Pasadena Busch Gardens: Adolphus Busch’s Early Amusement Park

When German brewing magnate Adolphus Busch purchased a mansion on Pasadena's "Millionaires' Row" in 1904, he quickly bought up some 60 additional acres stretching down to the bottom of Arroyo Seco and developed it into a lushly landscaped parl. Busch Gardens, which opened to the public in 1906, featured terraced hillsides, waterfalls and ponds, and "fairy scenes" drawn from tales of the Brothers Grimm. Local historian Ann Scheid gives a fascinating lecture about this once-famous theme park, remnants of which can still be glimpsed around the neighborhood where it once stood.