The last decades of the 19th century were years of upheaval in Los Angeles–cultural transition, phenomenal urban growth, economic change. Griffith’s gift was an early volley in the crusade of municipal reform known as Progressivism: a movement addressing the needs of the average individual, and targeting political corruption. Los Angeles was one of the first cities to adopt the concepts of initiative, referendum, and recall into its City Charter (1907). It was home to the nation’s first Department of Playgrounds.
Griffith Park was host to much of this progressive spirit. In 1900, the City constructed in the Park the first municipally-operated golf course in the nation, called Riverside. In the next decades, the concept of golf for the ordinary citizen spread throughout the U.S., and throughout Griffith Park itself, as other major courses, such as Wilson and Harding, were constructed. Today, the Park retains four municipal courses. In contrast to Leisure was Rehabilitation. Griffith Park, which had long been the site of alfalfa farms, became the laboratory for a favorite issue of the Progressives: prison reform. Inmates from the City Jail in Lincoln Heights were transported to the “Prison Farm” in the Park to earn their keep by farming alfalfa while benefitting physically and mentally from the hard work and fresh air. Meanwhile, the respite of the 19th century Ostrich Farm was brought to life again by an animal menagerie in the Park Center area, below Bee Rock, known as the Griffith Park Zoo.
