My last morning in Los Angeles, I went up to Griffith Park and walked around by the observatory and in the hills behind it. Here are a few pictures from that visit:
This is the obelisk that stands out in the plaza in front of the Griffith Observatory. what I like about this picture is that you can see a film crew setting up in the background to shoot something there on the grounds, while directly above them you can just make out the famous "Hollywood" sign in the hills in the distance. There are actually signs al over the park directing crews to spots where location shooting was being done. I remember an old story told by some golden age director who wanted to take his crew out into the Sierras or someplace for some authentic location shots, and the executive who oversaw the budget told him "A tree is a tree-- shoot it in Griffith Park!"
This first one is of the Berlin Woods, a small area of the park set aside to commemorate Los Angeles sister city in Germany. There was a Japanese family having a picnic here when I strolled through, giving it a truly international atmosphere.
Here's one of me, paused to take a breather hiking up the trail that ran up north of the observatory. Again, you can just barely make out the "Hollywood" sign in the deep background beyond my left shoulder.
Here's a shot of the observatory from those aforementioned trails. This is one of my favorite places anywhere. The Observatory is incredibly interesting in its architecture, as well as its location overloooking much of Los Angeles and point west. I've been up there a couple of times now, and its been a little hazy both times, but it wouldn't surprise me if you can see the ocean in Santa Monica on a clear day. The woods are nice and cool, the scenery is pretty, the trails are a fairly easy go-- just a really cool place to spend a little time. One can certainly understand why James Dean in
Rebel Without a Cause liked it so much.
Here's a view looking down the hills into Hollywood itself. This gives you a good idea for why the film industry settled out there-- you've got urban, suburban, rural, wilderness, mountains, desert, beaches, oceans, etc. etc. all clustered in about a fifty square mile area. Of course, it's also pretty close to Mexico, which was important to those early filmmakers who were using technology they had no rights to, who occasionally had to hightail it across the border if federal agents started snooping around. But that's another story...
This is the obelisk that stands out in the plaza in front of the Griffith Observatory. what I like about this picture is that you can see a film crew setting up in the background to shoot something there on the grounds, while directly above them you can just make out the famous "Hollywood" sign in the hills in the distance. There are actually signs al over the park directing crews to spots where location shooting was being done. I remember an old story told by some golden age director who wanted to take his crew out into the Sierras or someplace for some authentic location shots, and the executive who oversaw the budget told him "A tree is a tree-- shoot it in Griffith Park!"
This first one is of the Berlin Woods, a small area of the park set aside to commemorate Los Angeles sister city in Germany. There was a Japanese family having a picnic here when I strolled through, giving it a truly international atmosphere.
Here's one of me, paused to take a breather hiking up the trail that ran up north of the observatory. Again, you can just barely make out the "Hollywood" sign in the deep background beyond my left shoulder.
Here's a shot of the observatory from those aforementioned trails. This is one of my favorite places anywhere. The Observatory is incredibly interesting in its architecture, as well as its location overloooking much of Los Angeles and point west. I've been up there a couple of times now, and its been a little hazy both times, but it wouldn't surprise me if you can see the ocean in Santa Monica on a clear day. The woods are nice and cool, the scenery is pretty, the trails are a fairly easy go-- just a really cool place to spend a little time. One can certainly understand why James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause liked it so much.
Here's a view looking down the hills into Hollywood itself. This gives you a good idea for why the film industry settled out there-- you've got urban, suburban, rural, wilderness, mountains, desert, beaches, oceans, etc. etc. all clustered in about a fifty square mile area. Of course, it's also pretty close to Mexico, which was important to those early filmmakers who were using technology they had no rights to, who occasionally had to hightail it across the border if federal agents started snooping around. But that's another story...
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