Griffith Observatory

Back to the L.A. posts before I forget...

The last time Bert and I were at the Griffith Observatory was when I was pregnant...

That was about 14 years ago and TC was still "in utero".  During that last trip in 2000, the observatory itself was closed and we never got around to checking it out.

Until today...

I read up on the park and observatory's namesake, Griffith J. Griffith, seen in the statue above as you enter the park.

Turns out he bought a lot of land in the area, started an ostrich farm, then committed what is now known as 'domestic violence' to his wife. Because of his crime, the city didn't want anything to do with him, although he had loads of money to fund many city projects. After he died in 1919, the city started fulfilling his projects like the Greek Ampitheatre and the Observatory.

To get there, you go through a tunnel and up the hill...

The observatory is on the southern slope of Mount Hollywood and has been featured in many films, most notable, "Rebel Without a Cause"...

It has million dollar views of L.A. and depending on which angle you are looking, you can see trails, as well as the city. That day of our visit, it was overcast, so the effect wasn't as impressive.

The Hollywood sign can also be seen...

We got super lucky because there was a massive line of cars snaking up the mountain. We saw scores of people walking up (they had parked further away, like A MILE away) and people walking down because they were done for the day. One car was leaving, so Bert snagged that spot right away. Although there is a parking lot at the top, it was most likely full. We didn't even have that far to walk from our car to this view...Yes, we were quite lucky indeed.

Another view of L.A., which of course would look much better if the sky were clear.

It was pretty crowded that day, both on the grounds, near the building and inside the observatory itself.

The observatory was built during the aftermath of the Great Depression, as a Works Progress Administration (WPA) project. There are many cool art deco architectural details...

The domes are so iconic and recognizable...

More design details...


Finally we would get to see what the inside looked like...

Above, murals of the constellations on the dome...

Below, the Foucault pendulum which is designed to show the rotation of the earth.

There is one like this in Balboa Park, at the San Diego Museum of Natural History.

The exhibits inside are science related with many featuring astronomy. Below is a full size rendition of the periodic table of the elements.

This was cool because each display case held actual samples of the elements.

Aaah, the noble gases...

The best thing of all is that admission if FREE. The only cost would be if you wanted to watch a planetarium show.

Outside on the outer edge of the southern grass area is the bust of James Dean.


I dont' think it really looks like him though.

"You're Tearing Me Apart!!!"

I think this is out of order, but in the lower floor of the exhibit area was a huge display of the planetary system. Hmmm, this planet never fails to elicit juvenile giggling...

They also had scales that you could step on so you could see how much you weighed on each planet.

Dusk was upon as we left the observatory grounds. By then, the parking lot had thinned out, yet there seemed to be lots of people still milling about.

This is a cool video of the the A.V. Club's Pop Pilgrims, a travel show for pop culture enthusiasts.

I liked the movie snippets which featured the Griffith Observatory, like "The Terminator" (where naked Arnold kills a punk rocker), "The Rocketeer" and "Charlie's Angels Full Throttle"!

It's so tragic that James Dean died so young at age 24. His body of work consisted of only three films, "Rebel without a Cause", "East of Eden" and "Giant". My favorite is "Rebel without a Cause". His father was played by the dude that played "The Millionaire" (aka Thurston Howell the III) in the old TV show, "Gilligan's Island" (real name Jim Backus).

And just for larfs, here's that "Rush, Rush" video starring a pre-American Idol Paula Abdul as the Natalie Wood character and a post-Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure but pre-"Speed" and "The Matrix" Keanu Reeves (who was my mancrush in the late 80's) who played the James Dean character.

Astroboi, if you're reading this (and I KNOW YOU ARE), this video's for you...

Remember our favorite lines uttered by Paula and Mr. Cool Breeze Behind the Mountains (the actual Hawaiian meaning for the name Keanu, I am not making this up) during the video interlude?

"Can  I ask you something? Have you ever been in love"

"If I was, I didn't know it...and you?"

Baaaarf. We used to make fun of that video so much!

Griffith Observatory
2800 E. Observatory Rd.
Los Angeles, CA 90027
(213) 473-0800

www.griffithobservatory.org

It was such a long but very fun filled day. Our next stop would be our hotel in Burbank, then off to dinner...