Nestled just northeast of DTLA, Lincoln Heights is now a bustling urban neighborhood full of historic buildings and quiet streets. Few would imagine that, over a century ago, this area was home to a very unusual attraction: a full-scale zoo where the animals weren’t just for visitors, but they were also actual movie stars…
The Selig Zoo was located near what is today the corner of North Broadway and Daly Street. It was the creation of William Selig, a pioneering film producer who founded the Selig Polyscope Company. Opening around 1913, Selig’s zoo quickly became the go-to place for filmmakers in need of live animal actors, as The Academy website explains.
At its peak, the Selig Zoo housed hundreds of animals, including elephants, lions, tigers, monkeys, and even camels. The zoo’s residents appeared in dozens of silent films, often performing stunts and scenes that thrilled early movie audiences, including serials like The Adventures of Kathlyn (1913) and shorts such as Hearts of the Jungle (1915). The facility covered several acres, a mix of enclosures, training areas, and sets designed specifically for film production, according to PBS.
Despite its fame, the zoo eventually closed in the 1930s due to financial troubles and changing film production practices. Today, there’s no trace of the animal enclosures or movie sets, and under modern animal welfare laws, a place like this could never exist. Still, the quirky story of Hollywood’s first animal stars lives on in the history of Lincoln Heights and early cinema.