Griffith Observatory

Griffith Observatory
Griffith Observatory, September 2006
General information
Architectural style	Art Deco
Location	Los Feliz, Los Angeles, California, United States
Coordinates	34.11856°N 118.30037°W / 34.11856; -118.30037
Construction started	20 June 1933
Design and construction
Client	Griffith Trust
Architect	John C. Austin and Frederick M. Ashley
Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument
Designated:	November 17, 1976
Reference #:	168

Griffith Observatory is in Los Angeles, California, United States. Sitting on the south-facing slope of Mount Hollywood in L.A.'s Griffith Park, it commands a view of the Los Angeles Basin, including downtown Los Angeles to the southeast, Hollywood to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. The observatory is a popular tourist attraction with an extensive array of space and science-related displays.

View from a trail in Griffith Park from the south, looking north.

3,015 acres (12.20 km²) of land surrounding the observatory was donated to the City of Los Angeles by Colonel Griffith J. Griffith on December 16, 1896. In his will Griffith donated funds to build an observatory, exhibit hall, and planetarium on the donated land. As a Works Progress Administration (WPA) project, construction began on June 20, 1933, using a design developed by architect John C. Austin based on preliminary sketches by Russell W. Porter. The observatory and accompanying exhibits were opened to the public on May 14, 1935. In its first five days of operation the observatory logged more than 13,000 visitors. Dinsmore Alter was the museum's director during its first years; today, Dr. Ed Krupp is the Director of the Observatory.

Exhibits

The first exhibit visitors encountered in 1935 was the Foucault pendulum, which was designed to demonstrate the rotation of the Earth. The exhibits also included a twelve-inch (305 mm) Zeiss refracting telescope in the east dome, a triple-beam coelostat (solar telescope) in the west dome, and a thirty-eight foot relief model of the moon's north polar region.

The Griffith Observatory after renovations, June 2007.

Col. Griffith requested that the observatory include a display on evolution which was accomplished with the Cosmochron exhibit which included a narration from Caltech Professor Chester Stock and an accompanying slide show. The evolution exhibit existed from 1937 to the mid 1960s.

Also included in the original design was a planetarium under the large central dome. The first shows covered topics including the Moon, worlds of the solar system, and eclipses.

During World War II the planetarium was used to train pilots in celestial navigation. The planetarium was again used for this purpose in the 1960s to train Apollo program astronauts for the first lunar missions.

The planetarium theater was renovated in 1964 and a Mark IV Zeiss projector was installed.

Renovation and expansion

A model showing the new underground exhibits

The observatory closed in 2002 for renovation and a major expansion of exhibit space. It reopened to the public on November 3, 2006, retaining its art deco exterior. The $93 million renovation, paid largely by a public bond issue, restored the building, as well as replaced the aging planetarium dome. The building was expanded underground, with completely new exhibits, a café, gift shop, and the new Leonard Nimoy Event Horizon Theater. The Café at the End of the Universe, an homage to Restaurant at the End of the Universe, is one of the many cafés run by celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck. One wall inside the building is covered with the largest astronomically accurate image ever constructed (152 feet long by 20 feet (6.1 m) high), called "The Big Picture" (http://bigpicture.caltech.edu), depicting the Virgo Cluster of galaxies; visitors can explore the highly detailed image from within arm's reach or through telescopes 60 feet (18 m) away. The 1964-vintage Zeiss Mark IV star projector was replaced with a Zeiss Mark IX Universarium. The former planetarium projector is part of the underground exhibit on ways in which humanity has visualized the skies.

Side view of the Observatory after renovations in 2007

Since the observatory opened in 1935, admission has been free, in accordance with Griffith's will. Tickets for the show Centered in the Universe in the 290-seat Samuel Oschin Planetarium Theater are purchased separately at the box office within the observatory. Tickets are sold on a first-come, first-served basis.

Children under 5 are free, but are admitted to only the first planetarium show of the day. Only members of the observatory's support group, Friends Of The Observatory, may reserve tickets for the planetarium show.

Centered in the Universe features a high-resolution immersive video projected by an innovative laser system developed by Evans and Sutherland Corporation, along with a short night sky simulation projected by the Zeiss Universarium. A team of animators worked more than two years to create the 30-minute program. Actors, holding a glowing orb, perform the presentation, under the direction of Chris Shelton.

A wildfire in the hills came dangerously close to the observatory on May 10, 2007.

On May 25, 2008, the Observatory offered visitors live coverage of the Phoenix landing on Mars.

Visiting Griffith Observatory

Admission to the building and grounds of Griffith Observatory is free of charge, excluding some of the shows for a minimal price at the planetarium. The Observatory is open five days a week. There is a small parking lot next to the Observatory. Additional parking is along the steep road leading up to the observatory. Parking is free of charge.

There are photo opportunities and scenery at and around the Observatory, with views of the Pacific Ocean, the Hollywood Sign and Downtown Los Angeles. (Note: Pictures of these views are on the right side of the screen.) Ideal for tourist destination, field trips, dates and outings with the family and friends.

This is the view of the Hollywood sign from the north side of Griffith Observatory 2011.

This is the view from the east side of Griffith Observatory 2011.

This is the view of downtown Los Angeles from the south side of Griffith Observatory 2011.

This is the view of the Pacific Ocean and the Santa Monica area from the west side of Griffith Observatory 2011.

This is the road leading up to the Observatory, East Observatory Avenue. This is where you can find additional parking 2011.

Filming location

Film

The observatory was featured in two major sequences of the celebrated James Dean film Rebel Without a Cause (1955); a bust of Dean was subsequently placed at the west side of the grounds.

It has also appeared in a number of other movies:

• The Phantom Empire (1935)
• Phantom from Space (1953)
• The Spy with My Face (1964)
• The Cosmic Man
• The Terminator (revisited as a ruin in 2009's Terminator Salvation)
• Dragnet (1987)
• The Rocketeer
• The End of Violence
• Midnight Madness
• Bowfinger
• Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle
• Flesh Gordon
• War of the Colossal Beast
• The People vs. Larry Flynt
• House on Haunted Hill (1999 remake)
• Queen of the Damned
• Transformers (2007 live-action film)
• Yes Man
• Earth Girls Are Easy
• Terminator Salvation
• Devil in a Blue Dress (1995)
• Valentine's Day (2010) (In the opening scene of credits in the theater version a quick shot of the Observatory is shown)

Television

The Observatory has appeared in episodes of the following TV shows:

• 24 (Day 1 3:00pm–4:00pm; aired on March 19, 2002)
• Adventures of Superman (first episode, as Jor-El's laboratory on Superman's home planet Krypton; some other episodes, as the Metropolis observatory.)
• Alias ("The Coup")
• Angel (episode "Are You Now or Have You Ever Been," with Angel wearing a red jacket in homage to James Dean's Rebel Without a Cause character).
• Beverly Hills, 90210 ("Rebel with a Cause")
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer (episode "Shadow")
• Brothers and Sisters ("The Road Ahead")
• CHiPs
• Danny Phantom (The Amity Park Observatory modeled on The Griffith Observatory.)
• Jonas L.A. (Date Expectations)
• The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (appears at the beginning of the opening title sequence, 2009 to present)
• MacGyver (pilot episode)
• Melrose Place ("Till Death Do Us Part")
• Millionaire Matchmaker (Shown in random episodes)
• Mission: Impossible (opening pilot episode)
• Moonlight
• Quantum Leap ("Goodbye Norma Jean")
• Remington Steele
• Rocky Jones, Space Ranger
• Star Trek: Voyager (two-part episode "Future's End")
• The Man from U.N.C.L.E
• The New Adventures of Wonder Woman between 1977 and 1979.
• The Simpsons (duplicated as Springfield Observatory)
• The Wonder Years.
• 2010 MTV Video Music Awards. Linkin Park performed their single "The Catalyst" at the Observatory.

Other media

• Was a filming location for the music video for "Rush Rush" by Paula Abdul which starred Keanu Reeves and was directed by Stefan Würnitzer. This video was based on Rebel Without a Cause.

• An image of the observatory is shown in a 2Pac music video, To Live And Die In L.A.. The video pays homage to Los Angeles and its best known landmarks.

• Some interview segments with rock musician Ringo Starr for the Beatles Anthology video were conducted on the observatory grounds during the early 1990s.

Popular culture references

Comics

In Bill Griffith's comic strip Zippy the Pinhead, the cynical Griffy can occasionally be found in Griffith Observatory, aiming its telescope down into the valley to afford himself a view of the comings and goings in Hollywood.

In the Marvel series Runaways, the James Dean memorial is often used as a meeting point for the six teenagers, as it is the same distance from all of their houses. In a later issue, the entire observatory is destroyed in a fight.

Video games

• Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas & Grand Theft Auto V - This landmark is featured and is very similar to the real life Griffith Observatory.
• Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines - The observatory is a playable area.
• Future Cop: LAPD - The observatory and the whole Griffith Park are the setting for the first mission of the game, on which the observatory was taken over by a villain and the telescopes turned into plasma cannons.
• Red Alert 3 - The Griffith Observatory appeared in the Rising Sun campaign during the invasion of Santa Monica as a heavy artillery cannon that could be destroyed as an optional objective.
• Mafia II - The Zavesky Observatory, based on the Griffith Observatory complete with the observatory grounds, exterior, rooftop, and the interior with a planetarium, form the stage for the final mission.

Music

The song Observatory Crest by Captain Beefheart may refer to the location of the Griffith Observatory. The song includes the lyric "...drive up / and watch the city / from Observatory Crest." The front cover of The Byrds' (Untitled) album features a photograph of the band on one of the stone staircases leading up to Griffith Observatory. Also, Linkin Park performed their song "The Catalyst" live at MTV's Video Music Awards in 2010 from the Griffith Observatory.

Other

A Lego model of this building is on permanent exhibit at Legoland California in the Southern California section of Miniland. It has also been featured in the comic strip "Spiderman." In "Macross Frontier," Episode 03, two characters hold a conversation in a future replica of the Griffith Observatory.

Movies

The James Dean memorial at the Griffith Observatory is an important landmark that memorializes Dean's classic movie Rebel Without a Cause.

The opening sequence in the present time of James Cameron's The Terminator takes place at Griffith Observatory, during which Arnold Schwarzenegger (playing a cybernetic assassin from the year 2029) arrives at his destination of Los Angeles, 1984.

In the movie Bowfinger with Steve Martin and Eddie Murphy, film producer Bowfinger (Martin) has been secretly filming a movie without Kit Ramsey (Murphy) knowing about it. The film climaxes as Ramsey is running through the Griffith observatory. The camera crew follows him by filming the shots from the surveillance room, trying to catch him saying the phrase, "Gotcha Suckers!" to end the film.

The Observatory makes an appearance in The Rocketeer as the setting for a showdown between Nazi spies and The Mob. The Observatory appears in the 1987 silver-screen adaptation of Dragnet.

The Observatory is referenced in the movie The Hangover. Phil Wenneck {Bradley Cooper} asks his students for the field trip money to Griffith Observatory and then uses it for the trip to Vegas.

Television shows

In 1993, the Griffith Observatory was featured in the television show The Wonder Years in the episode "Eclipse" as a field trip location for Kevin and his class. Keeping with the shows attempt to create a non-specific "Anytown, USA" feel, the Observatory is called the Nierman Planetarium in the episode.

In the Star Trek Voyager episode Future's End, Voyager is pushed back in time to 1996, to try to correct errors to the time line. Rain Robinson, played by Sarah Silverman, is working for the SETI project in the Griffith Observatory, and notices Voyager in orbit, tries to contact them with the standard SETI greeting, and eventually helps the crew to recover what was stolen and escape from earth.

In the "ALIAS" episode "The Coup" (Season 1/Ep.13) Sydney Bristow (Jennifer Garner) meets her CIA handler, Michael Vaughn (Michael Vartan) at the Observatory to exchange information, and Vaughn tells her that he would like to become closer to her than just her handler. They stand on the walkway used in "Rebel Without A Cause." Later in Episode 22, "Almost Thirty Years," Vaughn goes looking for Sydney in the places that help her relax, one of which is the Observatory.

Books

In the novel The A-List by Zoey Dean, the marriage of Samantha Sharpe's father, Jackson Sharpe, and Poppy is held at the Griffith Observatory. The inside is transformed with gold and red decorations.

The Griffith Observatory is prominently featured in the novel Eve of Destruction by Barry Broad.

Gallery

• 

  The Griffith Observatory, April 2007

• 

  Los Angeles at night, taken from the roof.

• 

  View of Downtown Los Angeles from the telescope.

• 

  Architecture closeup, taken after the renovation.

• 

  Panorama of Los Angeles and Griffith Observatory viewed from the Hollywood Hills.

• 

  View of the Hollywood Sign on a clear day.

• 

  Lawn at entrance and Griffith Park trails, looking north from atop the observatory.

• 

  View looking eastward, with south Griffith Park and Eagle Rock

• 

  View of the Los Angeles Basin looking south, with Little Armenia in the center.

• 

  Astronomers Monument in front of north door.

• 

  Foucault Pendulum in the center of W. M. Keck Foundation Central Rotunda.

See also

• Dinsmore Alter
• Ed Krupp
• Laura Danly
• Don Dixon
• Joy Picus, Los Angeles, California, City Council member, 1977–91, president of Friends of the Griffith Observatory
• Russell W. Porter
• Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments in Hollywood and Los Feliz

External links

• Griffith Observatory Home Page
• Friends Of The Observatory
• Collection of articles on the observatory at the LA Times
• Live Lecturers sent into a Black Hole by Danny King at Bloomberg News
• Make Astronomers the Stars Op/Ed by Margaret Wertheim in the LA Times
• Light Pollution in L.A. Area