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288 DAYSSan Francisco · 1915 ⌕
Gazetteer › The Zone
The Zone

Alligator Farm

Crocodiles from the Nile and alligators from the Everglades behind an Egyptian gateway and a plaster Memnon.

The entrance to the Alligator Farm on the Zone
The entrance to the Alligator Farm on the ZoneThe Blue Book, official souvenir view book (Robert A. Reid, 1915), via Internet Archive / San Francisco Public Library · Public domain (published 1915, United States) · Restored

Behind an Egyptian gateway and a great plaster Memnon, Warren Frazee kept Nile crocodiles and Everglades alligators, some said to be centuries old. There were also pelicans, flamingoes and snake eggs. The shipment of some 2,000 alligators, lizards, turtles and possums arrived three days early, in February 1915, and threw the compound into confusion. A sea cow was accidentally dumped out of her tank.

Todd was unimpressed by the reptiles, who slept with their mouths open on the sandy rims of their tanks. The show had done well elsewhere but not here. Frazee died of pneumonia during the fair, and the concession's affairs had to be wound up.

At a glance

  • Operated by Warren Frazee, who died during the Exposition.
  • Animals arrived February 9, 1915.
  • Entered through an Egyptian gateway beneath a great plaster Memnon.

Afterward

Closed after its owner's death; demolished with the Zone in 1916.

Where it stood

Alligator Farm stood at about 37.80114 N, 122.43153 W on today's map. The whole fairground over the city →

Sources