Jungleland USA, April 1959

Happy 4th of July, everybody! Today seemed like a good day to visit a wonderful piece of Americana... Jungleland USA, in Thousand Oaks, California! As I have mentioned before, I was lucky enough to visit Jungleland when I was a kid; and years ago my family moved to Thousand Oaks - but Jungleland had been long closed by then. The empty animal enclosures could still be seen as you passed by on the freeway, but even those are gone, replaced by a monolithic "civic center".

Today's photos date back to 1959; first up are a few pictures of the elephants putting on a show. Here's Jumbo and, um, Todd? engaged in a tug-of-war. Or maybe they are just shaking trunks. We are the world...! The oak trees and familiar hillsides in the background bring back fond memories. And as always, I love the old cars.

Awww, I hate seeing those amazing heffalumps chained up like that. But if they weren't chained, they would play three-card monty with the guests and fleece them. I seen it with my own eyes!

Bears, lots of bears! Well, three anyway. Polo Bears, how can they even sit on a horse? And yet that's what they're called, so who am I to argue. I hope you are all taking notes.

This little amphitheater was where you could watch some less-dangerous animals performing amazing tricks. Tightrope-walking goats and stuff like that. I still remember sitting in one of those seats (years after 1959!), and being distracted by a squirrel running back and forth on an overhead wire. Goats, shmoats!

I'll have part two of this series next week. If I remember.