[4] In the mid-teens, Selig spent substantial funds acquiring and developing 32 acres (0.050 sq mi; 0.13 km2) of land in Lincoln Heights northeast of downtown Los Angeles, where he built a large elaborate zoo.

The famous entrance gates, bearing statues of lions and elephants, were designed by an Italian sculptor named Carlo Romanelli.

[7] As of September 1915, the Selig Zoo housed over 700 animals including two giraffes (named Fritz and Leni[1]), nine lions, sacred cows from India, llamas from Peru, and an unidentified species of "temple monkey.

[14] Two of the keepers at the Selig Zoo were brothers Clarence and Melvin Koontz, the latter of whom went on to a long career as an animal trainer.

Meanwhile, World War I cut severely into the substantial European revenues Selig Polyscope had been garnering, and the company shunned profitable movie industry trends, which had shifted towards dramatic (and more costly) full length feature films.

[17] Selig planned to develop the property into a major tourist attraction, amusement park and popular resort named Selig Zoo Park with a Ferris wheel, carousels, mechanical rides, an enormous swimming pool with a sandy beach and a wave-making machine, hotel, theatre, cinema, restaurants and thousands of daily visitors (more than 30 years before Disneyland).

In 1925 a guidebook outlined the attractions for tourists:[19]On entering, the visitor proceeds first to the Lion House, a low, quadrangular structure in Mission style, with the cages facing inward upon an arcade surrounding a central patio.

[20][21] Selig finally sold out following a Los Angeles flood of 1938 during the Great Depression and what was then called Zoopark ceased to exist in 1940 after the cages and equipment were removed.

[22] Some of the animals were donated to Los Angeles County, forming a substantial addition to Griffith Park Zoo.

"[23] The former Selig Zoo's arched front gate with its lavish animal sculptures was a crumbling landmark in Lincoln Heights for many decades, but were ultimately demolished in the 1960s.