Goebel's Wild Animal Farm on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
Jungleland USA was a private zoo, animal training facility, and
The History of Jungleland sponsored by Jungleland SkatesWeird California: Jungleland
{{authority control History of Thousand Oaks, California Defunct amusement parks in California Zoos in California Former zoos History of Ventura County, California 1926 establishments in California 1969 disestablishments in California Articles needing infobox zoo Zoos established in 1926 Zoos disestablished in 1969
Jungleland USA was a private zoo, animal training facility, and animal theme park
An animal theme park, also known as a zoological theme park, is a combination of an amusement park and a zoo, mainly for entertainment, amusement, and commercial purposes. Many animal theme parks combine classic theme park elements, such as themed ...
in Thousand Oaks, California, United States, on the current site of the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza
The Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza is a performing arts center and city hall for the city of Thousand Oaks, California. Across Thousand Oaks Boulevard from Gardens of the World, the site is considered the downtown core of the city. City hall incl ...
. At its peak the facility encompassed .
Louis Goebel created Jungleland in 1926 as a support facility for Hollywood
Hollywood usually refers to:
* Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California
* Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States
Hollywood may also refer to:
Places United States
* Hollywood District (disambiguation)
* Hollywood, ...
. He had been employed at Universal Studios when the studio decided to close its animal facility. Five of the Universal Studio lions formed the nucleus of Goebel's collection. The facility was originally called Goebel's Lion Farm and then Goebel's Wild Animal Farm. Soon a wide variety of exotic animals were obtained, trained, and rented to the studios for use in films. The facility later became a theme park, opened to the public in 1929. Wild animal shows entertained thousands in the 1940s and 1950s. Mabel Stark, the "lady lion tamer", was featured in these shows; she also doubled for Mae West in the lion-taming scenes in the 1933 film ''I'm No Angel
''I'm No Angel'' is a 1933 pre-Code film directed by Wesley Ruggles, and starring Mae West and Cary Grant. West received sole story and screenplay credit. It is one of her films that was not subjected to heavy censorship.
Plot
Tira (Mae West ...
''. The zoo's residents included Leo the Lion, mascot of the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studio; Mister Ed, the talking horse from the television show of the same name; Bimbo the elephant from the ''Circus Boy
''Circus Boy'' was an American adventure film, adventure Children's television series, family western (genre), western that aired in prime time on NBC, and then on American Broadcasting Company, ABC, from 1956 to 1957. It was then rerun by NBC on ...
'' television series; and Tamba the chimpanzee, featured in the '' Jungle Jim'' movies and television series.
Many TV and movie productions used the park's trained animals, and many productions were filmed there, including '' The Birth of a Nation'', '' The Fugitive'', ''Tarzan the Ape Man Tarzan, the Ape Man may refer to
* Tarzan, a fictional character
* ''Tarzan the Ape Man'' (1932 film), with Johnny Weissmuller
* ''Tarzan, the Ape Man'' (1959 film) with Denny Miller
* ''Tarzan, the Ape Man'' (1981 film) with Richard Harris and ...
'', '' Doctor Dolittle,'' and '' The Adventures of Robin Hood''. It was also featured prominently in an episode of the television show ''Route 66
U.S. Route 66 or U.S. Highway 66 (US 66 or Route 66) was one of the original highways in the United States Numbered Highway System. It was established on November 11, 1926, with road signs erected the following year. The h ...
'' (Season 2, Episode 31, "Hell Is Empty, All The Devils Are Here").
The park made headlines in 1966 when a male lion at the compound named Sammy mauled Zoltán Hargitay, the young son of actors Mickey Hargitay and Jayne Mansfield. A barn fire in 1940 killed 12 of the animals including tigers, camels and elephants.
Jungleland closed in October 1969, because of competition from other Southern California amusement parks, and because the facility "didn't blend in" with the increasingly urban character of Thousand Oaks. The company which owned the facilities declared bankruptcy and sold all the movable property at auction: animals, buildings, trucks, furniture and supplies. Goebel retained ownership of the land, which was eventually sold to the city to create the Civic Arts Plaza and other developments.
See also
* List of defunct amusement parks *List of former zoos and aquariums
This is an annotated list of zoos and Public aquarium, aquariums that once existed, but are no more.
Accra Zoo
Accra Zoo, in Accra, Ghana, was originally a private zoo built in the 1960s by the first President, Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah at the ...
References
External links
The History of Jungleland sponsored by Jungleland Skates
{{authority control History of Thousand Oaks, California Defunct amusement parks in California Zoos in California Former zoos History of Ventura County, California 1926 establishments in California 1969 disestablishments in California Articles needing infobox zoo Zoos established in 1926 Zoos disestablished in 1969