An L.A. Secret...

After I dropped Benji off today I headed off for a treat: a hike alone in Griffith Park. I opted for the other side--over by the zoo. So I drove up past Shane's Inspiration and parked under the trees in an area I had hiked long ago with my dear friend William, and his mountain dog Ruth. I was looking for the old Griffith Park Camp, now abandoned--but I remembered a swimming pool high on the hillside (now empty) near a water tank, perched in a canyon overlooking all of Burbank and Glendale.

The great thing about Griffith Park is wherever you are you can spot your landmarks and see a fire road, so you can wander off, but never get lost. Today I stumbled upon the old L.A. Zoo--a small, cozy canyon where the animals were kept from 1912 to 1965. I had seen the old carved lions at the entrance to the current L.A. Zoo and loved them, but this was even better. I wandered around past cages and stone outcroppings that had once held lions, tigers, macaws and other exotic animals.

It was like falling into an old storybook. I wondered if the ghosts of the old monkeys and animals from afar were still there. They felt like it. I could imagine the old movie types strolling under their parasols in linen and ruffles, gawking at these amazing animals, dreaming of which scene they could use them in for their next movie.

It was the artifacts of 1920s L.A..