US city: close to park, a monk collected animals (9)

I believe the answer is:

kalamazoo

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'us city' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'close to park a monk collected animals' is the wordplay.
'close to' suggests the final letters (the 'close' to the word).
'monk' becomes 'lama' (as in the Dalai Lama).
'collected animals' becomes 'zoo' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
The last letter of 'park' is 'k'.
'k'+'a'+'lama'+'zoo'='KALAMAZOO'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for kalamazoo that I've seen before include "Michigan city" , "I've got a gal in - (Glenn Miller)" , "US city" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.

Want a hint initially instead of a full solution? Install my app