When Ostriches Ruled Los Angeles
Yes. Ostriches. It only gets more unbelievable. Griffith Park (formerly called Rancho Los Feliz) was purchased by Colonel Griffith J. Griffith (His parents must have hated him) in 1882. He had made his money in coal mining, and he started an ostrich ranch on the property, where thirty of the birds lived. Though ostrich feathers were popular in fashions at the time, Griffith's primary interest in the farm was to draw people to his nearby holdings. People would come by and watch the animals be plucked. Apparently Griffith (we can call him by both his first name and his last!), was something of an eccentric. He would give long speeches at his exclusive men's club. They were very dull, but people would put up with it because he had donated so much money. While on vacation with his wife, he became consumed by the notion that she was colluding with the Pope to poison him and shot her. Through pure chance, he missed and she survived, though disfigured and blind in one eye. At some point he believed he saw the ghost of Antonio Feliz, previous owner of the property, which spurred him to give some 3015 acres tothe City of Los Angeles.
Los Angeles decided to use the property to build an observatory, planetarium and an amphitheater. After the shooting of his wife, he was jailed and on his release, he decided to donate one hundred acres to the study of flight, and the aerodrome was built. It had a runway (basically, it was an airport, but in the early times of flying, it was the recreation of those who could afford it), and eventually passed to the National Guard until the 1930s when it was determined that the military presence violated the terms of Griffith's deed and then it was destroyed. Now the LA Zoo and the Museum of the American West (formerly the Gene Autry Museum) occupy the space.
When Griffith died in 1919, most of the property passed to the City of Los Angeles, and his money, also left in trust to the city was used to fund their projects.
Griffith Park now includes two golf courses, Travel Town (where they have old trains), the Greek Amphitheater, The Observatory, the Hollywood Sign, the LA Zoo and the Museum of the American West, as well as lots of open park space for games, horseback riding and hiking. Now, when you enjoy the many and varied pleasures of the park, you can think, not only does it have nothing to do with D.W. Griffith, but it all started with a crazy guy. And ostriches! Don't forget the ostriches.
posted by kuaptic. @ 12:14 PM
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