Like most early studio heads, William Selig started making short silent films back east (in Selig’s case, Chicago) before moving to Los Angeles for the year-round filmmaking-friendly weather. Settling first in Edendale (near Echo Park), Selig eventually outgrew his original space and moved to the movie studio lot we can see in this undated aerial photo at 3800 Mission Rd, Lincoln Heights northeast of downtown Los Angeles. Somewhere along the line, Selig also built a zoo, which, when it opened in 1915, housed over 700 animals, most of which would be used for filming. By 1917, Selig was out of the movie-making business but his zoo, that was open to the public, stuck around until 1938.

Here is one of Selig’s live elephants out front of the Selig Zoo in February 1937:

In this satellite image from May 2022, we can still see the outline of where Selig’s property once stood.