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63-660: The Selig Zoo in Los Angeles, California was an early 20th century animal collection managed by Col. W.N. Selig for use in Selig Polyscope Company films and as a tourist attraction. Over the years the zoo was also known as the Luna Park Zoo , California Zoological Gardens , Zoopark , and, eventually, Lincoln Amusement Park . After Westerns, "animal pictures" were Selig's second-most popular genre of film product. According to Haenni, "Selig became

126-486: A Ferris wheel , carousels , mechanical rides, an enormous swimming pool with a sandy beach and a wave-making machine, hotel, theatre, cinema, restaurants and thousands of daily visitors (more than 30 years before Disneyland ). Only a single carousel was built. Selig Polyscope's extensive collection of props and furnishings were auctioned off at the zoo in 1923. A young California condor captured in Ventura County

189-634: A magician , Selig called himself " Professor Selig", later awarding himself the title of Colonel . A mechanic to whom Selig turned for help had unknowingly made a duplicate Cinématographe for a travelling Lumière operator, and Selig's camera and Polyscope projector were based on the drawings of the Lumière machine. In 1894, at the Texas State Fair in Dallas, Texas , Selig met employees from Thomas Edison ’s laboratory who were demonstrating

252-457: A German-speaking immigrant family, in a predominantly Polish section of Chicago and attended primary school there. William N. Selig entered show business as "Selig the Conjurer" and morphed into the impresario of "Selig's Mastodon Minstrels," which featured Bert Williams, along with "five whites, four blacks, and a Mexican' who drove the horse team and played trombone" and then into the owner of

315-685: A Western short shot in Yosemite and produced and directed by Boggs for the Selig Polyscope Company was released in September 1910. In 1911, Boggs was murdered by a Japanese gardener employed by the company. Selig was shot and wounded in the arm while trying to defend him. Settling with Edison, Selig joined the Motion Picture Patents Company and in 1913 joined with Vitagraph, Lubin and Essanay to form

378-499: A bridge at the mouth of the river collapsed killing ten people. To the west, Venice and other coastal communities were flooded with the overflow of Ballona Creek . The Los Angeles Times chartered a United Air Lines Mainliner to provide them an aerial view of flooding damage. The reporter remarked: "Disaster, gutted farmlands, ruined roads, shattered communications, wrecked railroad lines—all leap into sharp-etched reality from that altitude." Communities and mining operations in

441-407: A few buildings in isolated canyons and some low-lying areas along rivers. Fifteen hours later on March 1, at approximately 8:45 PM, a second storm hit the area, creating gale-force winds along the coast and pouring down even more rain. The storm brought rainfall totals to 10 in (250 mm) in the lowlands and upwards of 32 in (810 mm) in the mountains. When the storm ended on March 3,

504-531: A few days. Between 113–115 people were killed by the flooding. The Los Angeles , San Gabriel , and Santa Ana Rivers burst their banks, inundating much of the coastal plain, the San Fernando and San Gabriel Valleys , and the Inland Empire . Flood control structures spared parts of Los Angeles County from destruction, while Orange and Riverside Counties experienced more damage. The flood of 1938

567-501: A group of cages containing a numerous assortment of Storks and Cranes. The zoo was in operation until about 1935. Selig finally sold out following a Los Angeles flood of 1938 during the Great Depression and what was then called Zoopark ceased to exist in 1940 after the cages and equipment were removed. Some of the animals were donated to Los Angeles County , forming a substantial addition to Griffith Park Zoo . The property

630-521: A hotel, a large swimming area, theaters and restaurants, believing thousands of visitors a day would flock to the location. As head zookeeper he hired Cy DeVry , who had been director of the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago. However, only a single carousel was ever built and the crowds never came. A business which ten years earlier had been one of the most prolific and widely known movie studios in

693-665: A large collection of pheasants, including some interesting hybrids. Oppo site are the Bear Dens, also a few smaller animals. Further N. (on R.) are various birds. Opposite are the Ostrich pens. Behind the latter is the Elephant House. Nearby is a circular Training Cage, where the process of training young lions and tigers for use in e may often be seen in the morning, and where Animal Acts are given Saturdays and Sundays at 3 o'clock . Returning to entrance by E. path, we pass

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756-493: A large debris flow not been halted at Big Tujunga Dam . Sam Browne, dam keeper during the 1938 flood, wrote that "Large oak trees several hundred years old rushed down the canyon like kindling... If this dam had never been built, there is no telling what would have happened to Sunland , and the city of Tujunga and the northern end of Glendale ." On the San Gabriel River , dams built prior to 1938 greatly reduced

819-556: A larger volume than the 1938 flood. Due to its location between the Pacific Ocean and the high San Gabriel Mountains , the Los Angeles Basin is subject to flash floods caused by heavy orographic precipitation from Pacific storms hitting the mountains. Due to the arid climate, soils are too hard to absorb water quickly during storm events, resulting in large amounts of surface runoff . The steep, rocky terrain of

882-439: A special Academy Honorary Award to acknowledge their role in building the film industry. Selig married Mary Holdeness Pinkham (1875–1956). Selig retired and ceased most film production in 1918, due to the same poor health that had sent him to California in 1893. Selig continued some independent film production and sponsored mountaineering expeditions and explorers. William Selig died on July 15, 1948. His ashes were stored in

945-558: A western set in Alaska, is often cited as his greatest success. In 1915, the United States Supreme Court nullified all of Edison's MPPC patents, breaking the cartel and allowing increased competition. In 1916, Selig sued George Fabyan on the grounds that profits from forthcoming films of Shakespeare's works, along with a film on "The Life of Shakespeare", would be damaged by Fabyan's assertion that Francis Bacon

1008-640: A young man. In 1917 Selig sold the Edendale production facility to William Fox and moved Selig Polyscope to the zoo in East Los Angeles. Meanwhile, World War I cut severely into the substantial European revenues Selig Polyscope had been garnering, and the company shunned profitable movie industry trends, which had shifted towards dramatic (and more costly) full length feature films . Selig Polyscope became insolvent and ceased operations in 1918. Movie studios rented animals and staged many shoots at

1071-513: Is considered a 50-year flood . It caused $ 78 million of damage ($ 1.69 billion in 2023 dollars), making it one of the costliest natural disasters in Los Angeles' history. In response to the floods, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and other agencies began to channelize local streams in concrete, and built many new flood control dams and debris basins . These works have been instrumental in protecting Southern California from subsequent flooding events, such as in 1969 and 2005 , which both had

1134-528: The Bridge to Nowhere , a 120-foot (37 m) tall arch bridge that was saved due to its height above the floodwaters. Located about 5 miles (8.0 km) from the nearest road, the bridge is now a popular destination for hikers and bungee jumpers. In Riverside and Orange Counties, the Santa Ana River reached a peak flow of about 100,000 cubic feet per second (2,800 m /s), completely overwhelming

1197-478: The Edendale area of Los Angeles with director Francis Boggs . Southern California's weather allowed outdoor filming for most of the year and offered varied geography and settings which could stand in for far-flung locations around the world. Los Angeles also seemed to offer geographical isolation from Edison's Motion Picture Patents Company (MPPC), a cartel which Selig later reluctantly joined. The Sergeant ,

1260-468: The Kinetoscope . He returned to Chicago, opened a small photography studio and began investigating how he might make his own moving pictures without paying a patent fee to Edison's company. Selig reportedly found a metalworker who had unwittingly repaired a Lumière brothers motion picture camera and, with his help, developed a working system. With machinist Andrew Schutsek, he produced a similarity to

1323-627: The Los Angeles Zoo and in 2007 tennis courts were on the site. Col. W.N. Selig Born to immigrant parents living in Chicago, Selig apprenticed as an upholsterer, but got his start in vaudeville, touring the Midwest as a magician's assistant. Creating his own magic act, Colonel Selig toured the country and produced a touring vaudeville show, Selig’s Mastodon Minstrels , based in San Francisco. In 1896, Selig created one of

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1386-625: The Mojave River burst its banks, damaging long stretches of the ATSF railroad and causing damage in Victorville and Barstow . The main line between Barstow and Los Angeles was closed for a week. The Southern Pacific Railroad main line over Tehachapi Pass was closed for two weeks, requiring emergency service via buses and trucks. Structures in the Acton area were also lost as the banks of

1449-601: The V-L-S-E, Incorporated distribution company; prominent productions included Hunting Big Game in Africa 1909, a studio-made film of Theodore Roosevelt's exploits on safari; The Coming of Columbus 1912, a three-reeler which won a medal from Pope Pius X ; and The Adventures of Kathlyn 1913, the first serial with Kathlyn Williams. Selig had studios in Chicago and the Edendale, Los Angeles , and produced animal pictures, with

1512-559: The cinématographe . In 1896, Selig founded the Selig Polyscope Company in Chicago, producing not only motion pictures but also film equipment, as one of the first motion picture studios in America, making actuality shorts, travelogues and industrial films for Chicago businesses. Multiscope & Film Company gained a five year franchise in 1895 with the Edison Vitagraph Company of Chicago and New York to show

1575-803: The 1907 "Great Bridge" along the Monrovia–Glendora Pacific Electric line, which had survived the San Gabriel's seasonal flooding for over 30 years, were swept away in the torrent. Along the East Fork of the San Gabriel River, flooding obliterated much of a new highway that was intended to connect the San Gabriel Valley to Wrightwood . The southern stub of the highway has been rebuilt as today's East Fork Road , but north of Heaton Flat little remains except for

1638-510: The 1930s, but ultimately lost the zoo and his assets during the Great Depression . He then became a literary agent, re-selling story rights to film properties he had produced or acquired years before. see: fr:William Selig For his contributions to the motion picture industry, William Selig has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6116 Hollywood Boulevard. In 1947, Selig and several other early movie producers and directors shared

1701-486: The 1938 flood, after which federal funds were made available for both dams. Santa Fe was completed in 1949, and Whittier Narrows in 1956. Construction was also expedited at Prado Dam , which had been planned in 1936 but work had not yet started at the time of the 1938 flood. Had Prado Dam been operational in 1938 it would likely have prevented the severe flooding in Orange County. Although some river channel work

1764-552: The Al-Vista, later a series of panoramic still cameras. In November 1900, Selig incorporated the Selig Polyscope Company . By 1904, he focused on slapstick comedies and minstrel-comic scenes, and producing the first Westerns of Broncho Billy Anderson , the later co-founder of Essanay Studios . In 1909, Selig was the first producer to expand filmmaking operations to the West Coast , where he set up studio facilities in

1827-751: The Hall of Memory Columbarium at the Chapel of the Pines Crematory in Los Angeles. Los Angeles flood of 1938 The Los Angeles flood of 1938 was one of the largest floods in the history of Los Angeles , Orange , and Riverside Counties in southern California . The flood was caused by two Pacific storms that swept across the Los Angeles Basin in February-March 1938 and generated almost one year's worth of precipitation in just

1890-478: The Los Angeles River system were encased in concrete, a huge undertaking that took twenty years to complete. The system successfully protected Los Angeles from massive flooding in 1969. The San Gabriel and Santa Ana Rivers were also ultimately channelized to protect against future floods, although it took much longer for those projects to be completed. In response to the large debris flows generated by

1953-674: The Multiscope and Film Company, and his made first film, The Tramp and the Dog . Selig also copied the productions of others, like other pioneer companies, for his sale, through his own catalogues, his activity brought the attention of the lawyers of Edison. Selig made films in the Southwest. Multiscope and Film Company produced, in Burlington, Wisconsin , the first successful commercial 180-degree panoramic camera made in quantity,

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2016-611: The San Gabriel Mountains further contributes to the rapid runoff and resultant flooding hazard. Between February 27 and 28, 1938, a storm from the Pacific Ocean moved inland into the Los Angeles Basin, running eastward into the San Gabriel Mountains . The area received almost constant rain totaling 4.4 in (110 mm) from February 27-March 1. This caused minor flooding that affected only

2079-561: The San Gabriel Mountains such as Camp Baldy were destroyed, stranding hundreds of people for days. As many as 25 buildings were destroyed in the Arroyo Seco canyon, although due to a successful evacuation, no one was killed. Two Civilian Conservation Corps camps, three guard stations and a ranger station were destroyed, along with 60 campgrounds. Almost every road and trail leading into the Angeles National Forest

2142-470: The Santa Clara River crumbled, during the flood on March 2, 1938. Dams such as those at San Gabriel and Big Tujunga greatly reduced downstream damage in the 1938 flood. Many even larger dams were built after the flood to provide a greater degree of protection to downstream communities. Hansen Dam had already begun construction but stood incomplete during the 1938 flood and was unable to prevent

2205-551: The Selig Polyscope Company that made and licensed projection equipment. Selig started as a furniture upholsterer. Selig apprenticed to a magician, and, still a teen, toured the Midwest as a vaudeville performer in his own minstrel show. He later settled in San Francisco and toured the state as "Selig the Conjurer." One of the actors was Bert Williams , who went on to become a leading African-American entertainer. As

2268-566: The Selig zoo (sometimes later claiming they had been filmed in Africa ). The first Tarzan movie (1918) was filmed there. In 1920 Louis B. Mayer rented his first studio space for Mayer Pictures at the site. Also in 1920 the Selig Zoo acquired a hyacinth macaw . Selig planned to develop the property into a major tourist attraction, amusement park and popular resort named Selig Zoo Park with

2331-445: The Selig's Jungle Zoo near Eastlake Park growing to the then-largest collection of 700+ wild animals. Selig produced almost a thousand movies and was responsible for developing new film talent such as Roscoe Arbuckle along with early cowboy western stars Gilbert M. "Bronco Billy" Anderson and Tom Mix . He also popularized the cliffhanger format through the serial (film) The Adventures of Kathlyn (1913). The Spoilers (1914),

2394-719: The case was concocted by both parties for publicity, since Selig and Fabyan were known to be old friends. An official of the Selig Company was quoted as saying, about the initial loss of the case, "Isn't that sad. That will be about nine million columns of publicity, won't it?" At great expense, Selig created a zoo in East Los Angeles , stocked with hundreds of animals he had collected for his studio's jungle pictures and cliffhangers. He also moved his studio there. Meanwhile, World War I began cutting into profits from Selig Polyscope's extensive European operations and, as

2457-409: The ciphers identified by Fabyan's analyst Elizabeth Wells Gallup were authentic and that Francis Bacon was therefore the author of the works. Damages of $ 5,000 were awarded to Fabyan for the interference with the publication of the book. In the ensuing uproar, Tuthill rescinded his decision, and another judge, Judge Frederick A. Smith, dismissed the ruling. It was later suggested by the press that

2520-471: The damage occurred on the windward (southwestern) side of the San Gabriel and San Bernardino Mountains, large amounts of rain also fell on the northeast side which drains to the Mojave Desert . The Little Rock Dam on Little Rock Creek overtopped during the flood due to a damaged spillway siphon that had been plugged by debris; hundreds of people in downstream Palmdale were evacuated. Further east,

2583-465: The devastating flooding along Tujunga Wash. The dam was completed two years later, in 1940. The Sepulveda Dam was built in 1941 to prevent the Los Angeles River from flooding the lower San Fernando Valley, Burbank and Glendale. Along the San Gabriel River, the Santa Fe Dam and Whittier Narrows Dam had both been proposed prior to 1938, but had little political support until the devastation of

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2646-418: The first film production companies, Selig Polyscope Company of Chicago. He produced a string of commercially successful films in the early years of the film industry. His The Tramp and the Dog (1896) is considered the first narrative film set in Chicago. Selig may have made the first narrative film shot in Los Angeles, The Count of Monte Cristo (1908), and in 1909, in a corporate expansion established

2709-590: The first moving pictures in the State of Minnesota and gained rights from the holder of Wisconsin’s franchisee to operate the first Vitagraph moving picture shows in Burlington and Elkhorn, making Burlington the first place outside of the largest metropolitan American cities in which the Vitascope was exhibited. In 1896, in a loft, at 43 Peck Court in Burlington, Wisconsin , Selig co-founded his first film company,

2772-408: The first permanent L.A. studio, in Edendale, Los Angeles . Selig also produced the first Wizard of Oz film in 1910, the first two-reeler (about 20 minutes) film, Damon and Pythias (1908), and the first true serial , The Adventures of Kathlyn (1913–1914). William Nicholas Selig was born March 14, 1864, at 10 Kramer Street, Chicago, Illinois, to Antonia ( née Linsky) and Joseph Franz Selig,

2835-685: The flood line". In the San Fernando Valley, the floodwaters swept through many areas after escaping the normal channels of Tujunga Creek and its tributaries. Waters reached deep into the valley; the Pacoima Wash flooded Van Nuys . Five people died when the Lankershim Boulevard bridge collapsed at Universal City , just below the confluence of Tujunga Wash and the LA River. The flooding would have been much worse had

2898-492: The magnitude of flooding. Along the West Fork the floodwaters first hit Cogswell Dam , which had been completed just four years earlier in 1934. Cogswell moderately reduced the flood crest on the West Fork, which further downstream joined with the undammed East Fork to peak at more than 100,000 cu ft/s (2,800 m /s). The floodwaters poured into the reservoir of the still incomplete San Gabriel Dam , filling it over

2961-727: The mid-teens, Selig spent substantial funds acquiring and developing 32 acres (0.050 sq mi; 0.13 km) of land in Lincoln Heights northeast of downtown Los Angeles , where he built a large elaborate zoo. The famous entrance gates were designed by an Italian sculptor named Romanelli. The public opening day of the zoo was June 20, 1915. As of September 1915, the Selig Zoo housed over 700 animals including two giraffes (named Fritz and Leni), nine lions, sacred cows from India, llamas from Peru, and an unidentified species of "temple monkey." Elephant performer Toddles came to Selig from Big Otto by way of Ringling . The head zookeeper

3024-487: The night of March 2-3 and overtopping the emergency spillway . The maximum release from San Gabriel was held at 60,000 cu ft/s (1,700 m /s), while the downstream Morris Dam further reduced the peak, to about 30,000 cu ft/s (850 m /s). As a result, much of the San Gabriel Valley were spared from flooding, although heavy damage still occurred in some areas. In Azusa, four spans of

3087-693: The owner of Big Otto Breitkreutz 's circus after the latter was unable to repay a debt, and a Selig troupe spent the winter of 1910–11 making films in Florida..." By December 1911, Selig had gathered a large collection of animals for his films so he bought 300 acres (0.47 sq mi; 1.2 km) somewhere in Santa Monica near the Los Angeles Pacific Interurban Railroad line for Selig's Wild Animal Farm. Big Otto managed Selig's Wild Animal Farm from 1912 to 1914. In

3150-439: The resulting damage was horrific. The 1938 flood destroyed 5,601 homes and businesses and damaged a further 1,500 properties. The flooding was accompanied by massive debris flows of mud, boulders, and downed trees, which surged out of the foothill canyons. Transport and communication were cut off for many days as roads and railroads were buried, and power, gas, and communication lines were cut. Dozens of bridges were destroyed by

3213-422: The sheer erosive force of floodwaters or by the collision of floating buildings and other wreckage. Some communities were buried as much as 6 feet (1.8 m) deep in sand and sediment, requiring a massive cleanup effort afterward. It took from two days to a week to restore highway service to most impacted areas. The Pacific Electric rail system, serving Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino, and Riverside Counties,

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3276-459: The studio while brandishing a cane, and wrecked two sets. Eventually, furniture made of cast iron bolted to the floor allowed production to continue. Two of the keepers at the Selig Zoo were brothers Clarence and Melvin Koontz , the latter of whom went on to a long career as an animal trainer. A noted historian of American circuses and circus elephants, Chang Reynolds , worked at the Selig Zoo as

3339-653: The surrounding dikes and transforming low-lying parts of Riverside County and Orange County into huge, shallow lakes. A reporter for the Los Angeles Times described the river as "swollen crazy-mad". Forty-three people were killed in Atwood and La Jolla in Placentia . Flooding in the city of Riverside took another 15 lives. The cities of Anaheim and Santa Ana in Orange County were flooded up to 6 feet (1.8 m) deep for several weeks. Although most of

3402-413: The war ended, the film industry moved towards more expensively produced full-length feature films. Under these circumstances, Selig Polyscope was unable to compete and closed in 1918. Nonetheless, Selig had great hopes for the zoo. Over thirty years before Walt Disney built Disneyland , Selig made plans to expand it into a major amusement park and resort called Selig Zoo Park, with many mechanical rides,

3465-413: The world had, in effect, become a struggling zoo on the other side of downtown Los Angeles from Hollywood's booming post-World War I film industry. Although for a time he was able to rent space on the lot for wild animal "location" shooting and other projects, this side of the business quickly dwindled into an animal rental service. Selig did some work as an independent producer and expedition promoter into

3528-567: The worst hit area being the San Fernando Valley, where many communities had been built during the economic boom of the 1920s in low-lying areas once used for agriculture. In fact, many properties were located in old river beds that had not seen flooding in some years. Swollen by its flooded tributaries, the Los Angeles River reached a maximum flood stage of about 99,000 cubic feet per second (2,800 m /s). The water surged south, inundating Compton before reaching Long Beach , where

3591-418: Was John Robinson. The Selig Zoo held a five-year-old orangutan called Prince Chang. He supposedly lived in a castle with a southern exposure and its own garden; his enclosure was said to be electrically heated. He appeared in a one-reel Selig film called The Orang-Outang . Described as "enormous," Chang did not immediately take to the rigors of film production. He reportedly chased costar George Larkin around

3654-503: Was already in place at the time, the 1938 flood was the main impetus for channelizing the Los Angeles River in concrete, speeding the flow of floodwaters to the sea. The channelization project, authorized by the Flood Control Act of 1941, was undertaken by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers starting just a few years after the 1938 flood, with emergency funding from the federal government. About 278 miles (447 km) of streams in

3717-454: Was damaged or destroyed by erosion and landslides. About 190 men had to be evacuated from one of the CCC camps, near Vogel Flats, using a cable strung across Big Tujunga Canyon. The Tujunga Wash reached its peak flow on March 3, with a water flow of an estimated 54,000 cubic feet per second (1,500 m /s). Upper Big Tujunga Canyon was "all but swept clean of structures that were not up above

3780-592: Was installed at the zoo in 1924. In 1925 a guidebook outlined the attractions for tourists: On entering, the visitor proceeds first to the Lion House, a low, quadrangular structure in Mission style, with the cages facing inward upon an arcade surrounding a central patio. There are 44 of these cages, containing lions, leopards and monkeys. Proceeding S., we reach (on R.) a row of outdoor cages containing various birds and animals. Beyond are nine enclosures containing

3843-555: Was out of service for three weeks. Although the 1938 flood caused the most damage of any flood in the history of Los Angeles, the rainfall and river peaks were not even close to the Great Flood of 1862 , the largest known flood by total volume of water. However, during the 1862 flood, the region was much less populated than it was in 1938. About 108,000 acres (44,000 ha) were flooded in Los Angeles County, with

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3906-545: Was the real author of Shakespeare's work, a popular claim at the time. He had already obtained an injunction stopping the publication of a book by Fabyan on the subject, in which Fabyan promoted the discovery of ciphers in Shakespeare's plays, identified in his private laboratory Fabyan Villa . Selig was hoping to capitalize on the celebrations organized for the upcoming 300th anniversary of Shakespeare's death, scheduled for April 1916. A Cook County Circuit Court judge, Richard Tuthill, found against Shakespeare. He determined that

3969-421: Was used as a jalopy racetrack during the 1940s and early 1950s. In 1955 the site was described as "an inactive amusement park." The carousel survived on the site until 1976 when it was destroyed by fire. The former Selig Zoo's arched front gate with its lavish animal sculptures was a crumbling landmark in Lincoln Heights for many decades. By 2003 the sculptures were reportedly being restored for installation at

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