LA Times profiles the first Busch Gardens in SoCal

Posted June 15, 2008, 8:09P | Contributed by Jeff

Long before the Anheuser-Busch brewery was built in the San Fernando Valley in 1954, Southern California had close ties with the brewing company that today is in the middle of an international takeover battle. Like many other wealthy industrialists of his time, co-founder Adolphus Busch adopted Pasadena as his winter home more than a century ago. There he built the first Busch Gardens, a vast outdoor attraction next to his mansion that he opened to the public.