Griffith Observatory is an
observatory
An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial, marine, or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geophysics, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed.
Th ...
in
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
, on the south-facing slope of
Mount Hollywood in
Griffith Park. It commands a view of the
Los Angeles Basin
The Los Angeles Basin is a sedimentary Structural basin, basin located in Southern California, in a region known as the Peninsular Ranges. The basin is also connected to an wikt:anomalous, anomalous group of east–west trending chains of mountai ...
including
Downtown Los Angeles
Downtown Los Angeles (DTLA) is the central business district of the city of Los Angeles. It is part of the Central Los Angeles region and covers a area. As of 2020, it contains over 500,000 jobs and has a population of roughly 85,000 residents ...
to the southeast,
Hollywood
Hollywood usually refers to:
* Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California
* Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States
Hollywood may also refer to:
Places United States
* Hollywood District (disambiguation)
* Hollywood ...
to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. The observatory is a popular tourist attraction with a close view of the
Hollywood Sign and an extensive array of space and science-related displays. It is named after its benefactor,
Griffith J. Griffith. Admission has been free since the observatory's opening in 1935, in accordance with the benefactor's will.
Since its opening, over 9 million people have looked through the 12-inch (30.5 cm)
Zeiss refracting scope, making it the most viewed telescope in the world. The space theme prevails in the interior.
History
On December 16, 1896, of land surrounding the observatory was donated to the City of Los Angeles by
Griffith J. Griffith.
In his will he donated funds to build an observatory, exhibit hall, and
planetarium
A planetarium (: planetariums or planetaria) is a theatre built primarily for presenting educational and entertaining shows about astronomy and the night sky, or for training in celestial navigation.
A dominant feature of most planetariums is ...
on the donated land. Griffith's objective was to make astronomy accessible to the public, as opposed to the prevailing idea that observatories should be located on remote mountaintops and restricted to scientists.
[Harnisch, Larry. (2013, February 25)]
''A cosmic gift to L.A.''
The Los Angeles Times: retrieved 2013-02-26.
Griffith drafted detailed specifications for the observatory. In drafting the plans, he consulted with
Walter Sydney Adams, the future director of
Mount Wilson Observatory
The Mount Wilson Observatory (MWO) is an Observatory#Astronomical observatories, astronomical observatory in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The MWO is located on Mount Wilson (California), Mount Wilson, a peak in the San Gabrie ...
, and
George Ellery Hale
George Ellery Hale (June 29, 1868 – February 21, 1938) was an American astrophysicist, best known for his discovery of magnetic fields in sunspots, and as the leader or key figure in the planning or construction of several world-leading ...
, who founded (with
Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie ( , ; November 25, 1835August 11, 1919) was a Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist. Carnegie led the expansion of the History of the iron and steel industry in the United States, American steel industry in the late ...
) the first astrophysical telescope in Los Angeles.
Construction began on June 20, 1933, using a design developed by architects
John C. Austin and Frederic Morse Ashley (1870–1960), based on preliminary sketches by
Russell W. Porter.
The observatory and accompanying exhibits were opened to the public on May 14, 1935, as the country's third planetarium.
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.
The building combines Greek and
Beaux-Arts and 1930 Moderne influences, and the exterior is embellished with the
Greek key pattern.
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
The Apollo program, also known as Project Apollo, was the United States human spaceflight program led by NASA, which Moon landing, landed the first humans on the Moon in 1969. Apollo followed Project Mercury that put the first Americans in sp ...
astronauts for the first lunar missions.
Griffith Observatory Foundation
Griffith Observatory Foundation was chartered in 1978 as Friends of the Observatory. It was founded by Debra Griffith and Harold Griffith (the grandson of the observatory's benefactor) with
Dr. E.C. Krupp (the current Observatory Director) and a small group of dedicated partners. The foundation supports the observatory in its mission of public astronomy and advocated the restoration and expansion of the observatory. The foundation continues to promote the observatory as an agent of science literacy, education, and experiential astronomy.
Renovation and expansion
The observatory closed on January 6, 2002, for renovation and a major expansion of exhibit space. It reopened to the public on November 2, 2006, retaining its
Art Deco
Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...
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
Leonard Simon Nimoy ( ; March 26, 1931 – February 27, 2015) was an American actor and director, famous for playing Spock in the ''Star Trek'' franchise for almost 50 years. This includes Development of Spock, originating Spock in Star Trek: T ...
Event Horizon Theater.
On May 25, 2008, the Observatory offered visitors live coverage of the ''
Phoenix'' landing on
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...
.
Ed Krupp has been the director of the Observatory since 1974. He has been responsible for updating the technology and the building for over 45 years.
File:Observatory dusk.jpg, Side view of the Observatory in 2007 after renovations
File:Griffith Observatory P4060247.jpg, Griffith Observatory during dawn
File:Los Angeles Pollution.jpg, Griffith Observatory and downtown LA skyline
File:Right Side view of the Griffith Observatory.png, Right side view of the Griffith Observatory at night.
Exhibits
The first exhibit visitors encountered in 1935 was the
Foucault pendulum
The Foucault pendulum or Foucault's pendulum is a simple device named after French physicist Léon Foucault, conceived as an experiment to demonstrate the Earth's rotation. If a long and heavy pendulum suspended from the high roof above a circu ...
, which was designed to demonstrate the rotation of the Earth. The exhibits also included a 12-inch (305mm)
Zeiss refracting telescope
A refracting telescope (also called a refractor) is a type of optical telescope that uses a lens (optics), lens as its objective (optics), objective to form an image (also referred to a dioptrics, dioptric telescope). The refracting telescope d ...
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.
Griffith requested that the observatory include a display on evolution which was accomplished with the Cosmochron exhibit which included a narration from
Caltech
The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech) is a private university, private research university in Pasadena, California, United States. The university is responsible for many modern scientific advancements and is among a small g ...
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
The Solar SystemCapitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Sola ...
, and eclipses.
The planetarium theater was renovated in 1964 and a Mark IV
Zeiss projector
A Zeiss projector is one of a line of planetarium projectors manufactured by the Carl Zeiss AG, Carl Zeiss Company.
Main models include Copernican (1924), Model I (1925), Model II (1926), Model III (1957), Model IV (1957), Model V (1965), M ...
was installed.

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
A celebrity chef is a kitchen chef who has become a celebrity. Today, chefs often become celebrities by presenting cookery advice and demonstrations, usually through the media of television and radio, or in Books, printed publications. While telev ...
Wolfgang Puck
Wolfgang Johannes Puck (born July 8, 1949) is an Austrian chef and restaurateur.
Early life
Puck was born in Sankt Veit an der Glan, Austria. He learned cooking from his mother, who was a pastry chef. He took the surname of his stepfather, Jos ...
. One wall inside the building is covered with the largest astronomically accurate image ever constructed ( long by high), called "The Big Picture", depicting the
Virgo Cluster
The Virgo Cluster is a cluster of galaxies whose center is 53.8 ± 0.3 Mly (16.5 ± 0.1 Mpc) away in the Virgo constellation. Comprising approximately 1,300 (and possibly up to 2,000) member galaxies, the cluster forms the heart of the larger ...
of galaxies; visitors can explore the highly detailed image from within arm's reach or through telescopes away.
In 2006 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.
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, directed by observatory art director
Don Dixon who also co-wrote the script, 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. Tickets for the show 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.

The observatory is split up into six sections: The Wilder Hall of the Eye, the Ahmanson Hall of the Sky, the W. M. Keck Foundation Central Rotunda, the Cosmic Connection, the Gunther Depths of Space Hall, and the Edge of Space Mezzanine.
The Wilder Hall of the Eye, located in the east wing of the main level focuses on astronomical tools like telescopes and how they evolved over time so people can see further into space. Interactive features there include a Tesla coil and a "Camera Obscura", which uses mirrors and lenses to focus light onto a flat surface.
The Ahmanson Hall of the Sky, located in the west wing, focuses on objects that are normally found in the sky, like the Sun and Moon. The main centerpiece of this section is a large solar telescope projecting images of the Sun, using a series of mirrors called coelostats. Exhibits here include a periodic table of the elements, a Hertzsprung-Russell diagram, and several alcoves showing exhibits about topics like day and night, the paths of the Sun and stars, the seasons, the phases of the Moon, tides, and eclipses.
The W. M. Keck Foundation Central Rotunda features several
Hugo Ballin murals on the ceiling and upper walls restored since 1934, a Foucault pendulum that demonstrates the Earth's rotation, and a small exhibit dedicated to Griffith J. Griffith, after whom the observatory is named.
The Cosmic Connection is a 150 ft long hallway connecting the main building and the underground exhibition areas (see below) that depicts the history of the universe, and dramatizes the amount of time that has passed from the Big Bang to the present day, using hundreds of individual pieces of astronomy-related jewelry.
The Gunther Depths of Space Hall is the lower level of the observatory, dominated by "The Big Picture," and
scale models of the Solar System. The planets (including dwarf planet Pluto) are shown relative to the size of the Sun, which is represented by the diameter of the Leonard Nimoy Event Horizon Theater. Below each planet are listed facts, as well as scales indicating a person's weight on planets having a solid surface (or weight at an altitude where
atmospheric pressure
Atmospheric pressure, also known as air pressure or barometric pressure (after the barometer), is the pressure within the atmosphere of Earth. The standard atmosphere (symbol: atm) is a unit of pressure defined as , which is equivalent to 1,013. ...
would equal one
bar otherwise). In addition, beneath the Earth's model, there is a small room containing a large model Earth globe, an older Zeiss planetarium projector, and a set of seismograph rolls, including one tracking room motion caused by occupants. The other rolls are attached to seismographs monitoring movement at the bedrock level, and indicate actual seismic activity. On the north wall of the Depths of Space is "The Big Picture", a by photograph (the largest astronomical image in the world) showing a portion of the
Virgo Cluster
The Virgo Cluster is a cluster of galaxies whose center is 53.8 ± 0.3 Mly (16.5 ± 0.1 Mpc) away in the Virgo constellation. Comprising approximately 1,300 (and possibly up to 2,000) member galaxies, the cluster forms the heart of the larger ...
of galaxies at an angular scale of 0.1 degree per foot. This image was taken over the course of 11 nights by the 48-inch
Samuel Oschin telescope at
Palomar Mountain
Palomar Mountain ( ; ) is a mountain ridge in the Peninsular Ranges in northern San Diego County, California. It is known as the location of Palomar Observatory and Hale Telescope, and known for Palomar Mountain State Park.
History
The Luise� ...
. There is also a bronze statue of
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein (14 March 187918 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist who is best known for developing the theory of relativity. Einstein also made important contributions to quantum mechanics. His mass–energy equivalence f ...
sitting on a bench in the Depths of Space. Einstein is holding his index finger about in front of his eyes, to illustrate the visual area of space that is captured in The Big Picture.
The Edge of Space Mezzanine, which overlooks the Depths of Space Hall, focuses more on astronomy related topics that involve celestial bodies much closer to Earth, with exhibits including meteorite displays, an asteroid impact simulator, cloud and spark chambers, a large globe of the Moon, and telescopes that allow inspection of The Big Picture from a distance.
Tesla coil

On display at the Observatory is a large
Tesla coil, named for its inventor,
Nikola Tesla
Nikola Tesla (;["Tesla"](_blank)
. ''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. ; 10 July 1856 – 7 ...
. Dubbed "GPO-1", it is one of a pair which were built in 1910 by
Earle Ovington. Ovington, who would go on to fame as an aviator, ran a company which built high voltage generators for medical
X-ray
An X-ray (also known in many languages as Röntgen radiation) is a form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength shorter than those of ultraviolet rays and longer than those of gamma rays. Roughly, X-rays have a wavelength ran ...
and
electrotherapy devices. In public demonstrations of his generators, the spectacular displays drew crowds. Ovington designed the Observatory's coil to surpass a coil made by
Elihu Thomson
Elihu Thomson (March 29, 1853 – March 13, 1937) was an English-American engineer and inventor who was instrumental in the founding of major electricity, electrical companies in the United States, the United Kingdom and France.
Early life
He ...
in 1893 which generated a 64-inch spark. (
Tesla had secretly produced much larger sparks in 1899.) The project caught the attention of an
Edison Electric Illuminating Company official, who offered $1,000 if the coil were displayed at an upcoming electrical show in
Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as the Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh and Eighth Avenue (Manhattan), Eig ...
, with the stipulation that the machine would produce sparks not less than ten feet long.
The machine, dubbed the ''Million Volt Oscillator'', was installed in the band balcony overlooking the arena. At the top of each hour the lights in the main hall were shut off, and sparks would shoot from the copper ball atop the coil to a matching coil 122 inches away, or to a wand held by an assistant. The chief engineer of the
General Electric Company
The General Electric Company (GEC) was a major British industrial conglomerate involved in consumer and Arms industry, defence electronics, communications, and engineering.
It was originally founded in 1886 as G. Binswanger and Company as an e ...
estimated that the discharges were at least 1.3 million volts.
Ovington, who died in 1936, gave the matching Tesla coils to his old electrotherapy colleague Frederick Finch Strong, who in 1937 donated them to Griffith Observatory. The Observatory had room to exhibit only one of the pair. By this time the machine was missing parts, so Observatory staffer Leon Hall restored it with the notable assistance of Hollywood special effects expert
Kenneth Strickfaden who designed the special effects for ''
Frankenstein
''Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' is an 1818 Gothic novel written by English author Mary Shelley. ''Frankenstein'' tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who creates a Sapience, sapient Frankenstein's monster, crea ...
'' (1931) among many other movies.
''Astronomers Monument''

The ''Astronomers Monument'' on the front lawn of the Observatory that pays homage to six of the greatest astronomers of all time:
Hipparchus
Hipparchus (; , ; BC) was a Ancient Greek astronomy, Greek astronomer, geographer, and mathematician. He is considered the founder of trigonometry, but is most famous for his incidental discovery of the precession of the equinoxes. Hippar ...
(about 150 BC);
Nicolaus Copernicus
Nicolaus Copernicus (19 February 1473 – 24 May 1543) was a Renaissance polymath who formulated a mathematical model, model of Celestial spheres#Renaissance, the universe that placed heliocentrism, the Sun rather than Earth at its cen ...
(1473–1543);
Galileo Galilei
Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de' Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642), commonly referred to as Galileo Galilei ( , , ) or mononymously as Galileo, was an Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer, sometimes described as a poly ...
(1564–1642);
Johannes Kepler
Johannes Kepler (27 December 1571 – 15 November 1630) was a German astronomer, mathematician, astrologer, Natural philosophy, natural philosopher and writer on music. He is a key figure in the 17th-century Scientific Revolution, best know ...
(1571–1630);
Isaac Newton
Sir Isaac Newton () was an English polymath active as a mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, theologian, and author. Newton was a key figure in the Scientific Revolution and the Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment that followed ...
(1642–1727); and
William Herschel
Frederick William Herschel ( ; ; 15 November 1738 – 25 August 1822) was a German-British astronomer and composer. He frequently collaborated with his younger sister and fellow astronomer Caroline Herschel. Born in the Electorate of Hanover ...
(1738–1822). The 1934
New Deal artwork, which was a collaboration between six local artists, is topped with an
armillary sphere.
Visiting

Admission to the building and grounds of Griffith Observatory is free of charge.
[ Planetarium shows at the Observatory are offered eight times a day on weekdays and ten times a day on weekends. A nominal fee is charged for admission to the planetarium shows.][ As long as the weather permits, the Observatory offers free public telescope viewing every night the observatory is open - usually beginning at 7:00 p.m. This includes the historic 12" Zeiss Refracting Telescope on the roof, and up to four portable telescopes placed outside offering views of visible celestial objects for the night. At 9:30 p.m., the doors to the Zeiss dome close, and lines for the portable telescopes outside stop allowing guests into the queues - though the lines may close earlier on the busier nights. In poor weather, the roof may be closed to the public, but if still accessible under overcast skies, the Zeiss Telescope can still be visited as an exhibit during viewing hours.]
There is a small parking lot next to the Observatory, plus more spaces along Western Canyon Rd, which require payment of $8–10 an hour, depending on the season. During busier times, the roads can get congested and limit access to the top.[Archived copy]
Park Observatory, publisher=Los Angeles
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
, access-date=4 April 2017 The Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADOT) operates daily low cost DASH Observatory public bus service from the Vermont/Sunset Metro Red Line station to the Observatory, including a stop at the nearby Greek Theater, which can be used as a free parking area when there are no concerts. When parking at the Greek Theater parking lot on nights there are no concerts, visitors can choose to take trails up to the observatory (primarily by using the sidewalk along the road that leads up to the observatory) or by taking the bus that runs up the road and drops visitors off right outside the observatory grounds. The bus can be quite congested at peak times of the day but only takes about 5 minutes to reach the top. Walking the distance from the parking lot at the Greek Theater to the top would take approximately 15–20 minutes. The observatory is closed on Mondays.
There are photo opportunities and scenery at and around the Observatory, with views of the Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...
, the Hollywood Sign and Downtown Los Angeles
Downtown Los Angeles (DTLA) is the central business district of the city of Los Angeles. It is part of the Central Los Angeles region and covers a area. As of 2020, it contains over 500,000 jobs and has a population of roughly 85,000 residents ...
.
In popular culture
Film
The observatory was featured in two major sequences of the James Dean
James Byron Dean (February 8, 1931September 30, 1955) was an American actor. He became one of the most influential figures in Hollywood in the 1950s, despite a career that lasted only five years. His impact on cinema and popular culture was p ...
film '' Rebel Without a Cause'' (1955), which helped to make it an international emblem of Los Angeles. A bust of Dean was subsequently placed at the west side of the grounds. It has also appeared in a number of other movies, including:
* ''The Phantom Empire
''The Phantom Empire'' is a 1935 American Western (genre), Western serial film directed by Otto Brower and B. Reeves Eason and starring Gene Autry, Frankie Darro, and Betsy King Ross.Magers 2007, p. 21. This 12-chapter Mascot Pictures serial ...
'' (1935)
* '' Dick Tracy Returns'' (1938)
* '' Phantom from Space'' (1953)
* '' Tobor the Great'' (1954)
* '' Teen-Age Crime Wave'' (1955)
* '' War of the Colossal Beast'' (1958)
* '' The Cosmic Man'' (1959)
* '' The Spy with My Face'' (1964)
* ''The Split'' (1968)
* '' Flesh Gordon'' (1974)
* '' Midnight Madness'' (1980)
* ''The Terminator
''The Terminator'' is a 1984 American science fiction action film directed by James Cameron, written by Cameron and Gale Anne Hurd and produced by Hurd. It stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Terminator, a cybernetic assassin sent back in t ...
'' (1984)
* ''Back to the Future
''Back to the Future'' is a 1985 American science fiction film directed by Robert Zemeckis and written by Zemeckis and Bob Gale. It stars Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover, and Thomas F. Wilson. Set in 1985 ...
'' (1985)
* '' Dragnet'' (1987)
*The tunnel entrance to the Observatory on Mount Hollywood Drive is the entrance to Toontown in the movie ''Who Framed Roger Rabbit
''Who Framed Roger Rabbit'' is a 1988 American fantasy comedy film directed by Robert Zemeckis from a screenplay written by Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman. It is loosely based on the 1981 novel ''Who Censored Roger Rabbit?'' by Gary K. Wol ...
'' (1988).
* '' Earth Girls Are Easy'' (1988)
* ''Back to the Future Part II
''Back to the Future Part II'' is a 1989 American science fiction film directed by Robert Zemeckis from a screenplay by Bob Gale; both wrote the story. It is a sequel to the 1985 film ''Back to the Future'' and the second installment in the Back ...
'' (1989)
* '' The Rocketeer'' (1991)
* '' The Pagemaster'' (1994)
* '' Devil in a Blue Dress'' (1995)
* '' The Power Within'' (1995)
* '' The People vs. Larry Flynt'' (1996)
* '' The End of Violence'' (1997)
* '' Bowfinger'' (1999)
* '' House on Haunted Hill'' (1999 remake
A remake is a film, television series, video game, song or similar form of entertainment that is based upon and retells the story of an earlier production in the same medium—e.g., a "new version of an existing film". A remake tells the same s ...
)
* '' Queen of the Damned'' (2002)
* '' Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle'' (2003)
* ''Transformers
''Transformers'' is a media franchise produced by American toy company Hasbro and Japanese toy company Tomy, Takara Tomy. It primarily follows the heroic Autobots and the villainous Decepticons, two Extraterrestrials in fiction, alien robot fac ...
'' (2007 live-action
Live action is a form of cinematography or videography that uses photography instead of animation. Some works combine live action with animation to create a live-action animated feature film. Live action is used to define film, video games or ...
film)
* '' Yes Man'' (2008)
* '' Terminator Salvation'' (2009)
* ''Valentine's Day
Valentine's Day, also called Saint Valentine's Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, is celebrated annually on February 14. It originated as a Christian feast day honoring a Christian martyrs, martyr named Saint Valentine, Valentine, and ...
'' (2010; In the opening scene of credits in the theater version a quick shot of the Observatory is shown)
* '' Friends with Benefits'' (2011)
* '' Love and Mercy'' (2014)
* '' McFarland, USA'' (2015; Final cross-country race winds past the Observatory)
* '' San Andreas'' (2015; It is seen briefly in a shot of L.A.)
* ''Terminator Genisys
''Terminator Genisys'' is a 2015 American cyberpunk action film that is the fifth installment in the Terminator (franchise), ''Terminator'' franchise. It is a Reboot (fiction), reboot of the franchise, taking the premise of the The Terminator, ...
'' (2015)
* ''La La Land
''La La Land'' is a 2016 American musical romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by Damien Chazelle. It stars Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone as a struggling jazz pianist and an aspiring actress who meet and fall in love while pursuing ...
'' (2016)
* '' Sandy Wexler'' (2017)
* '' Under the Silver Lake'' (2018)
* '' Hotel Artemis'' (2018; It is seen briefly in the opening sequence of the movie in a news report. The observatory appears to be on fire)
* '' Moonfall'' (2022)
* '' Elvis'' (2022)
* '' Family Switch'' (2023)
Television
The Observatory has appeared in episodes of the following TV shows:
* '' 24'' ("Day 1 3:00–4:00 pm"; aired on March 19, 2002)
* '' 90210'' (location shots of the Observatory many times)
* '' Adele One Night Only'' (2021 CBS special; concert portion filmed at Observatory)
* '' Adventures of Superman'' (first episode, as Jor-El
Jor-El is a character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, Jor-El first appeared in the Superman (comic strip), ''Superman'' newspaper comic strip in 1939.
Jor-El is Supe ...
's laboratory on Superman's home planet Krypton
Krypton (from 'the hidden one') is a chemical element; it has symbol (chemistry), symbol Kr and atomic number 36. It is a colorless, odorless noble gas that occurs in trace element, trace amounts in the Earth's atmosphere, atmosphere and is of ...
; some other episodes, as the Metropolis observatory)
* '' Alias'' ("The Coup")
* '' Agent Carter'' Season 2 episode 2: "A View in the Dark", January 2016
* ''The Amazing Race
''The Amazing Race'' is an adventure reality competition franchise in which teams of two people race around the world in competition with other teams. ''The Amazing Race'' is split into legs, with teams tasked to deduce clues, navigate themselv ...
'' (Starting Line for the 22nd season)
* ''Angel
An angel is a spiritual (without a physical body), heavenly, or supernatural being, usually humanoid with bird-like wings, often depicted as a messenger or intermediary between God (the transcendent) and humanity (the profane) in variou ...
'' (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).
* ''Angie Tribeca
''Angie Tribeca'' is an American television sitcom created by Steve and Nancy Carell, which aired on TBS. A parody of the police procedural genre, it stars Rashida Jones as the titular character, with Hayes MacArthur, Jere Burns, Deon Cole ...
'' (Season 4 Episode 9 "Irrational Treasures")
* '' Archer'' (features prominently in the 2017, season 8 episode "Archer Dreamland: Sleepers Wake")
* ''Beverly Hills, 90210
''Beverly Hills, 90210'' (often referred to as ''90210'') is an American teen drama television series created by Darren Star and produced by Aaron Spelling via his production company Spelling Television. The series ran for 10 seasons on Fo ...
'' ("Rebel with a Cause")
* ''BoJack Horseman
''BoJack Horseman'' is an American adult animation, adult animated tragicomedy television series created by Raphael Bob-Waksberg. It stars the voices of Will Arnett, Amy Sedaris, Alison Brie, Paul F. Tompkins, and Aaron Paul. Set primarily in ...
'' (in animated form in "The Telescope", "Later
Later may refer to:
* Future
The future is the time after the past and present. Its arrival is considered inevitable due to the existence of time and the laws of physics. Due to the apparent nature of reality and the unavoidability of the futur ...
", " That's Too Much, Man!”, "A Horse Walks into Rehab", and is prominently featured in Season 6's opening credits)
* ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer
''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' is an American supernatural fiction, supernatural drama television series created by writer and director Joss Whedon. The concept is based on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer (film), 1992 film, also written by Whedon, a ...
'' (episode "Shadow
A shadow is a dark area on a surface where light from a light source is blocked by an object. In contrast, shade occupies the three-dimensional volume behind an object with light in front of it. The cross-section of a shadow is a two-dimensio ...
")
* '' Brothers and Sisters'' ("The Road Ahead")
* ''Cannon
A cannon is a large-caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder during th ...
'' Season 4 episode 22: "Vengeance" March 1975
* '' CHiPs''
* ''Criminal Minds
''Criminal Minds'' is an American police procedural crime drama television series created by Jeff Davis that premiered on CBS on September 22, 2005. It follows a group of criminal profilers who work for the FBI as members of its Behavioral ...
'' ("Nanny Dearest")
* ''Dancing with the Stars
''Strictly Come Dancing (widely known as Dancing with the Stars)'' is an international television franchise based on the format of the British TV series '' Strictly Come Dancing,'' itself a successor to the show ''Come Dancing'' (1950–1998) ...
'' (opening performance for season premiere of Season 23)
* '' Danny Phantom'' (The Amity Park Observatory modeled on Griffith Observatory.)
* '' Dragnet'' ("The LSD Story" aka "Blueboy" episode)
* ''Episodes
Episodes may refer to:
* Episode, a part of a dramatic work
* Episodes (TV series), ''Episodes'' (TV series), a British/American television sitcom which premiered in 2011
* Episodes (journal), ''Episodes'' (journal), a geological science journal
...
''
* '' Fallout'' Season 1, episode 8 "The Beginning"
* ''Goliath
Goliath ( ) was a Philistines, Philistine giant in the Book of Samuel. Descriptions of Goliath's giant, immense stature vary among biblical sources, with texts describing him as either or tall. According to the text, Goliath issued a challen ...
'' Season 2, episode 8
* '' Honey West'' ("The Abominable Snowman")
* ''Hunter
Hunting is the human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, and killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to obtain the animal's body for meat and useful animal products ( fur/ hide, bone/tusks, ...
'', Part Three of the trilogy ''City Under Siege''
* '' In the Heat of the Night'' ("Just a Country Boy")
* '' Jonas'' (Date Expectations)
* ''Keeping up with the Kardashians
''Keeping Up with the Kardashians'' (often abbreviated ''KUWTK'') is an American reality television series which focused on the personal and professional lives of the Kardashian family, Kardashian–Jenner Stepfamily, blended family. It aired ...
'' on E! shows shots of Griffith Observatory on a regular basis.
* ''The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson
''The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by Scottish actor and comedian Craig Ferguson. This was the third iteration of the The Late Late Show (American talk show), ''Late Late Show'' franchise, airi ...
'' (appears at the beginning of the opening title sequence, 2009 to 2015)
* '' Logan's Run'' (episode 10 "Futurepast" January 1978)
* ''Lucifer
The most common meaning for Lucifer in English is as a name for the Devil in Christian theology.
He appeared in the King James Version of the Bible in Isaiah and before that in the Vulgate (the late-4th-century Latin translation of the Bib ...
'' (ending of season 3 bonus episode "Once Upon a Time")
* ''MacGyver
Angus "Mac" MacGyver is the title character and the protagonist in the TV series ''MacGyver''. He is played by Richard Dean Anderson in the MacGyver (1985 TV series), 1985 original series. Lucas Till portrays a younger version of MacGyver in Mac ...
'' (pilot episode)
* '' Macross Frontier'' (a future replica of Griffith Observatory.)
* '' The Man from U.N.C.L.E.'' ("The Double Affair", November 1964)
* '' Melrose Place'' ("Till Death Do Us Part")
* '' Millionaire Matchmaker'' (shown in random episodes)
* '' Mission: Impossible'' (1966 TV series; opening pilot episode, plus the location of two mission briefings in two subsequent episodes)
* ''The Monkees
The Monkees were an American pop rock band formed in Los Angeles in the mid-1960s. The band consisted of Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones (musician), Davy Jones, Michael Nesmith, and Peter Tork. Spurred by the success of ''The Monkees (TV series), Th ...
'' (footage incorporated into musical sequences)
* ''Moonlight
Moonlight consists of mostly sunlight (with little earthlight) reflected from the parts of the Moon's surface where the Sun's light strikes.
History
The ancient Greek philosopher Anaxagoras was aware that "''the sun provides the moon with its ...
''
* '' 2010 MTV Video Music Awards''. Linkin Park
Linkin Park is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Agoura Hills, California, in 1996. The band's current lineup consists of vocalist/rhythm guitarist/keyboardist Mike Shinoda, lead guitarist Brad Delson, DJ/turntablist Joe Hahn, bass ...
performed their single "The Catalyst" at the Observatory
* '' The Muppets Mayhem'' episode "Drift Away"
* ''The New Adventures of Wonder Woman
''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...
'' (Season 3 episode "Time Bomb" 1979)
* '' Perry Mason'' (Season 2, Episode 4, April 24, 2023)
* ''Quantum Leap
Quantum leap or ''variation'', may refer to:
In general
* Quantum leap (physics), also known as quantum jump, a transition between quantum states
** Atomic electron transition, a key example of the physics phenomenon
* Paradigm shift, a sudden ch ...
'' (" Goodbye Norma Jean")
* '' Remington Steele''
* '' The Rookie'' (Season 4, Episode 6: Poetic Justice)
* '' Rocky Jones, Space Ranger''
* '' She-Hulk: Attorney at Law'' (Season 1, Episode 1; A picture of the observatory hangs in Jennifer Walters' office)
* ''The Simpsons
''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening, James L. Brooks and Sam Simon for the Fox Broadcasting Company. It is a Satire (film and television), satirical depiction of American life ...
'' (duplicated as Springfield Observatory)
* '' Star Trek: Voyager'' (two-part episode " Future's End")
* ''Top Chef
''Top Chef'' is an American reality competition television series which premiered on Bravo in March 2006. The show features chefs competing against each other in culinary challenges. The contestants are judged by a panel of professional chefs ...
'' (site of opening challenge for the 17th season)
* ''The Wonder Years
''The Wonder Years'' is an American coming-of-age comedy television series created by Neal Marlens and Carol Black. It ran on ABC from January 31, 1988, until May 12, 1993. The series premiered immediately after ABC's coverage of Super Bowl X ...
''
Other media
* The song "Observatory Crest" from Captain Beefheart and The Magic Band's album '' Bluejeans & Moonbeams'' (1974) is about two lovers spending a romantic evening at Griffith Observatory. Lead vocalist Don Van Vliet lived nearby and frequently visited it in his youth.
* It was a filming location for the music video
A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...
for " Rush Rush" (1991) by Paula Abdul which starred Keanu Reeves
Keanu Charles Reeves ( ; born September 2, 1964) is a Canadian actor and musician. The recipient of numerous accolades in a career on screen spanning four decades, he is known for his leading roles in action films, his amiable public imag ...
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
Tupac Amaru Shakur (; born Lesane Parish Crooks; June 16, 1971 – September 13, 1996), also known by his stage names 2Pac and Makaveli, was an American rapper and actor, regarded as one of the greatest and most influential rappers of all tim ...
music video, " To Live & Die in L.A.". The video pays homage to Los Angeles and its best known landmarks.
* Some interview segments with rock musician Ringo Starr
Sir Richard Starkey (born 7 July 1940), known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr occasionally sang lead vocals with the group, us ...
for the '' Beatles Anthology'' video were conducted on the observatory grounds during the mid-1990s. Starr and Neil Aspinall are shown viewing Los Angeles from the Observatory.
* The 2004 Rockstar Games
Rockstar Games, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in New York City. The company was established in December 1998 as a subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive, using the assets Take-Two had previously acquired from BMG Interactive. Foun ...
video game '' Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas'', set in a parody of both the states of California and Nevada
Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...
, features a parody of the Griffith Observatory named "Los Santos Observatory".
* The 2004 Troika Games video game '' Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines'' presented a fight in and around a reduced version of the Observatory towards the end of the game.
* The 2010 2K Czech
2K Czech, s.r.o. (formerly Illusion Softworks, a.s.) was a Czech video game developer based in Brno, founded as Illusion Softworks in 1997 by Petr Vochozka and Jan Kudera. The company was acquired by Take-Two Interactive in January 2008 and sub ...
video game '' Mafia II'' features a location based on the Griffith Observatory called the "Zavesky Observatory."
* On September 12, 2010, Linkin Park
Linkin Park is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Agoura Hills, California, in 1996. The band's current lineup consists of vocalist/rhythm guitarist/keyboardist Mike Shinoda, lead guitarist Brad Delson, DJ/turntablist Joe Hahn, bass ...
performed a brief set for a thousand fans onsite. " The Catalyst" from this performance was later shown by MTV
MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...
for that night's Video Music Awards.
* The photographs on the cover of The Byrds' album ''Untitled'' (1970) were taken on the staircase of Griffith Observatory.
* In the comic '' Runaways'', the Runaways battle Geoffrey Wilder at Griffith Observatory, which is destroyed in the fight.[''Runaways'' (vol. 2) 18, Marvel Comics]
* Cartoonist Bill Griffith
William Henry Jackson Griffith (born January 20, 1944) is an American cartoonist who signs his work Bill Griffith and Griffy. He is best known for his surreal daily comic strip '' Zippy''. The catchphrase "Are we having fun yet?" is credited t ...
is known for his satirical cartoon commentary on American culture and values. He drew and released a one-shot magazine format collection of "one-pager" treatments of odd bits of American cultural life, entitled "Griffith Observatory". It opens with a clever premise piece, in which he falls into the opportunity to rent the actual Griffith Observatory as a living space. The agent showing the property mentions the telescope in an offhand way as a "plus", and Bill realizes it would be a tremendous boon to his amateur anthropological pastime.
* The 2013 Rockstar Games
Rockstar Games, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in New York City. The company was established in December 1998 as a subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive, using the assets Take-Two had previously acquired from BMG Interactive. Foun ...
video game ''Grand Theft Auto V
''Grand Theft Auto V'' is a 2013 action-adventure game developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It is the seventh main entry in the Grand Theft Auto, ''Grand Theft Auto'' series, following 2008's ''Grand Theft Auto IV'', and ...
'', which is set in a highly accurate and detailed parody of Los Angeles—named "Los Santos"—as well as various surrounding areas of Southern California (the state itself is named "San Andreas"), features the "Galileo Observatory", a fictionalized version of the Griffith Observatory.
* In 2019, a photo of the observatory was one of many splash screens for Windows 10
Windows 10 is a major release of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system. The successor to Windows 8.1, it was Software release cycle#Release to manufacturing (RTM), released to manufacturing on July 15, 2015, and later to retail on July 2 ...
.
* In the 2023 video game '' Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores'', the observatory was purchased by billionaire and antagonist Walter Londra after a lengthy court battle, as a headquarters for his company.
See also
* Don Dixon – Observatory Art Director
* Joy Picus, Los Angeles City Council member, 1977–1991, president of Friends of Griffith Observatory
* Laura Danly – Observatory Curator
* Los Angeles Historic–Cultural Monuments in Hollywood and Los Feliz
* Fabra Observatory – Spanish observatory on a hill overlooking a metropolis
Explanatory notes
References
External links
*
Griffith Observatory Foundation
Collection of articles on the observatory
at the ''Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
''
Live Lecturers sent into a Black Hole
by Danny King at Bloomberg News
Bloomberg News (originally Bloomberg Business News) is an international news agency headquartered in New York City and a division of Bloomberg L.P. Content produced by Bloomberg News is disseminated through Bloomberg Terminals, Bloomberg T ...
Make Astronomers the Stars
Op/Ed by Margaret Wertheim in the ''Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
''
Light Pollution in L.A. Area
Image of visitors at an exhibit in the newly opened Griffith Observatory, Los Angeles, 1935
''Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
'' Photographic Archive (Collection 1429). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library
The Charles E. Young Research Library is one of the largest libraries on the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles in Westwood, Los Angeles, California. It initially opened in 1964, and a second phase of construction was completed ...
, University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...
.
{{Authority control
Observatory
An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial, marine, or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geophysics, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed.
Th ...
Art Deco architecture in California
Astronomical observatories in California
Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments
Museums in Los Angeles
Landmarks in Los Angeles
Planetaria in the United States
Science and technology in Greater Los Angeles
Science museums in California
Tourist attractions in Los Angeles
Museums established in 1935
1935 establishments in California
Los Feliz, Los Angeles