Griffith Observatory has watched over the city since 1935, and this Art Deco observatory is the most famous viewpoint in Los Angeles. Griffith Observatory was built with a bequest from Griffith J. Griffith, a Welsh-born mining millionaire who was convicted of shooting his wife in 1903 and served two years in prison, then donated money to the city for an observatory and a Greek theater as an act of public penance. The observatory opened in 1935 and has offered free public telescope viewing every night since.
Look south: the entire Los Angeles Basin spreads before you from the San Gabriel Mountains to the Pacific Ocean. On a clear day you can see Catalina Island, twenty-two miles offshore. Look northwest and you can see the Hollywood Sign on the ridge above you — nine letters each 45 feet tall, painted white, lit with 4,000 lightbulbs when they were installed in 1923.
They originally spelled HOLLYWOODLAND, an advertisement for a real estate development in the hills; the last four letters were removed in 1949 when the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce took over their maintenance. The sign has been rebuilt twice, most recently in 1978 when each letter was donated by a celebrity.