The terraces
Above the city.
Photograph by Mike Peel (www.mikepeel.net). — CC BY-SA 4.0 · No machine-readable author provided. Mike Dillon assumed (based on copyright claims). — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Joe Mabel — CC BY-SA 3.0 · The Fun Chronicles — CC0 · Adam Jones from Kelowna, BC, Canada — CC BY-SA 2.0 · dconvertini — CC BY-SA 2.0 · FairbanksMike — CC BY 2.0 · TobyJohn2506 — CC BY-SA 4.0
A white observatory with copper domes on the south slope of Mount Hollywood in Griffith Park, looking over the whole Los Angeles Basin: Downtown to the south-east, Hollywood to the south and the Pacific Ocean to the south-west, with a close view of the famous Hollywood Sign. It is named after its benefactor, Griffith J. Griffith, and admission has been free since it opened in 1935, as his will required. More than nine million people have looked through its 30.5-centimetre Zeiss refractor, making it the most viewed telescope in the world. Inside are exhibits on space, the planets and the stars, a Foucault pendulum in the rotunda and a planetarium with shows about the universe, while on clear nights free public telescopes are set up on the terraces. Admission is free; it is open Tuesday to Friday 12:00–22:00 and at weekends 10:00–22:00, and closed on Mondays, per the observatory's official site. Sunset and then the city lights at night are the best times; parking is limited and paid, so the shuttle bus is a good option.
Above the city.
Open to all.
At night.
South slope of Mount Hollywood, Griffith Park, Los Angeles
Yes, admission has been free since it opened in 1935; it is closed on Mondays, per the official site.