Like Los Angeles, the Griffith Observatory, a 1935 Art Deco masterpiece conceived by Russell Porter and designed by the firm Austin and Ashley, exists in several domains, illusory and real. Whether glimpsed in the movies—1955’s "Rebel Without a Cause" or 1984’s "The Terminator"—or as a twilight destination in the Hollywood Hills, the Griffith’s iconic three-domed structure, what longtime observatory director Edwin Krupp calls the “hood ornament of Los Angeles,” also provides that rare Los Angeles accident: true public space.
