ON THE SCENE: GRIFFITH PARK OBSERVATORY

Well, folks, today marks our first review of an event attended by the good people at LA Freeloader. Earlier tonight, we made our way up to Griffith Park Observatory to witness one of LA's famous California Sunsets.

As luck would have it, this year marks the 400th anniversary of the International Year of Astronomy. The year that Galileo made some of his most important telescopic observations. In celebration of this historic event, the Observatory will be hosting many events throughout the year, many of which are free.

When we arrived, we spent the first half hour watching the sun set over the Hollywood sign while enjoying a meal, picnic style,on the lawn of the Observatory. While we were eating, one of the Observatories' staff members began to set up a telescope not far from us.

Through the telescope, we were able to check out a great view of Saturn and its rings. Surprisingly, the rings were very small due to the time of year and the Earth's angle to Saturn. The nice lady told us to go upstairs to the large telescopic dome to check out a comet that was making its way past Jupiter, so we started heading that direction.

We never made it that far.

As we made our way inside, we were greeted by a swinging pendulum, tilting its way beneath a beautiful ceiling mural. To our left, a large crowd was gathering around a large tesla coil that was shooting bright purple bolts of electrical currents through the atmosphere.

The interior of the Observatory is filled with many science exhibits, mostly centering around the sky, outer space, and the atmosphere. One could easily get lost for at least an hour looking at all the different displays. Be sure to go downstairs when you are there, to check out the exhibits they have down there. They often get missed by the casual tourist, but are definitely worth checking out.

We then made out way outside the building to take in what is undoubtedly the most beautiful view of the city you can get. One can see everything from Downtown all the way to Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Santa Monica and the Pacific. It is truly amazing, especially on a clear night.

After all that exploring, we were greeted by a friendly voice letting us know that the Observatory would soon be closing for the evening. We never even made it up to the larger telescope on top of the building, but as we left, we felt as though we had experienced enough to make this a top notch free adventure.

.kyle

Griffith Park Observatory

2800 East Observatory Road
Los Angeles, CA 90027
General Information Line: 213-473-0800

Weekdays (Tuesday-Friday)
Open 12:00 noon - 10:00 p.m.

Weekends (Saturday-Sunday)
Open 10:00 a.m. - 10:00 p.m.

Closed Mondays

Admission to the grounds and the observatory is free. Shows in the planetarium do cost a few bucks.

Be sure to keep checking our calendar down below for up to date info on other free events around town over the next few months. We update it daily.