Griffith Park Observatory

Jill's Journal: Most major cities, not only in the U.S. but throughout the world, have an iconic park associated with them. Los Angeles is no exception, although the legendary Griffith Park almost didn’t happen. In 1896, Welch immigrant and wealthy mine speculator Colonel Griffith J. Griffith bequeathed 3,015 acres (or about five square miles) to L.A. for use as a park. At the time, L.A. had only 100,000 residents and the land was about a mile outside of the city. The city hesitated briefly, declaring it too far out of town, but soon accepted anyway. If only they could have seen into the future. In the century since, the 10+ million inhabitants of the L.A. area cover every square inch surrounding Griffith Park, which itself now covers over 4,200 acres.

The showpiece of Griffith Park is Griffith Observatory, one of the most visited landmarks in Southern California and the most visited public observatory in the world. The same Griffith who donated the park land had a great interest in astronomy and donated $100,000 a century ago to the City of Los Angeles to build an observatory on top of Mt. Hollywood. He wanted to make the sciences, particularly astronomy, more accessible to the public. The Observatory wasn’t formally opened until 1935, long after Griffith’s death.

Today it houses all sorts of science exhibits with a strong focus on astronomy and, with the exception of the planetarium, is free to the public. However, I suspect most of the millions of annual visitors are there for the iconic building itself – which is truly beautiful – and the surrounding views, some of the most spectacular in the city.

Did I mention the views? One has an excellent view of downtown L.A., which you can just barely see at the horizon in the middle of this photo due to the almost ever-present smog. It really did seem like a clear day until we tried to look out a distance. I don’t think air quality in L.A. is quite as bad as it’s supposed to be in Beijing, but that doesn’t mean it’s good for you either.

Hundreds of scenes in movies and television have been filmed at the Observatory, most notably some pivotal moments in “Rebel Without a Cause” with James Dean in 1955. It was “Rebel” which brought the Observatory into worldwide consciousness outside of L.A. Although this monument is of Dean, a plaque notates its more of an acknowledgement of the Observatory’s long and prosperous relationship with Hollywood. Note the Hollywood sign just over to the right of the monument in the background.

And here it is closer up. There’s that pesky smog again.

Like the Hollywood sign, the unique Observatory can be spotted from many places around L.A. I’ve heard it called the city’s “hood ornament,” which seems to be extra fitting since L.A. is such a car society.