Zoro Garden, Balboa Park

Zoro Garden is a little sunken garden, or stone grotto, along El Prado, east of Casa de Balboa, in Balboa Park. It is easy to miss, so you must purposefully seek it out. It is named after the Persian mystic, Zoroaster, who started the first monotheistic religion. The garden, like the rest of Balboa Park, was created for the 1915 Panama-California Exposition.

In 1935, for another exposition, the Pacific International Exposition, it was the site of shirtless performers who wore only loin cloths or string bikinis- it must have been a chilly work day! They performed a Sacrifice to the Sun God five times a day, and it was the most lucrative outdoor attraction of the exposition. People could sit in the amphitheater to watch, or peek through the wooden fence. 
Nowadays, it is a quiet spot with a colorful butterfly mural, winding walkways with stone walls, tree ferns, flowers such as daisies, and most striking of all, two ficus trees whose roots spill over a stone wall in an unusual way.
There are many pretty canyons nearby, as well as Casa de Balboa next door, a very ornate Spanish Baroque building. Here you can find the railroad museum that kids love, a history museum, a photography museum, and Cafe in the Park, a handy counter-service indoor snack area.

Directions

If you're walking along pedestrian-only El Prado, to the east, you will see Zoro Garden on your right after you pass Casa de Balboa. Ask the GPS on google maps to show you to it.

Click on map for interactive view