Bookable
An Apollonaut travel guide
A zoo in Balboa Park.
An introduction to Balboa Park, where the San Diego Zoo has stood since the 1920s.
On this page
Read the city from the park
The San Diego Zoo is at 2920 Zoo Drive in Balboa Park, the city park that hosted the Panama–California Exposition of 1915.
A city guide can give context without turning a neighbourhood into a backdrop. Notice how the park’s museums, gardens and the zoo sit together, and how people move between them. Respect homes, working businesses and places of worship.
Canyons, moats and planting
In many of the zoo’s habitats, moats and planting take the place of bars, and its plant collection makes it a botanical garden as well as a zoo.
Begin with a detail and ask how it was made and maintained. A photograph alone cannot tell you how a habitat was built, or the conditions in which people worked.
A zoo chapter
The San Diego Zoo shows one side of Balboa Park: an exposition ground that became a home for museums, gardens and animals.
Look at the meeting of the two: the park’s paths and trees outside the gates, and the habitats recreated within.
Make room for context
Pair this city reading with the zoo’s history and the Journal. This is an introduction for visitors, not a claim that our team manages these places or represents their makers.
Read at the source
Sources & further reading
Links lead to the original publishers.
