James Dean said it best in Rebel Without A Cause with the Griffith Observatory’s stars out.
‘Once you been up there, you know you’ve been some place.’
And where Jimmy Dean trod other icons of the big screen followed.
Such as Michael J Fox, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone and a host of others including the Transformers.
This year marks 90 years since the Welsh industrialist Griffith J Griffith’s legacy dream of an observatory became reality.
And 70 since Dean popularised it for the world in the ultimate coming of age teenage angst film.
In James Dean’s space
Now when his character Jim Stark slouched in his seat in the planetarium and goofed about as the lecturer opened up the world of space.
It would be another six years before Yuri Gagarin became the first human to enter space.
The world has changed, as every politician is fond of telling us, but space hasn’t other than the traffic up there now.
And Griffith Park and the observatory are strikingly similar to when Jim and his rivals had their knife fight outside.
Griffith’s graft
We imagine the imaginatively named Griffith J Griffith would approve of the continuum.
Having insisted that the 4,310 acre park in the Santa Monica mountains should be the property of the Los Angeles people in perpetuity.
Which means that trekking through the park and picnicking there remains a favourite pastime of locals and tourists alike.
The Griffith Observatory as demanded by its donor is free as is the free night-sky telescope viewing, the most looked-through lens in the world.
Planetarium shows at the Observatory are offered eight times a day on weekdays and ten times a day on weekends with just a $10 fee.
While car parking fees are around $10 if you arrive by car though it would have cost Jim Stark big with that knifed tyre, even in 1955.
Sign of the times
The park also includes popular attractions such as the Los Angeles Zoo, the Autry Museum of the American West, the Greek Theatre and the Hollywood Sign.
Although you can no longer get right up next to the sign because of messers.
And they still try to get up them thar hills even with the threat of a $1,000 fine or six months in jail.
And the cops are atop that hill with their Tannoy too.
Better hook up with Bikes & Hikes as we have and explore any of the 53 miles of trails, with them offering a holiday sale down from $59 to $39.
So if you want to do like the locals and the stellar figures of old, Griffith Observatory’s stars out to play every day in the Oo Es of Eh.
