Griffith Observatory

Griffith Observatory: Los Angeles’s Best Free View

Griffith Observatory opened in 1935 on the southern slope of Mount Hollywood, donated to the City of Los Angeles by mining magnate Griffith J. Griffith with the specific requirement that admission to the building remain free. Ninety years later, the main building is still free to enter. The parking, the planetarium shows, and the gift shop cost money. The views from the terrace are free.

And the views are the thing, or at least the first thing. From the east terrace, you look south over the Los Angeles basin toward downtown, with the Santa Monica and San Bernardino mountains as a backdrop on clear days. Turn left and the Hollywood Sign is there, readable from the observatory at about the same elevation. At dusk, when the city lights come on and the sky grades from orange to purple, it is one of the better views of any city in the western United States.

Inside the observatory

The building is a 1935 Art Deco structure with three copper domes and the confident institutional look of WPA-era public architecture. It was renovated extensively between 2002 and 2006 - the underground galleries, including the Wilensky Solar System Shaft (a scale model of the solar system in a 150-foot vertical shaft), were added during this renovation.

The Foucault Pendulum in the main rotunda is the object that most visitors stand around longest. A 240-pound brass sphere hangs from a 40-foot cable and swings slowly, knocking down pegs in a circle as the Earth rotates beneath it. This is a direct demonstration of the Earth’s rotation; the pendulum itself always swings in the same direction while the floor turns beneath it, which reads as the pendulum slowly rotating.

The rooftop Zeiss telescope is open to the public for free viewing on clear evenings from dusk until 09:45. During summer weekends the queue can be 30-45 minutes, but it moves. The telescope is an 1935 12-inch refractor, elderly by research standards but adequate for planetary viewing.

Planetarium shows

The Samuel Oschin Planetarium seats 300 and runs paid shows throughout the day (around USD 7-10 per person). The regular show “Centered in the Universe” is a competent 30-minute overview of cosmology designed for general audiences. Book online; sold-out shows are common on weekends.

Getting there

Griffith Park is large and the observatory is not near the park entrance. By car, take Vermont Avenue north from Los Feliz Boulevard and follow it up through the park; the parking lots are near the observatory but fill early on clear evenings and weekend afternoons. Arrive before 14:00 on weekends or accept a long walk from lower parking.

The DASH Observatory bus runs from the Red Line Vermont/Sunset and Vermont/Santa Monica metro stations to the observatory (USD 0.50 per ride); schedule varies. The hike up from the Greek Theatre or the Los Feliz neighbourhood takes about 30-45 minutes through Griffith Park and is popular in the early morning.

Food

The Cafe at the End of the Universe inside the observatory serves sandwiches, salads, and coffee at prices appropriate for a captive audience (USD 12-18 for a sandwich). It is convenient but not the reason to go. The Los Feliz neighbourhood below the park has good restaurants - Cafe Los Feliz and HomeState (Texas breakfast tacos, perennially queued) are both within a mile of the park entrance.

The observatory is one of the most filmed locations in Los Angeles; it appears in Rebel Without a Cause, La La Land, and dozens of others. This means most Angelenos have a mild affection for it that extends to actually going there occasionally, which distinguishes it from most tourist landmarks.