LA Zoo — Attraction in Los Angeles

As a child, I remembered my parent’s taking me to this zoo and enjoyed that experience. I actually went to the original zoo when it was named the “Griffith Park Zoo” and before it closed in 1966. On this trip, which was shortly after returning from our trip to Hawaii (April 2013), we drove down on a three day break to Los Angeles to visit both Universal Studios and the Los Angeles Zoo. I got a good package deal from “AAA” (that’s auto insurance, not Alcohol’s anonymous) for hotel and theme tickets.

Since I only remembered the zoo when my parents took me as a child, I wanted to relive the experience with my children so they too could say the same thing later in life. Everything about this zoo is different and new to me. Of course, it’s in a new location and much larger. The old zoo was a lot smaller to begin with and didn’t have a Botanical Garden. I was impressed at how this on got up and running, although it had its share of trouble. Here is a little background I found on this zoo:

The zoo back then was known as “Griffith Park Zoo” and first opened in 1912 and was located 2 miles away from where it’s currently located today. The zoo closed in August 1966, but remnants can still be seen today.

This zoo also had some notable escapes from animals over the years (1990’s - 2000’s) when at least 35 animals escaped to include “Zebras, kangaroos, antelopes, and chimps.” No word if they were ever recaptured but every now and then you hear people saying, “Those animals were the ones responsible for this mess!” So, I’m assuming they’re still out there!

Another episode was when “Evelyn the Gorilla escaped her enclosure” on five different occasions and was covered by the news media before she was eventually tranquilized. They said their pen was originally built for bears but that all changed in 2007, when they completed construction on the new “Campo Gorilla Reserve.” “I guess they weren’t monkeying around!”

And lastly, in 1979, “Virginia the Wolf” escaped the zoo multiple times hiding in Griffith Park and no word of she was ever recaptured.

We really got a kick out of “LAIR” place because of all the small creatures you don’t normally associate with in your everyday life. We went into the “Damp Forest” which is 6,000 square feet and houses a wide variety of animals to include; the West African green mamba, Australian lungfish, Pit Viper, poison dart frogs, plus numerous others. The habitats were well constructed well and the animals appeared to be well adapted to their environments.

After the LAIR we checked out the Arroyo Lagarto, which comprised of outdoor exhibits for the “California desert tortoise,” “Madagascar spider tortoise,” “Madagascar tortoise,” and the “Desert Lizards.” All the exhibits drew plenty of “Aaaaa’s and Ooooo’s!” We would go on to see the rest of the reptiles at the “Desert LAIR” which is a 2,000sq ft. secondary building which housed animals from Mexico, Arizona, and Southern California.

My favorite was the $42 million 3.8 acres complex where they house different types of elephants from the Far East. We watched as we saw elephants go under a waterfall, which they were obviously enjoying on this hot day and drew large crowds.

The Los Angeles Zoo has also been credited with bringing back the endangered California condor, through their successful breeding program. The species were almost extinct from a low 22 in the 1980’s to over 430 today.

Moving on, we eventually took a “zoo train of sorts,” which is a long line of cabs chained together around the zoo that we wouldn’t normally see had we walked! Taking this train was a great break from “hoofing it” around this huge park.

Yaa, and by the end of the day, I can honestly say, we were all pretty tired and fell asleep shortly thereafter at our hotel (Embassy Suites in Valencia...

My friends had a guest pass for me to use so we all went one day before their membership was about to expire. The zoo is open daily from 10AM-5PM and parking is always free, outside of their Preferred Parking Program. This program operates on busy days and offers nearby parking for a small cash-only fee. I'm not sure if this is always the case, but Honda was sponsoring the program the day we went so we were able to park for free nearby since my friend was driving his Honda. Admission is $20/adults but they do offer senior and child discounts.

The zoo is quite large and we were not able to go through all of them since my friend's young children became tired after a couple of hours. I had not been to a zoo in decades, though, so it was still cool to me to see the various animals. I will admit that it makes me sad to see them trapped in their enclosures, limited to a small amount of space for the rest of their lives, but I tell myself it is for the good of the species (to prevent extinction and increase awareness). We were able to see meerkats, flamingos, elephants, tigers and lions, kangaroos and koalas, otters, various birds and monkeys... we saw a lot of animals! There was also a bird show that we got to see, and it was cool to see how well trained they are.

They allow outside food here, so make sure to pack lots of snacks and liquids since the food/drinks here are expensive. There is a lot of walking so having a lot of water is always good when you come on a hot day. While I wish I had been able to see more of the zoo during my visit, I am happy that I came and do not really feel the need to come back. If you have young children, however, I think an annual pass would be good since the kids really liked the zoo and they can also only handle a couple of hours...

Had an amazing time with my babies we spent the day just walking slowly sitting enjoying some shade there's lots of shade! Big beautiful trees a picnic area in front and 1 in very back you can take food in water or buy it there it wasn't very expensive except for the vending machines $5 for a can but it's nice that you can take in your own Waters or mini ice chest parking was easy not a lot of walking to the car there's a lot of vendors out front with different things I recommend you getting the sunscreen in the front for $10 if you happen to forget it because inside the park it is about $13 for the same size parking is free scooter rentals are $40 wheelchair is 15 but they are available the only thing is it's open from 10:00 to 5:00 so not long hours at all what we missed was the petting zoo didn't notice it but when you first walk in if you go to the right you will run right into it we went to the left so by the time we were done they have to put the animals away about 4:00 it takes about 3 hours to see the whole park not very big not a lot of the animals were out most of the animals were not out a lot of the exhibits were closed but I did notice that the the three shows they had started at the same time a different areas of the park and they were all about 12:00 and there was only one showing the animals we did see where the flamingos The Monkees the zebras play The mountain goats elephants giraffes 1 seal the fish and the reptiles everything was either not in its place or closed for construction but it was nice we got out just to spend the day outside will I go again probably not but to visit California and spend time with the kids...