Griffith Observatory
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Griffith Observatory is located 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 that features an extensive array of space- and science-related displays.
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[edit] History
The land on which the observatory stands was donated to the City of Los Angeles by Col. Griffith J. Griffith in 1896. In his will, Griffith donated funds to build an observatory, exhibit hall, and planetarium on the donated land. 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.
[edit] 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 Zeiss telescope, a solar telescope, and a thirty-eight foot relief model of the moon's north polar region.
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 C. 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. The first shows covered topics including the Moon, worlds of the solar system, and eclipses.
Mad Systems, the Orange based AV consultancy and integration company, developed all the audio-visual equipment for the over 60 exhibits as well as the telluria and the magic boxes.
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.
[edit] Renovation and expansion
The observatory closed in 2002 for renovation and a major expansion of exhibit space. It reopened to the public on November 3, 2006. 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 [1], a café, gift shop, and the new Leonard Nimoy Event Horizon Theater[2]. One wall is covered with the largest astronomically accurate image ever constructed (152 feet long by 20 feet high), called "The Big Picture", depicting the Virgo Cluster of galaxies; visitors can explore the highly detailed image from within arm's reach or through telescopes 60 feet away. [3] The 1964-vintage Zeiss Mark IV star projector was replaced with a Zeiss Mark IX Universarium [4]. The former planetarium projector is part of the underground exhibit on ways in which humanity has visualized the skies.
Since the observatory opened in 1935, admission has been free, in accordance with Griffith's will. Admission to the museum continues to be free. However, to accommodate crowds expected in the wake of its reopening, the observatory has implemented a reservations-only system, which allows visitors to make timed-entry reservations online or by telephone[5]. Visitors will not be able to park at the observatory for the first few months to a year after the reopening. Instead, they must ride shuttles that depart from Hollywood and Highland in Hollywood (which has an additional parking fee) or from the Griffith Observatory Satellite Reservations Center adjacent to the Los Angeles Zoo in Griffith Park, or hike or bicycle to the observatory.
General reservations for the shuttle are $8, seniors 60+ and children 5-12, $4. Children under 5 are free, but are admitted to only the first planetarium show of the day. Tickets for the show "Centered in the Universe"[6] 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. Only members of the observatory's support group, Friends Of The Observatory [7], 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.
 Los Angeles at night, taken from the roof. |
[edit] Popular culture references
- Film
The observatory was featured in a number of scenes in the James Dean film Rebel Without a Cause, including the end. More recently it appeared in the movies Bowfinger, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, GoldenEye, The Rocketeer and The Terminator.
- Television
Several scenes in the Star Trek: Voyager two-part episode "Future's End" took place at the observatory and were filmed there. It is also apparently where MacGyver in the pilot episode of the TV series "MacGyver" lives. The observatory has also been featured in The Simpsons animated TV series.
- Video games
In the Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas video game this landmark is featured and is identical to the real life Griffith Observatory. The observatory is a playable area in the Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines video game, unfortunately being ruined by a werewolf and destroyed by fire.
- 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." [8]
[edit] Trivia
A bust of James Dean can be found on the grounds of the observatory.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
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