My curiosity about the Oakland Zoo was sparked after reading the novel FREEIN’PANCHO by New England author Lloyd Prentice, telling a story of a boy growing up in the Oakland Hills in the 1950s. The crux of the story occurs in the pristine Oakland hills with a boy shortcutting to school through the Oakland Zoo when Skyline Boulevard was lined with shady groves and stables. I read the book presuming the Mr. Snow character to be fictional—but he was not—the Snow family founded the Oakland Zoo. Prentice, in his youth, had himself lived in the hills, had cut through the zoological gardens to school and placed his fictional cougar ‘Pancho’ in the storied zoo. While visiting his old East Bay stomping grounds, he attempted to meet Barbara Clark whose family founded the Oakland Zoo, ninety years ago.
The zoo’s founding fascinated me, and on a rainy morning I met Mrs. Clark for a delightful interview. She recounted how the zoo actually came about, and that their family home was on the zoo grounds where she lived during childhood.
“We lived in a Victorian house right in the zoo, the house is still there, and we heard the animals at night. There were groupings of cages; lions and bears were across the way, and cages for small animals like monkeys, and the aviary was on the hill; he even had eagles. I remember Simba, the lion…” 
Barbara Clark’s grandfather Henry A. Snow founded the Oakland Zoo in 1922, and her father Sidney Snow brought it to fruition at its present location. Sid Snow was a well-known St. Mary’s football player and catcher for the Oaks Baseball team. By the time the East Bay Botanical and Zoological Society (EBZS) emerged, Sid Snow already had a following of dedicated people to help him realize his family’s dream; to provide Oakland with a small zoo with live animals. The community donated lumber, paint and supplies to build a new home for the zoo animals.
Sidney Snow and his father H.A. Snow were big game hunters, and in the early 1920s went on a two-year safari to Africa to capture live animals for the zoo. H.A. Snow, Sidney, wife Virginia and daughter, Sidnia, went to the Arctic in 1924, where they secured a polar bear for the fledging zoo. They ventured onto ice fields with local hunters, lassoed a male polar bear, loaded him onto small boats and then to a ship’s hold and sailed the massive bear to the Oakland harbor. The family was devastated when the polar bear, ‘Wrangle,’ sadly died in its specially-built new home.
THE WHO’S WHO OF THE FIRST ZOO
The first zoo location was on Senor Don Peralta’s Rancho San Antonio, and later purchased by Ellis. A. Haines in 1857. In 1888 the land passed to Frederick C. Talbot, owner of Pope and Talbot Lumber Company, where he built a mansion and ran a cattle ranch. His schooners transported lumber, exotic woods and trees from all over the world in the ships’ holds. Talbot’s large mansion, on land that was later the zoo, burned to the ground in 1921. In 1932, under ownership of Norman De Veaux, Sidney Snow’s friend, the Bank of America negotiated that the property be held for public use as a natural history park by the City of Oakland. The City rejected the offer.
In 1935 Mr. Snow took possession of the 475-acre parcel and started building the zoo; two years later founding the Alameda County Zoological Society. Sidney Snow formed a Board of Directors and paid the mortgage and taxes out of operating revenues. The City of Oakland voted a budget of $4,800 per year in 1939 for the care and feeding of the animals.
Through Sid Snow’s tireless negotiation, the State of California State Park Commission, under the Joseph R. Knowland chairmanship, acquired the East Bay Botanical and Zoological Society. The Society, City and State approved the master plan, and in 1958 water lines, grading and fencing got under way, including an elephant house for the harmonica-playing Asian pachyderm, Miss Effie Oakland.
“My father picked up Effie at the Oakland docks and spent two nights with her to get her accustomed to the new place. When I walked my daughter Linda in the stroller from our house, Effie recognized us and pushed her buggy. My father had Rosie, a chimpanzee, and wanted to raise the two together. We took the donkey and cougar to Oakland parades. My father built a stand and the cougar rode the donkey; the platform had to be out of nipping range of the donkey’s ears! People loved them.”
The zoo, at 98th Avenue and Mountain Boulevard, grew to an arboretum and exotic zoological gardens with annual membership fees of $1.00 per year for juniors, $2.50 for individuals, and $5.00 for sustaining members. The East Bay State Park was dedicated on May 21st, 1950.
“We had Blanca, a Cappuccine monkey, Kiki, a de-skunked skunk, and a cougar and her cubs. In the early days I helped my mother collect the money at the gate—ten cents per person and 25 cents a car,” Mrs. Clark remembers.
Barbara Clark showed me framed movie posters on the wall, explaining that her father and grandfather loved animals so much that they produced two feature length films in Hollywood; “Cougar,” featuring Jay Bruce that premiered at the Capitol on November 3, 1930, and “Hunting Big Game in the Arctic with Gun and Camera,” a dashing adventure photographing animals in their frozen wild habitats.
We spoke about our own safari experiences in Africa and the thrill of being among wild creatures in their natural milieu. “I was on safari with my husband in the 80s, and a rhino approached our vehicle. The rhino looked me right in the eyes—just a few feet away,” Barbara shuddered.
YOU TOO CAN SNOOZE AT THE ZOO
The 565-acre non-profit Oakland Zoo offers many outreach programs; visiting ZooMobiles, Summer Zoo Camps, and exciting adventures for adults and children who want to spend a night on the wild side among 660 native and exotic animals. For $45 to $60 per person mini-groups of 15 can have sleep-overs in the Education Centre, snuggle close to the action and explore the zoo at night. Visitors are also invited to ‘Feast with the Beasts’ by bringing grapes, melons and apples for the herbivores, and see big cats eating dinner. Memberships range from $66 to $99 annual dues and receive discounted admission and the newsletter ROAR!
One of my favorite attractions is the meerkat dome; the territorial Southern African insectivores, named ‘lake cats’ in Afrikaans. In the wild, they live in clans of 20 or more—super colonies have as many as 50 members. The under two-pound hierarchal creatures live in veldt burrows, and while foraging elect a single guard sentry to keep watch with binocular peripheral vision. The endearing meerkats may evict non-members from the colony and loudly alert approaching predators, earning the Bushmen’s ‘Sun Angels’ moniker.
The Oakland Zoo is microcosmic of global wild habitat dwellings, offering regular excitement to both zoo keepers and visitors. In January, an 80-lb, six-foot baby girl reticulated giraffe named ‘Maggie’ was born to proud parents; father Mabusu and mother Twiga. This May, three baby river otters will make their zoo debut by venturing out of their night house after learning to swim.
The Oakland Zoo, under Executive Director Dr. Joel Parrott, is dedicated to the protection of all animals, as evidenced by the mercy adoption of the surviving tiger of the Ohio tragedy, and recently by transporting four sister tigers from Brownsville, Texas whose owners could no longer care for them. It is estimated that only 3,000 to 4,000 tigers live in Asian natural habitats, and double that amount as captive pets. With a generous FEDEX partnership, the quartette of tigresses was transported from Texas to Oakland Airport; crates were forklifted and trucked, two at a time, to their new zoo home. To keep the female wild cats calm en route, Calvin Klein’s Obsession, the tigresses’ favorite fragrance, was sprayed in the hold.
The four fabled fragrant felines were ready for their close-ups upon arrival at their new forever home—the legendary Oakland Zoo.
Visit: www.oaklandzoo.org, reservations: 510.632.9525, 9777, Golf Links Road, Oakland.
My parents were friends with Mr. & Mrs. Snow. Mr.Snow called my dad the day they got Effie the elephant. I liked that little baby elephant so much I wanted to take her home with us. My dad got a picture of me trying to steal that elephant – so I could put her in our car & take her home with me! I’ll be happy to send you a copy of that pix!
Anyone remember the pre-school of the late 1940’s & early 1950’s that existed on the grounds of the zoo>
I was born and raised in Oakland and my father worked for the Oakland Park Department, so I got the “back story.” Effie the elephant actually had a pretty sad life in spite of people’s memories. Towards the end of her tenure in Oakland, she was neglected. Even as a little kid I felt bad that she lived in a tiny miserable concrete enclosure. She did tricks like eating an entire loaf of bread at once. So did Rosebud the chimp who would smoke cigarettes. Those were the Dark Ages of zoos. Effie got the reputation as a “rogue” elephant since she was so unhappy and would lash out at the keepers. That’s when her daily walks were cancelled. She was shipped to Busch Gardens in Florida and was eventually executed because she was a “bad” elephant. Doc Young who ran the zoo was worthless. He used Knowland Park as his private deer-hunting preserve after hours. One of my dad’s stories was when an animal was sick, Doc Young was not able to be found. I was there when Dr. Joel Parrott took over, brought the zoo into a new era, and worked to improve habitat. Personally, I was glad to see the ancien regime fade into history.
I lived on Stanley Avenue across the street across from the Zoo. I remember Effie and also Rosebud the gorilla. I many fond memories of the Zoo. Before the 580 freeway was constructed we could walk across the street to the park. Many days my mother would take across the street on the hill to read me stories before my nap time. It was a wonderful place!
I remember the first day that Mr. Snow had Effie at the zoo, my family lived just across from the zoo.
There was Mr. Snow with Effie, my brother and me looking at Effie, I never forgot Effie, or the zoo of my boyhood so very long ago in the Oakland Hills. I wonder what happened to Effie as the many years passed by.
htcartsailor@gmail.com
I am working on the Fire Truck that was donated to Newark by Dell Snow in 1916. If anyone knows the Clark family, I would appreciate a forward of my address to them. We are putting Information together for a storyboard that will go with the engine upon its dedication. I am looking for any information pror to 1918.
Thanks…Anthony
My grandfather speaks so, so fondly of working for Sydney “Syd” Snow as a teenager. He recounts stories of Miss Effie and Princess Fury to us whenever we chance to visit and it always brings a tear to his eye to recall how good the Snows were to their employees during his time there. I too, would love to get some photos that I can share with him.
HBO aired a show tonight focusing on the primitive and cruel methodology previously used to train elephants in the States. It featured the Head Zoo Keeper of Oakland Zoo and he spoke of the painful
use of bull hooks and other traumatic means commonly used to train pachyderms. The show quickly brushed over the death by elephant which occurred to an employee at the zoo who had worked with the elephants for over 20 years. The impression one was left with was that the elephant may have attacked the animals caregiver due to the routine use of the outdated and painful training methods. It’s unfortunate that the documentary was edited to lead one to this conclusion because I recall very well a loving and tender relationship that existed between “Miss Effie” and her handler, and I doubt if the bull hook was ever used in an intentional and cruel manner as was displayed in the documentary.
Throughout 1950, I was growing up along with the small, but expanding Knowland Zoo in Oakland. The introduction of a very young pachyderm named ” Miss Effie” was an exciting addition for the zoo and it’s public who enjoyed the animals and surrounding parklands. My memory of the two zoo keepers display of love and gental treatment of “Miss Effie” has lasted well over 59 years. Even as a child, I was acutely aware of the sad life the zoos caged animals lead due to a world wide lack of knowledge during that era regarding adequate enclosures and proper care for animals in captivity. The enclosure for the pachyderms was no better than the other animals given their large size. However, unlike the other zoo animals, “Miss Effie'” was bathed, talked to, given treats, walked daily and frequently taken for long strolls throughout the parklands by her keepers. It was more than apparent that “Miss Effie” held a special place in one zoo keepers heart in particular and thus her needs were met with love rather than obligation. Her life appeared quite content given the circumstances. Cheers to the growth and development of our little zoo and the exemplary model’s they have developed for zoo keepers world wide.
I would love a high resolution copy of the photo at the oakland zoo in the may 2012 issue http://aliveeastbay.com/archives/oakland-zoo-a-history-as-told-by-the-founders-daughter/comment-page-1/#comment-3454. Please contact me about this. thank you.
I was looking through your magazine on my cousin’s table and came across the article about the oakland zoo. I decided to read the article and came across some pictures of some kids with Effie. I looked up and said to my cousin we could be in the picture and it turns out my sister and I are in that picture. I was so excited it was about 60 years ago. I loved that baby elephant and wanted to go there all the time. I would love to get a copy of that photo or a high resolution file for our family photo album.