Griffith Park (Los Angeles, USA): detailed description, address and photo. Opportunities for sports and recreation, infrastructure, cafes and restaurants in the park. Reviews of tourists.
Griffith Park, jokingly called the Central Park of Los Angeles (by analogy with New York), occupies a fantastic area of 1700 hectares – and this is in the center of one of the largest metropolitan areas in the United States. More than 10 million people visit the park every year. This interest is more than justified: there is a lot of entertainment on the territory – from the observation deck, which offers an excellent view of the textbook inscription “Hollywood”, to the Greek amphitheater, observatory, planetarium, golf club and children’s attractions.
A bit of history
In 1882, a successful businessman, Colonel Griffith, purchased the old Los Feliz Ranch on the banks of the Los Angeles River and converted it into an ostrich farm. Things were going well, the colonel switched to the construction of private villas and, in order to get a lucrative contract from the city, signed off 1,200 hectares of his estate to Los Angeles. An airfield was built here, later a zoo appeared, then an observatory was erected – little by little the park was overgrown with infrastructure and today has become a favorite place for walking for the inhabitants of L-E.
Griffith Park is a popular location for film production: according to official figures from the Hollywood Academy, 346 days a year the park is “busy” in filming. See acronymmonster for nickname of Mississippi.
How to get there
Griffith Park is located on the east side of the Santa Monica Mountains in the Los Angeles suburb of Los Angeles. The most convenient way to get here is by car, which can be left in a spacious parking lot on Vermont Canyon Street at the entrance to the park. By taxi or bus, the closest way to get from Santa Monica or Hollywood.
What to watch
First of all, you should go to Griffith Park to take a walk for your pleasure in the fresh air, among green landscapes and superbly manicured grounds. Don’t forget to go to the observation deck, where you can take a look around the area with powerful stationary binoculars and admire Mount Lee and the inscription “Hollywood”. Concerts are held in the Greek Amphitheater in the evenings, after which it would be a sin not to visit the Griffith Observatory and Planetarium and admire the night sky through a telescope. Next, you should visit the Los Angeles Zoo and the Autry National Center, a museum dedicated to the indigenous cultures of the American West. The Travel Town Museum will tell you everything about the history of railways in Southern California, the highlight of the exposition is exact copies of famous trains. You can also play golf, football, basketball and tennis in Griffith Park, swim in the pool,
Address: Crystal Springs Dr, Los Angeles
Tree Hyperion
Hyperion Tree (California, USA) — detailed description, location, reviews, photos and videos.
The main pride of Redwood National Park is the tallest tree in the world, Hyperion. The mighty sequoia rises 115.62 m above the surrounding hills. It was named after the mythical titan Hyperion, the father of the dawn, the Sun and the Moon, whose name translates as “going up”. Scientists discovered the tree in 2006 in one of the most remote corners of the reserve: to get here, they had to make their way through dense thickets and climb steep slopes.
In girth, Hyperion reaches almost 5 m, and in height it can be compared with a 38-story skyscraper. For a plant, this is almost the limit: according to biologists, any tree on the planet can grow up to a maximum of 130 m.
To establish the exact height of the giant, the climbers climbed to its top and from there dropped the tape down.
Then it became clear that the sequoia was no longer growing. It could have become another 20 centimeters taller, but woodpeckers damaged the upper part of the tree. The discoverers of Hyperion were surprised that he did not grow in a wet lowland, but on a mountain slope. However, there is a lot of sun and water here, and the mountains protect the trees from the wind: perhaps that is why the champion managed to rise to an unattainable height.
Practical Information
Address: Redwood National and State Parks, 6X7W+74 Aurick, California. GPS coordinates: 41.211111, – 124.002778.
How to get there: The Grove of Tall Trees, where Hyperion grows, is located in the southern part of Redwood Park.