Do You Remember This Long Lost Alligator Farm in California?

Justin Beahm Yesterday, 12:00 pm

Alligator Farm Los Angeles — Public Domain

What To Know

The California Alligator Farm quickly became a popular attraction featuring over 1,000 alligators and various exotic animals.
Visitors could watch alligator shows, adopt baby gators, purchase alligator skin goods, and even let children ride saddled alligators.

Joseph Campbell was dubbed “Alligator Joe” when he opened a gator farm in Hot Springs, Arkansas, in 1906. Campbell had recently relocated from India and established himself as a showman in the Hot Springs area, which caught the eye of California ostrich farmer Francis Earnest, who convinced Campbell there was more money to be made in the West.

In 1907, the duo boarded a train, along with four dozen reptilians, and made their way to Los Angeles, where they planned a new attraction next to Earnest’s farm in the Lincoln Heights neighborhood. A banner hung from the side of the train promoting their vision: the California Alligator Farm.

Public Domain

Campbell and Earnest set up enclosures and a pond to house their ancient menagerie, which quickly blossomed in population to more than 1,000 gators. Turtles, iguanas, cobras, mambas and pythons were soon added, and word spread fast about L.A.’s popular new attraction. Among the mass of alligators was Billy, the most famous of all the farm’s residents, who went on to appear in more than 500 films, commanding $100 a day for his performances.

For 25 cents, patrons got to wander among the gators, watch them eat live chickens and bear witness to workers wrestling with the beasts. Throughout the day, some of the gators would be prompted to climb a ramp and cruise down a 16-foot-tall slide into a pond where their annoyed brethren would snap and roar as they hit the water. Visitors could also adopt a baby gator, and even exchange it when it grew too big.

Public Domain

Most shockingly, the attraction’s signature offering was the opportunity to have children ride around the park on gators fitted with saddles, something promoted on postcards that circulated the world. Visitors could stop by the gift shop and pick up alligator skin handbags, wallets and shoes crafted from the hides of the creatures they had paid to visit.

While turnstiles roared to the tune of more than 100,000 annual visitors at the attraction’s peak, running the farm was complicated. Alligators ate up to 15 pounds of meat a week and would hibernate between November and May, burying themselves in silt and not eating for months at a time. It became a rite of passage for local college students to steal gators under the cover of night, and when it would rain too much, the lagoon would flood, offering its inhabitants an open door to float into the neighborhood and wander. Then there were the injuries.

Tour guide Alonzo “Tex” Hartzel was bitten and almost killed by a rattlesnake while giving a tour in 1910. Tex also suffered an attack courtesy of the jaws of Evangeline, the farm’s largest gator, later that same year during a photo shoot. Ken Earnest, grandson of Francis, inherited the farm and moved it to Buena Park in 1953. Ken would suffer bites from four snakes over time, which took sight from one of his eyes and rendered an arm paralyzed. He was also bitten by geriatric gator Salty, which necessitated a long row of stitches in his leg.

Public Domain

Despite the escapes, injuries, and thievery, the California Alligator Farm entertained until 1984, when public interest dwindled, the attraction closed, and the gators were moved to Florida. While the farm is no more, the echoes of heart-stopping encounters there continue to resonate to this day.

Justin Beahm writes a regular column for ReMIND magazine titled “Roadside Memories,” where he shares fascinating and bizarre stories of the past that cover circus attractions, amusement parks, enchanted forests, houses of horror, strange motels, and so much more. He recently expanded on these stories in the new book Roadside Memories: Beloved and Bizarre Attractions from North America’s Past, Volume 1. To get a signed copy, go to Justin’s website now or order through Amazon. You can also follow him on Instagram.