After a nearly five-year closure and $93 million in historic preservation and mostly underground expansion, the public is welcome again to this 1935 building, and so many visitors are expected that the city has set up a temporary timed-reservation and shuttle-bus system from the Los Angeles Zoo and Hollywood & Highland parking areas.
I went there yesterday and had a blast shooting all day. I was surprised that none of the security guys said anything about my photography equipment. There were A LOT of security personnel and guides walking around.
Let's go to the roof
It was a glorious day... see how beautiful L.A. is when you can actually see it!
Meridian arc. Centered at the south end of the corridor, a bronze-faced meridian arc displays the meridian line and is inscribed with month and day markings, seasonal and lunar indicators, and constellation figures. The arc is 18 feet long and 13.5 feet high. Each day at local noon, as the Sun passes, the spot of sunlight moves across the meridian on the 7-inch arc and enables visitors to see how the Sun's progress is linked to the calendar. In a modern twist, photoelectric sensors embedded in the meridian arc are activated by the transiting spot of sunlight and send a signal to the ecliptic chart.
The heart of the expanded building, a hangar-sized room called the Gunther Depths of Space. Overlooked by a mezzanine that is itself crammed with displays, the room is a cacophonous space filled with exhibits (by the graphic design firm C&G Partners) and lined on one wall with a huge photomural of the universe.
You can even get a picture sitting next to Mr. Albert Einstein
Bronze bust of James Dean just outside the domed building (on the sidewalk to the west of the main lawn). The bust sits atop a white column, which contains a gold star and the words "James Dean" written large, plus a bronze plaque commemorating the making of key scenes of "Rebel Without a Cause."
My favorite exhibit, updated and relocated: the light-bouncing camera obscura that allows visitors to see the landscape outside, projected on a sort of tabletop... no photos of that... it was very 'oscuro' ;-)
Griffith Observatory official website
Rodolfo Arpia Hollywood California Wedding Photographer
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