Griffith Observatory

Griffith J. Griffith shot his wife in the eye in 1903. She survived; he went to prison for two years. When he got out, he tried to give the City of Los Angeles $700,000 to build a public observatory on the hill above his donated park. The city refused the money for years, too embarrassed to be associated with its disgraced benefactor. He died in 1919. The observatory was finally built using his bequest and opened in 1935, free to the public, as he had specified in his will. It remains free to enter 90 years later.

That backstory is not in any of the interpretive panels inside. But it tells you something important: this building exists because one morally complicated man had a conviction that looking at the sky changes how people think, and nobody else around him had the same vision.

What to Know Before You Go

The observatory is open Tuesday through Friday from noon to 10 pm, Saturday and Sunday from 10 am to 10 pm. It is closed on Mondays. The building, exhibits, and public telescope access are all free. The only paid element is the Samuel Oschin Planetarium show, which costs $10 for adults (with reduced rates for seniors, students, and children under 12). Planetarium shows run eight times daily on weekdays and ten times on weekends, and they sell out. Buy your ticket as soon as you arrive.

Parking on site costs $10 per hour, enforced during open hours, with no time limit. The DASH Observatory shuttle runs from the Vermont/Sunset Metro station daily from 10 am to 10 pm, with service every 15-20 minutes and a 50-cent fare. It is air-conditioned, wheelchair accessible, and considerably more sensible than trying to park during peak hours.

The Building and Exhibits

The building is Art Deco and sits on the south slope of Mount Hollywood. Three domes break the roofline. The center dome houses the planetarium. The east and west domes hold coelostat telescopes that project live solar images onto screens in the lower level during the day, which is one of those things that sounds modest and turns out to be genuinely strange to watch.

Inside, the exhibits cover the history of astronomy, the mechanics of the solar system, and the physics of light. They are well-designed and do not condescend, which is rarer than it should be. The Foucault Pendulum hanging through the center of the rotunda has been swinging since 1935, demonstrating the rotation of the Earth. You can watch it knock down a marker pin at regular intervals. Children are fascinated. Adults are unsettled in a productive way.

The Zeiss refracting telescope on the roof deck is 12 inches in diameter and has been looked through by more than 9 million people since the observatory opened, making it the most viewed telescope in the world. Public viewing happens every night the building is open. On clear nights you can see the craters on the moon in sharp detail. On nights when the moon is not up, planetary targets and star clusters come into rotation. Volunteers from the Los Angeles Astronomical Society staff additional portable telescopes on the grounds outside.

During World War II, the planetarium was used to train Navy pilots in celestial navigation. In the 1960s, it was used to prepare Apollo astronauts for the lunar missions. The slide rule displays and historical context for those programs are among the most underrated parts of the building.

The View

The south-facing terrace offers an unobstructed line across Los Angeles from the San Gabriel Mountains to the Pacific Ocean on clear days. Sunset from this terrace is one of the city’s genuinely great experiences and does not require a ticket, a reservation, or anything other than arriving before the light changes.

The city looks different from here than from any other vantage point. Everything that reads as chaotic at street level resolves into a legible grid, and you understand for the first time why people keep moving to this place.

Where to Eat

The Cafe at the Griffith Observatory serves light food: sandwiches, snacks, coffee, and similar fare. It is fine for a break between exhibits. The terrace seating has the view.

For an actual meal, go down to Los Feliz. The neighbourhood sits at the base of the hills and has a better restaurant density per block than most of the city.

Little Dom’s on Hillhurst Avenue is the reliable anchor: an Italian-American restaurant with good pasta, a full bar, and the kind of room where the conversation is always slightly louder than ideal, which is to say, alive. The prices are mid-range and the portions are serious.

Kismet on Vermont Avenue does eastern Mediterranean food with California produce. The vegetable dishes are the reason to go. It is genuinely good in a way that would be notable in any city.

Figaro Bistrot, also on Vermont, is a French cafe that has been in the neighbourhood long enough to have earned its place. Coffee in the morning, wine in the evening, a covered patio when the weather is right.

The Trails is the snack bar at the base of the Griffith Park trail network, a few minutes’ drive east of the observatory. Sandwiches, coffee, outdoor tables surrounded by park. If you are spending a full day between the observatory and hiking the park trails, it is a practical stop that happens to be pleasant.

Where to Stay

Los Feliz and Silver Lake are the neighbourhood choices if you want to walk to good restaurants and be 10-15 minutes from the observatory. Both are denser and more interesting at street level than Hollywood or Westside options at a similar price point.

For a specific address: The Line Hotel in Koreatown is about 20 minutes by car, sits above the Wilshire/Vermont subway stop, and has one of the better hotel restaurants in the city. Not walking distance, but better value than anything adjacent to the observatory grounds.

If you need to be within walking distance of Hollywood Boulevard, there are dozens of options. None of them are particularly interesting. Prioritize location over hotel character in that zone.

Griffith Park

The observatory sits inside Griffith Park, which at 4,310 acres is one of the largest urban parks in the country. The trail network extends to Mount Hollywood summit, about a 3-mile round trip from the observatory parking area. The hike gains 600 feet, the views from the top extend further than the observatory terrace, and you will see almost no one on weekday mornings.

The park also contains the Los Angeles Zoo, the Greek Theatre, Travel Town Museum, and the old merry-go-round. A full day in the park, starting with the observatory at noon when it opens, a hike to the summit in the afternoon, and a concert at the Greek Theatre in the evening, is the kind of day that makes people understand why this city exists.

Check the observatory’s online calendar before you visit. Occasional evening star parties, special public lectures, and laser shows get added throughout the year. The laser shows are corny and worth attending anyway.