see from the angle of the bars how steep the stairs are. These days graffiti covers everything. Some people call it art, others call it vandalism. I’m more towards the vandalism side, but I have to admit it is bright and colorful.Many others shared the path with us, in this case – skateboarders.As we continued our  hike, we could hear a lot of music. Both from the merry-go-round and from private birthday parties. Bringing in a bouncie is an integral part of any birthday in the park.It’s spring, a lot of plants are blooming.The rains we’ve had this winter have turned the hillsides a luscious green, it will soon fade to golden brown, so we relish it while we can.On the other hand, erosion turns the bare hillsides into fascinating shapes.As we climbed higher the vistas opened up. Looking north east towards the Glendale narrows on the LA River. The municipal golf course (named for presidents Wilson and Harding) is in the foreground with the red tower of the Autry Museum. The 134 freeway spanning the river and the hills of Glendale and Burbank beyond.Further up and we looked south at the sparkling buildings of downtown. The tallest building was recently sold, so the US Bank sign has come down but nothing has replaced it yet. The top floors will soon be a restaurant and a club.Looking east to Atwater village, El Sereno and Montecito heights. This is the greenest part of the LA river with a lot of birds and wildlife. In the summer people now ride canoes through here.A burnt out tree trunk with downtown Glendale in the background.Back to the zoo, these old cages may be small, but they were built to last.The gate was open, it was an easy in and out.I know, this looks like some strange blowfish. It must have fallen from one of the trees. Rather alien looking.

Another glorious Sunday walking around LA.