Early history Griffith Park was within the territory of the
Tongva. The Tongva placename Mocovenga has been associated with the area just southwest of the Ferndell area of the park. Ferndell was designated
Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument No. 112 in 1973.
Griffith donation prison register After a career speculating in mining,
Griffith J. Griffith purchased
Rancho Los Feliz (near the
Los Angeles River) in 1882 and later leased some land to investors for an
ostrich farm there. Ostrich feathers were commonly used in making women's hats in the late 19th century. However, Griffith's primary purpose was to lure residents of Los Angeles to his nearby property developments, which supposedly were haunted by the ghost of Antonio Feliz (a previous owner of the property). After the property rush peaked, Griffith and his wife, Christina, donated to the city of Los Angeles on December 16, 1896. It came with instructions: "Public parks are a safety valve of great cities...and should be accessible and attractive, where neither race, creed nor color should be excluded." Griffith was tried and convicted of shooting his wife in the face and severely wounding her in a 1903 Santa Monica incident. When released from prison, he funded the construction of an
amphitheater and
observatory in the park. As his reputation was tainted by his crime, some objected but the city eventually accepted his money. An earlier plan approved by Griffith to build a
funicular to the highest peak in the park never materialized.
Griffith Aviation Park In 1912, Griffith designated 180 acres (73 ha) of the park, at its northeast corner along the Los Angeles River, for the Griffith Aviation Park, and under the management of his son, Van, an early aviator. Other aviation pioneers such as
Glenn L. Martin,
Bill Boeing,
Donald Douglas and
Silas Christofferson used it; afterwards the aerodrome was passed to the
National Guard Air Service. Air operations continued on a -long runway until 1939, when it was closed, partly due to danger from interference with the approaches to
Grand Central Airport across the river in Glendale, and because the City Planning commission complained that a military airport violated the terms of Griffith's deed. The National Guard squadron moved to
Van Nuys, and the aerodrome was demolished, though the rotating beacon and its tower remained for many years. From 1946 until the mid-1950s,
Rodger Young Village occupied the area which had formerly been the Aerodrome. Today that site 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.
Expansion of Griffith Park Girls' Camp, c. 1920 Griffith set up a trust fund for the improvements he envisioned, and after his death in 1919 the city began to build what Griffith had wanted. The amphitheater, called the
Greek Theatre, was completed in 1930, and
Griffith Observatory was finished in 1935. Subsequent to Griffith's original gift, further donations of land, city purchases, and the reversion of land from private to public have expanded the park to its present size. In December, 1944 the Sherman Company donated of Hollywoodland open space to Griffith Park. This large, passive, eco-sensitive property borders the
Lake Hollywood reservoir (west), the former
Hollywoodland sign (north), and Bronson Canyon (east) where it connects into the original Griffith donation. The Hollywoodland residential community is surrounded by this land.
World War II After the
bombing of Pearl Harbor, the
Civilian Conservation Corps camp contained within Griffith Park was converted to a holding center for
Japanese Americans arrested as "enemy aliens" before they were transferred to more permanent internment camps. The Griffith Park Detention Camp opened almost immediately after the Pearl Harbor attack, taking in 35 Japanese immigrants suspected of
fifth column activity because they lived and worked near military installations. These men, mostly fishermen from nearby
Terminal Island, were transferred to an
Immigration and Naturalization Service detention station after a brief stay, but
Issei internees arrested in the days and weeks following the outbreak of the war arrived soon after to take their place. Up to 550 Japanese Americans were confined in Griffith Park from 1941 to 1942, all subsequently transferred to
Fort Lincoln,
Fort Missoula and other DOJ camps. On July 14, 1942, the detention camp became a POW Processing Center for German, Italian and Japanese
prisoners-of-war, operating until August 3, 1943, when the prisoners were transferred elsewhere. The camp was changed to the Army Western Corps Photographic Center and Camouflage Experimental Laboratory until the end of the war.
Fires wavelengths of light have been used to make this satellite image. Vegetation appears in various shades of green, while the burned areas appear charcoal. Hired as part of a welfare project, 3,780 men were in the park clearing brush on October 3, 1933, when
a fire broke out in the Mineral Wells area in the northern part of the current park. Many of the workers volunteered or were ordered to fight the fire. In all, 29 men were killed and 150 were injured. Professional firefighters arrived and limited the blaze to . On May 12, 1961, a wildfire on the south side of the park burned . It also destroyed eight homes and damaged nine more, chiefly in the
Beachwood Canyon area. Another fire occurred in the
Toyon Canyon area. Repelled by the ugliness of the devastated area, Amir Dialameh replanted a portion of it himself by hand. Over the course of more than 30 years he tended the garden he built there, with the help of occasional volunteers. Amir's Garden is featured in
Visiting... with Huell Howser episode 1306. On May 8, 2007, a major wildfire burned more than , destroying the bird sanctuary, Dante's View, and Captain's Roost, and forcing the evacuation of hundreds of people. The fire came right up to one of the largest playgrounds in Los Angeles,
Shane's Inspiration, and the Los Angeles Zoo, and threatened the Griffith Observatory, but left such areas intact. Several local organizations, including SaveGriffithPark.org, have been working since then with local officials to restore the park in a way that would benefit all. It was the third fire of the year. The city announced a $50 million plan to stabilize the burned slopes. The trees along Canyon Drive were allowed to grow back naturally, having been re-seeded by bird droppings. and added to the park in July 2010 bringing the park's total acreage to . ==Attractions==