While visiting Burbank, CA, for the Hollywood Show, some fan friends and I decided to visit some of the local places where scenes from the show had been filmed. One of the spots we stopped at was the Old Zoo at Griffith Park. Griffith Park was used for shooting scenes in a number of episodes, but we were primarily interested in the area where Starsky was supposed to meet up with Prudholm in Pariah, and locations that were used for scenes in Bloodbath. We had a lot of fun speculating if “this” was the spot where Starsky cornered Prudholm, or maybe it was over there, or over there… We were never really sure. Here are some of the pictures I took on that trip. As always, you can click on the pictures to see them larger.
Sign explaining the history of the Old Zoo. When watching the two episodes that feature the old zoo, I often wondered why it even still existed. Why wasn’t it razed when it was no longer needed? This sign helped explain why it was still standing. And considering how massive and sturdy the stone structures are, it will probably still be there decades from now.
Smaller animal structure and the historical sign.
Stone staircase in the bear structure. There are a number of these stone staircases in the bear facility. One of them was likely the staircase Starsky tried to use as he attempted to escape Simon Marcus’ followers. There was no way to know which staircase had been the one they used. All of them were steep with deep steps and bars overhead.
This is a view of the stairs going up, the view Starsky would have had as he ran up the steps, just able to see a tantalizing glimpse of freedom. You can see the bars overhead.
Broader view of the remaining structures.
Broader view of the outside of the bear facility, with the staircase on the right with the bars on top.
great photos; the ones i took way back in 1991 were the only ones on the roll that didn’t come out (now I can grab yours for visual memory when I’m writing 🙂 ).
It is a strange and eerie place; I don’t remember there being much graffiti back when I went there.
That was a fun idea! It must have been neat to think that the boys were filming in those locations! Could you just feel them? 🙂
Fab pics. Love to see S&H location pics. Not sure if I’d wanna be down there though!
Amazing, I will go and see for myself. Thanks Flamingo, now I can compare and kbow were to look. Love hunting S&H locations.
Thanks so much, Flamingo!!!
I’ll probably never see these locations in RL and I really appreciate the pictures!!!
Love to see this!!!
;D
Haha, Flamingo, what a great idea! Haven’t seen the pics yet, lol, as I had forgotten my camera in the car that day. And we did have a lot of fun checking out that place, didn’t we? Thanks for sharing! Brings back fond memories!
So neat to see the S & H locations. Thanks so much for sharing this!
Wonderful and so informative. You do the best travelogues. I would so have loved to be along on this field trip, but I can catch the vibes from looking at the photos and reading your descriptions. Thank you so much for a delightful Advent gift!
Thanks for the revisit to the zoo. I found it very interesting to tramp the same paths our boys did.
Of all the S&H locations, this is far and away my favourite. My first visit there (2010) was so exciting, exploring the cages, imagining what it was like to shoot the episodes. During the Burbank weekend, I so wanted to find the cage from Starsky’s near-execution in Bloodbath, but alas, no. However, there was so much to see that I’d missed first time around, and you’ve picked up something I missed both times. I could spend hours there, exploring the nooks and crannies.
Thank you for this gift, Flamingo. xxx
Those staircases are kinda creepy…no wonder they used it for this ep!
Very, very cool to see this! Thank you so much! I always wondered about “the old zoo” and why it was still there, too. The sign explains it. Creepy place… perfect for the eps it was used in.
Amazing idea!
Thank you 🙂
Really amazing! Thanks F. 🙂