Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/71905
Travelling around Griffith Park by James Bartlett I hike up to the Observatory to see the sunrise, even though it's only there for a second." Part of the eastern Santa Monica Mountain range, the Councilman Tom LaBonge, who is one of its most en- thusiastic supporters: "I'm a morning guy, so I'm there every day at 6am and C overing almost 4,300 acres, Griffith Park is one of the largest in North America and welcomes 10,000,000 visitors every year – including local wish to pay my debt of duty in this way to the community in which I have pros- pered." park is a huge green oasis in located in the Los Feliz neighborhood and has been called the "West Coast's Central Park." Busy from sunrise to sunset – and often late into the evening – it's home to family fa- vorites like the zoo and the observatory, but huge areas have remained untouched so that explorers can find their own peace and quiet. e story of Griffith Park began back in Copyright Ron Niebrugge/ WildNatureImages.com file, for the plain people. I consider it my obligation to make Los Angeles a happier, cleaner, and finer city. I 1882 when Welsh immigrant and mining mag- nate Griffith J. Griffith bought Rancho Los Feliz and leased some of the land to an ostrich farm (feathers were used to decorate ladies' hats at the time), though his real aim was to develop his nearby properties. Griffith reveled in the rich lifestyle, assuming the title "Colonel" and winning friends (and enemies), though every- one was delighted when he decided to give a "Christmas gift" to the city and donated 3,015 acres in December 1896 with the words: "It must be made a place of recreation and rest for the masses, a resort for the rank and 34 DISCOVER HOLLYWOOD / SUMMER 2012 were prophetic, be- cause a few years later he was at the center of a scandal and was convicted of shooting and blind- ing his wife during a drunken rage. After two years in San Quentin he emerged a changed man and wanted to develop an observatory and am- phitheater here, but despite donating more land, the stain of disgrace never re- ally left him. Deter- mined, he established a trust find that saw the opening of the Greek eatre in 1930 and the Griffith Observatory in 1935, though he never saw either, having died in 1919. Whether you join the Sierra Club's free weekly walks ose last words Welshman Griffith J. Griffith bequeathed the pictur- esque park to the City of Los Angeles and, despite a checkered past, is immortalized in bronze for his generosity to the people of the city he loved. or accompany LaBonge on one of his regular hikes, there are still many ways you can travel around Griffith Park. Right at the main Crystal Springs Drive entrance is the