Jungle Palms Restaurant and Zoo
by Steve
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Last July, an OCThen reader named Cindy asked if anyone remembers a little zoo in Fullerton, featuring a gorilla with a head wound...
Does anyone else remember the little zoo in Fullerton on Raymond and Orangethorpe? I remember going there last around 1970. It was next to the old Laura Scudders plant and the Akua Lodge Motel. They had a chimp that sometimes the zookeeper would let me hold and a big, sad old gorilla. The last time I saw the gorilla he had a head wound that was bleeding. I guess it is just as well it's no longer there as I don't think they took such great care of the animals.
By Cindy
We received the following response from "Eve"...
Re: Old Zoo on Raymond and Orangethorpe
I believe that was the private zoo of the Palms restaurant. Next to the restaurant they had some sad primates stuck in small cages. I think one day the gorilla escaped and went into the restaurant and ate the patron's food. At least, that is what my mom told me when we ate there and I was always hoping to have an escaped gorilla eat my dinner.
By Eve,
The Jungle Palms Restaurant was the creation of Jack Dutton, who also owned a nursery called "Jungle Nursery" in Anaheim. There's an interesting story of how Dutton turned a chimpanzee into a pet, and "humanized" it. Then later, when he could no longer manage the chimp, he had it shot in the head.
Read the sad story about it here...
http://americanathebeautiful.com/the-jungle-anaheim-ca-1959/?PHPSESSID=363e8dfe27d9f27b1e33e3154f1c496aLabels: Fullerton, Jungle-Palms-Restaurant
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