“Once, it was like seeing the night for the very first time, only someone dangled black ice cubes in front of my eyes. Each street, each story melted on a page…”
– Marisela Norte, from Lost in Los (Angeles)
My friend didn’t have an itinerary for our trip to Los Angeles. I had ideas of what I’d like to do, but I wasn’t sure what she wanted (I also had to figure what was possible with public transportation). The only thing she mentioned before the trip was going to Griffith Observatory, so I planned our time around that.
As I researched the bus route in relation to the LA subway, I discovered a nearby Frank Lloyd Wright house to visit. I visited the Hollyhock House many years ago, but don’t remember much about it. As we walked from the Vermont / Sunset subway station, I checked GPS to see the direction to the house. Unfortunately, the entrance was on the far side away from the bus stop and subway and there was little-to-no shade from the sun on the way there — it would’ve been an additional 20-minute walk, plus the tour. We opted to take the additional time to ensure we could see the observatory.
The bus ride up was pretty good as we had seats on that winding road up — and it was a free transfer from the subway. Standing on the crowded bus back was more of an adventure with short stops and curves in the road. As we approached parking for Griffith Observatory, traffic became miserable and slow; tourists didn’t know how to pull over or park. The bus ride down after sunset was another miserable story with much larger crowds trying to board the buses and Ubers blocking traffic to the point of angering the bus drivers that wanted to get going.
Despite the traffic and crowded bus, Griffith Observatory was well worth the effort. I don’t recall ever visiting on previous trips to Los Angeles. It’s a fascinating science museum housed in a beautiful work of art deco architecture that opened to the public in 1935. There’s also great views of the Hollywood Hills (and the sign), though it was quite hazy on the trip.
The property was donated to the city of Los Angeles in 1896 by businessman Griffith J. Griffith. The donation was tainted after Griffith spent time in prison for attempting to kill his wife. He later offered the city money to build an observatory on the property, but the city wanted nothing to do with him. His gift grew to $750,000 by the time he died in 1919, at which point Los Angeles was willing to accept the donation.
We walked through all the exhibits, including the Event Horizon Theater for a film history of the observatory narrated by Leonard Nimoy (I was disappointed there was no monorail). The film was interesting — it did not go into the details of Griffith’s later life — with a lot about the observatory’s contemporary importance as well as its promotion of astronomy.
It’s not a particularly large museum, but it packs a lot of education into that space. There’s a hallway full of exhibits on the phases of the moon, Earth’s rotation and seasons, and solar and lunar eclipses.
One of the more exciting exhibits is the electricity show — a huge Tesla coil behind glass sending off electric bolts in all directions. Being tall helps for this show as I could sort of get a video over everyone’s heads (particularly as I had to let the kids stand in front. But there are multiple shows throughout the day (about once an hour) in case visitors can’t get a good view.
There is a lot to do around the observatory on a good day — if my friend had wanted, I would’ve gone on a decent hike along the trails in the park for longer than the 20 minutes we took. I would’ve been tempted to walk back through Hollywood to check out the scenery and homes along the way (there is some impressive architecture to admire). We weren’t exactly prepared for hiking, so we headed back to enjoy the view from above.
The biggest disappointment was lack of food. There is a cafeteria that opens to views of the hills, but there’s nothing worth eating there — I’d advise bringing your own food if planning to stay for a while. There are water fountains, so bringing a water bottle is a great idea, especially if the plan involves a bit of hiking. There is also limited seating when visiting during busy times (it’s easier to find a place to sit downstairs by the theater.
I wasn’t expecting it, but my friend insisted on staying until it got dark. My only regret was that I was not prepared for how cold it got late in the day — I had checked the weather before the trip, but did not expect it to feel as cold as it did. But the views of LA from the observatory were beautiful despite the haze from the summer’s wildfires and made up for long wait and chill. It certainly would’ve been a much more beautiful view on a clearer day.
We wandered around the observatory to get different angles of Los Angeles as the sky darkened and the city lights came on — seeing the progression of the setting sun over the city made it worthwhile. We could watch traffic on various roads through the city and see the small area of downtown LA that remained quieter than expected.
There’s a reason the Griffith Observatory is a top tourist destination in Los Angeles. It is well worth a visit and has enough to keep adults and kids entertained.
