Retired And On The Go . . .
What are we up to in retirement?
The Griffith Park Observatory
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.
The observatory overlooks Los Angeles and offers an amazing view of the city.
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.
Our Visit
It was a great august afternoon as we arrived one minute after noon.
The world famous Hollywood sign was just a mile away!
One can see the many radio antennas on the hill behind.
The sign originally read "HOLLYWOODLAND", and its purpose was to
advertise a new housing development in the hills above the Hollywood
district of Los Angeles. H.J. Whitley had already used a sign to
advertise his development Whitley Heights, which was located between
Highland Avenue and Vine Avenue. He suggested to his friend Harry
Chandler, the owner of the Los Angeles Times, that the land syndicate in
which he was involved make a similar sign to advertise their land. Real
estate developers Woodruff and Shoults called their development "Hollywoodland"
and advertised it as a "superb environment without excessive cost on the
Hollywood side of the hills." (A movie named Hollywoodland was made in
2006.)
They contracted the Crescent Sign Company to erect thirteen letters on
the hillside, each facing south. The sign company owner, Thomas Fisk
Goff (1890–1984) designed the sign. Each letter of the sign was 30 ft (9
m) wide and 50 ft (15 m) high, and was studded with some 4000 light
bulbs. The sign was officially dedicated on July 13, 1923. It was not
intended to be permanent. Some sources[who?] say its expected life was
to be about a year and a half, but after the rise of the American cinema
in Los Angeles it became an internationally recognized symbol, and was
left there.
It became so associated with Hollywood that in September 1932, actress
Peg Entwistle committed suicide by jumping to her death from the letter
"H", as she saw the sign as a symbol of the industry that had rejected
her.
Let The Science Proceed
Sue looks at the Sun through a solar telescope. We can see the absorption
lines in the image which tells
us of the composition of the surface materials on the Sun.
The planetarium is a wonderful
opportunity to see the stars from any angel and at any time. Combined with the laser devices, it is quite an amazing experience!
A planetarium 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 the large dome-shaped projection screen onto which scenes of stars, planets and other celestial objects can be made to appear and move realistically to simulate the complex 'motions of the heavens'. The celestial scenes can be created using a wide variety of technologies, for example precision-engineered 'star balls' that combine optical and electro-mechanical technology, slide projector, video and fulldome projector systems, and lasers. Whatever technologies are used, the objective is normally to link them together to provide an accurate relative motion of the sky. Typical systems can be set to display the sky at any point in time, past or present, and often to show the night sky as it would appear from any point of latitude on Earth.
After The Show We Went Outside
The firebreaks offer a lot of room for hiking from the street level to the Observatory.
I Remember Seeing The Movies Containing The Observatory
The movie was from 1935 but they played them in our theaters still
into the 1950's... Corny but fun to watch!
Gene Autry plays a singing cowboy named Gene Autry, who runs Radio
Ranch, a dude ranch from which he makes a daily live radio broadcast at
2pm. This is a "modern" cowboy story, with planes and such. Gene has two
kid sidekicks, Frankie Darro and Betsy King Ross, who lead a club, the
"Junior Thunder Riders," in which the kids play at being armoured
knights of an unknown civilization, the mysterious Thunder Riders who
make a sound like thunder when they ride. The kids, dressing up in capes
and water-bucket helmets, play at riding "to the rescue!" (to quote
their motto).
A chance to be real heroes occurs when Betsy, Frankie and Gene are
kidnapped by the real Thunder Riders, from the super-scientific
underground empire of Murania, complete with towering skyscrapers,
robots, ray-guns, elevators tubes that extend miles from the surface,
and an icy, evil blonde Queen Tika. On the surface, a group of crooks
under Prof Beetson plan to invade Murania and seize its radium wealth,
while in Murania, a group of revolutionaries plot to overthrow Queen
Tika.
The inhabitants of Murania are the lost tribe of Mu and went below the
surface in the Ice Age, 100,000 years ago and now live in a
fantastically advanced city 20 or 25,000 feet underground and cannot now
breathe the air at ground level so must wear masks. Gene Autry however
has no trouble breathing their air. The Thunder Guard (Riders) emerge
into the surface world from a cave where a huge rock door opens upwards,
remindful of Ali Baba. Both Muranians and Prof Beetson's team want to
get rid of Autry so he loses his radio contract and Radio Ranch becomes
vacant.
Amazing Displays
The timeline of our universe was made even more amazing by the 2,200 pieces of jewelry.
The Cosmic Connection, the corridor linking the historic building above with the new Gunther Depths of Space below, provides the transition from ground-based and more familiar astronomy to a new realm of cosmic perspective. The main element in this passageway is a 150-foot timeline of the universe whimsically composed of celestial-themed jewelry in the glass case that lines the corridor. At the top end of the corridor, near the Guide Station, visitors pass the Big Bang. At the bottom end, near the Edge of Space mezzanine, all of human history occupies a fraction of an inch. In between, large images illustrate key moments in the evolution of the universe and our cultural connection to the cosmos.
2,200 difference broaches and other jewelry are on display, each having to do with astronomy!
Gunther Depths Of Space
The large new Richard and Lois Gunther Depths of Space exhibit gallery is activated by the recent transformation of cosmic perspective that began when people first ventured into space. No longer is observation and understanding of the sky bonded to the ground and framed by the horizon. The Gunther Depths of Space is filled with exhibits that are as monumental and unique as the ideas they illustrate.
This room is underground and in fact under the front lawn of the Observatory!
All the planets were to scale, quite fascinating to see!
A real Moon rock on loan from NASA.
It is amazing to think that the USA went 250,000 miles out into
space and returned this rock (and 850 additional pounds of samples)
The wall contains a pictures of a VERY SMALL cross section of the universe and shows 1,000,000+ stars and galaxies! Pictures are from the
Palomar Observatory.
She got hooked on finding out about planets in other solar systems.
Zeiss Planetarium Projector circa 1964
An amazing device used for years at the Observatory.
A planetarium projector is a device used to project images of celestial
objects onto the dome in a planetarium.
The first modern planetarium projectors were designed and built by Carl
Zeiss in 1924 Germany, and have grown more complex. Smaller projectors
include a set of fixed stars, Sun, Moon, and planets, and various
nebulae. Larger machines also include comets and a far greater selection
of stars. Additional projectors can be added to show twilight around the
outside of the screen (complete with city or country scenes) as well as
the Milky Way. Still others add coordinate lines and constellations,
photographic slides, laser displays, and other images. The OmniMax movie
system (now known as IMAX Dome) was originally designed to operate on
planetarium screens.
OMG,I be fat.... On Jupiter!
We Enjoyed The Exhibits
I got a load of comments about the shirt... From High Seas Trading Company and the OC Fair
Sue was amazed at
Jupiter and the clouds that cover the planet.
Sue was learning how to tell a normal rock from a meteorite.
A meteorite is a natural object originating in outer space that survives an impact with the Earth's surface. While in space it is called a meteoroid. When it enters the atmosphere, impact pressure causes the body to heat up and emit light, thus forming a fireball, also known as a meteor or shooting star. The term bolide refers to either an extraterrestrial body that collides with the Earth, or to an exceptionally bright, fireball-like meteor regardless of whether it ultimately impacts the surface. More generally, a meteorite on the surface of any celestial body is a natural object that has come from elsewhere in space.
The Inside Is Indeed Art Deco Circa 1935
Art Deco was a popular international design movement from 1925 until 1939, affecting the decorative arts such as architecture, interior design, and industrial design, as well as the visual arts such as fashion, painting, the graphic arts and film.
This movement was, in a sense, an amalgam of many different styles and movements of the early 20th century, including Neoclassical, Constructivism, Cubism, Modernism, Bauhaus, Art Nouveau, and Futurism.
Its popularity peaked in Europe during the Roaring Twenties and continued strongly in the United States through the 1930s. Although many design movements have political or philosophical roots or intentions, Art Deco was purely decorative. At the time, this style was seen as elegant, functional, and modern.
Everything was returned to it's 1930's condition.
Outside For A Walk Around The Building
Downtown LA form the Observatory.
Back To The Amazing Displays
This spark chamber was truely amazing. It showed how many particles go through us just standing right there. Zap, fash, zing, zip!
The Wall (Big Picture) Is Amazing!
The Big Picture depicts roughly what Einstein's finger held up to the night sky would cover.
The "Big Picture" is a single continuous digital sky image, a cut through the core of the Virgo Cluster of galaxies, derived from the Palomar-Quest digital sky survey. It is reproduced on porcelain tiles as a 152 ft long by 20 ft high back wall of the new exhibit hall (Gunther Depths of Space) at the Griffith Observatory. This website is its home in cyberspace. The image is a window into the distant universe, and it conveys a remarkable richness of the sky, as seen through a modern telescope.
This image contains nearly a million faint galaxies, about half a
million stars in our own Galaxy (the Milky Way), about a thousand
distant quasars, about a thousand asteroids in our own Solar System, and
at least one comet.
The image covers a swath of the sky which is 2 degrees wide, and 15.2
degrees long (i.e., about 4 times as wide as the disk of the full Moon,
and about 30 times as long), which is less than a thousandth of the
entire celestial sphere. It is about an area covered by your extended
index finger, held about a foot away from your eyes.
A key idea behind this exhibit is to use a real scientific data set,
rather than an artist's impression, to illustrate the range of scales
and the richness of phenomena observed in the Universe. The data used to
create the image were obtained at the Samuel Oschin Telescope at Palomar
Observatory, in the course of 20 nights in 2004 and 2005, as a part of
the Palomar-Quest (PQ) digital sky survey, a collaborative project
between Yale University and Caltech. In this survey, large areas of the
sky are scanned repeatedly, and the data are combined later. The survey
covers a total area about 300 times larger than what is shown in the"Big
Picture", and the data are still being analyzed by the Yale and Caltech
scientists.
All About Meteors
The Restoration
The restoration costs $93,00,000 which is 1,000 times what the facility originally cost! The looks of the observatory ha not changed since the 1940;s but underneath is a whole new world!
After Our Afternoon We Went To Farmer's Market For Dinner
Some swear that this charming French restaurant was lifted and moved, lock stock and barrel, from Paris. The quiches are perfection, the coq au vin is heaven, the steaks (with a choice of three dressings) are tres magnifique. A full and carefully chosen wine list is always available. Locals tend to favor a stool at the bar for wine and cheese. Monsieur Marcel Pain Vin, et Fromage is a new way to enjoy life.
Take your time indulging in informal gourmet treats for lunch or a light snack, or stay for happy hour and dinner. This is the perfect place to unwind, to people-watch and to simply enjoy yourself. Say hello to your friendly Monsieur Marcel wine experts today.
Early Farmer's Markey
In July 1934 a
contingent of farmers pulled their trucks onto an expanse of empty land
at the property known as Gilmore Islandat the corner of Third and
Fairfax in Los Angeles. They displayed their produce on the tailgates of
their vehicles, to their delight, customers quickly arrived and parked
their cars on a hastily created dirt parking lot in spaces designated
with chalk. They strolled among the trucks purchasing fruit, vegetables
and flowers.
The atmosphere was casual, the open air commerce enticing, the goods
fresh, and the result remarkable. Farmers Market became an instant
institution.
With a partner, Arthur Fremont Gilmore purchased two ranches in the Los
Angeles vicinity. The purchase inaugurated a string of serendipitous
events which not even the far-sighted Gilmore could predict. When
Gilmore and his partner elected to dissolve their arrangement, they drew
straws - Gilmore's straw secured 256 acres on which he created a
successful dairy farm. A.F. Gilmore had no plans for a world-renowned
institution when he moved to Los Angeles from Illinois in 1870. Rather,
he was seeking a better life on the promising West Coast. When he
married Mary Elizabeth Bell in 1882, the small adobe on the property
became the new home for his family.
At the turn of the century, while drilling for water for his herd of
dairy cows, A.F. Gilmore hit oil. By 1905, the dairy was gone and the
Gilmore Oil Company born.
Opening Day
The dedication and formal opening of Griffith Observatory took place amid much fanfare on May 14, 1935. On that day, the Griffith Trust transferred ownership of the building to the City of Los Angeles; the City's Department of Recreation and Parks (called the "Department of Parks" at the time of the transfer) has operated the facility ever since. From the moment the Observatory was opened to the public, those who served as full-time and part-time staff worked daily to fulfill the original vision of the Griffith Observatory as an educational and inspirational resource for all of society.
The Observatory
Griffith J. Griffith was introduced to astronomy through the
Astronomical Section of the Southern California Academy of Sciences. He
was also impressed by his visits to the new research observatory
established at Mount Wilson in 1904. He believed that an individual
gained an enlightened perspective when looking at the skies. His
reaction after looking through the 60-inch telescope at Mount Wilson --
then the largest in the world -- was described by John Anson Ford: "The
experience moved him profoundly - a distant, heavenly body suddenly
being brought so close and made so real!" Ford quotes Griffith as saying
"Man's sense of values ought to be revised. If all mankind could look
through that telescope, it would change the world!"
Griffith's experience on Mount Wilson focused his desire to make science
more accessible to the public. On December 12, 1912, he offered the City
of Los Angeles $100,000 for an observatory to be built on the top of
Mount Hollywood to be fully owned and operated by the City of Los
Angeles. Griffith's plan for the observatory would include an
astronomical telescope open to free viewing, a Hall of Science designed
to bring the public into contact with exhibits about the physical
sciences, and a motion picture theater which would show educational
films about science and other subjects. This last aspect of the plan
would eventually evolve into the planetarium, a technology not invented
until the 1920s.
The City Council accepted Griffith's gift and appointed him head of a
three-person Trust committee to supervise the construction of the
observatory and a greek theatre performing arts facility, which Griffith
promised to the city the following year. Bogged down by further
political debate, the project continued to be delayed. In 1916, with his
health failing, Griffith realized that his vision of a public
observatory would not be realized in his lifetime. He drafted a will
containing bequests for the observatory and greek theatre, along with
detailed specifications regarding the nature of the observatory, its
location, and programmatic offerings. Griffith died on July 6, 1919.
Groundbreaking for Griffith Observatory occurred on June 20, 1933, with
the William Simpson Construction Company as the builder. While the
building quickly took shape, Edward Kurth was tragically killed in a car
accident in February 1934. The Griffith Trust brought in physicist
Rudolph Langer to oversee the completion of the building, and Philip
Fox, Director of the Adler Planetarium in Chicago, whose advice had been
sought in the earliest phases of planning, was now increasingly involved
with designing exhibits for the Hall of Science.