The Old Los Angeles Zoo, Once a New Deal Initiative, Now a Monument to Decay

We once had a government who cared about the unhoused and unemployed.

Wandering through the eerie ruins of the Old Los Angeles Zoo, it’s hard to imagine a government that once cared about innovation and employment. Built in 1912 and operational until 1965, much of the construction during the 1930s created jobs during the Great Depression.

In the 1930s, when most of the country lived in dust bowls and shanty towns due to a lack of jobs, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and County Relief workers played a significant role in enhancing the zoo’s facilities.

Workers built walls, caves, and other enclosures within the zoo grounds, considered. The powers that be considered the facility a state-of-the-art addition to the city housing bears, lions, monkeys, and exotic birds.

However, the small, iron-barred cages and concrete pits once thought adequate for wild creatures drew increasing criticism from the now-thriving middle classes. The zoo officially closed in 1966 once the city constructed more humane and spacious accommodations.