Day 17 – Los Angeles and Hollywood

For the first time in a while, we had to pull out the sweaters — in Los Angeles of all places.

We started our morning at Griffith Observatory. We had been told that parking is quite limited and expensive close to the observatory. So to get there, we parked (for free, if you can believe it) in the Greek Theater parking lot at the bottom of the hill. From there, we waited across the street a good while for a shuttle to bring us up to the observatory. Although the distance from where we parked to the observatory is just under a mile, it’s quite vertical, so no one was really up to it. For fifty cents each, the shuttle did the trick.

The Griffith Observatory is just as you’ve seen it in the movies, though Hollywood magic does play some tricks with location. Downtown L.A. is quite a bit in the distance, and the Hollywood sign, while definitely visible from that vantage point, is not exactly close (it’s about a nine-mile hike from the observatory to the sign — and you can’t drive to it). Still, with the right camera or some binoculars, you can really make the most of the view even in the daylight. We took some time to enjoy the grounds before going inside.

The Leonard Nimoy Event Horizon Theater features a film about the history of the observatory and the incredible $93 million renovation and expansion efforts completed in 2006. Mr Nimoy, of course, passed away in 2015, and because he narrates the film, it’s a bit odd and feels slightly outdated. Regardless, the information is good, and it was interesting to see how they managed to add nearly 40,000 square feet of public space by excavating UNDER an existing building at the top of a mountain!

Both the museum and this film are free to the public. Guided use of the famous 12-inch Zeiss refracting telescope, as well as other publicly available telescopes, is also free on a first-come basis every (clear) night. Incredibly, the only costs here are movies in the planetarium ($7 for adults, $5 for students), souvenirs, and the requisite overpriced cafeteria.

We would not be able to come back at night to spend time with the telescopes, so instead, we took advantage of their amazing planetarium. Three different presentations are in rotation throughout the day. There were several large groups of students arriving, so I purchased our tickets for “Centered in the Universe” as soon as I got inside, just to be assured a seat and time. The show was phenomenal. It starts with the incredible, digitally controlled Zeiss star projector (see photo, below), but is enhanced with a state-of-the-art sound system, comfortable seating for almost 300 people, and probably the best feature: a real human being guiding you through the story of the stars. 

After lunch, we went back down to the car for a self-guided tour of some of the city’s highlights: Hollywood Boulevard, Laurel Canyon, and Beverly Hills. 

I’ll be honest here. I had been to L.A. and the surrounding area many times before, but almost always for business. I was looking forward to playing tourist for once. But overall, I just wasn’t that impressed. Yes, there are a lot of cool and recognizable things to see in person. But at no time did I get that, “Wow! I’m really here!” feeling, like one gets the first time they visit Times Square in New York, The Tower Bridge in London, or Ponte Vecchio in Florence. Hollywood is just kind of a filthy, famous tourist trap, lacking in character. We took a lot of pictures of stars on the Walk of Fame, and of some of the famous handprints and footprints in front of Grauman’s Chinese Theater. We did some souvenir shopping. But after that, we hopped in the car and simply drove around, looking for landmarks or famous places.  

I suppose we might have benefitted from taking a “Star Tour” of some sort, but my wife, Isabella, simply took one of the thousands of maps that tour operators were handing out along the boulevard, and we used that as a guide to drive around. For fun, we pointed at random buildings and said things like, “This is where Ben Affleck and J-Lo first kissed”, or “Hendrix once recorded here while Brian Wilson cut his toenails.”

Hey, it’s a family trip, right?