Parks Legacy

Griffith Park is located in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. It is a large public park at the eastern end of the Santa Monica Mountains. Griffith park gets about 10 million visitors a year.

1882-1896

Griffith Jenkins purchased Rancho Los Feliz located near the Los Angeles River in 1882 and created an ostrich farm there. On December 16, 1896 he donated 3,015 acres of this land to the city of Los Angeles.

1912-1939

In 1912, Griffith designated 100 acres (0.4 km2) of the park, at its northwest corner along the Los Angeles River to be used for “aviation”. The Griffith Park Aerodrome was created in this location. Pioneers of aviation like Glenn L. Martin and Silas Christoffersen started using this aerodrome. During the 1919 the city began to build the Griffith Park. In the year 1930, the Greek Theatre was completed and the Griffith Observatory was completed in 1935.
 
The Griffith Park Aerodrome was then passed to the National Guard Air Service. Until 1939 Air operations continued on a 2,000-foot (600 m) long runway, then it was closed due to its danger of interference with the approaches to Grand Central Airport across the river in Glendale, and the City Planning commission complained that a military airport violated the terms of Griffith's deed. The Aerodrome was demolished after the National Guard squadron moved to Van Nuys. The rotating beacon and its tower remained for many years.

1945-2008

Rodger Young Village occupied this area from 1946 to mid 1950s. The site which formerly occupied Aerodrome today is occupied by the Los Angeles Zoo parking lot, the Gene Autry Western Heritage Museum, soccer fields, and the interchange between the Golden State Freeway and the Ventura Freeway.

There were further donations of land in addition to Griffith donation, city purchases, and the reversion of land from private to public has expanded the Park to its present size.