The California alligator park
Go on, pet them. What could go wrong?
Alex Q. Arbuckle
c. 1920s
One of the most novel and interesting sights in the world. Most stupendous aggregation ever exhibited. - Promotional brochure
In 1907, Francis Earnest and “Alligator” Joe Campbell opened a unique attraction in the Lincoln Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles. The California Alligator Farm boasted over a thousand of the toothy reptiles, from adorable hatchlings to massive adults (500 years old, if you believe the brochure; in actuality, American alligators live until about 50).After paying $0.25 for admission, visitors could peruse alligator handbags in the gift shop, watch a trained gator slide down a 16-foot chute or take pictures of their children riding atop the animals.Sometimes the animals even went missing. Fraternity pledges were often spotted sneaking in and trying to abscond with alligators, and when floods hit the area some of the reptiles would slip away to nearby Lincoln Park Lake. The gators became a bit of a neighborhood nuisance with their loud nocturnal calls and uninvited appearances in local backyards and swimming pools. The farm was moved to Buena Park in 1953, and finally closed in 1984.
Here are to be seen hundreds of alligators of all sizes, from little babies, hardly the size of a lizard, up to huge monsters, 500 years old or more. - Promotional Brochure
