Griffith Park

After successfully investing in mining, Colonel Griffith J. Griffith purchased Rancho Los Feliz (near the Los Angeles River) in 1882 and created an ostrich farm there. Although ostrich feathers were commonly used in making women's hats in the late 1800s, Col. Griffith created the farm primarily to lure residents of Los Angeles to his nearby property developments. After the property rush peaked, and supposedly spooked by the ghost of Antonio Feliz (a previous owner of the property) he donated 3015 acres (12 km²) to the city of Los Angeles on December 16, 1896. When Colonel Griffith J. Griffith purchased the remaining Rancho Los Felis in 1882, it consisted of 4,071 acres of the original land grant.Griffith's experience on Mount Wilson focused his desire to make science more accessible to the public. On December 12, 1912, he offered the City of Los Angeles $100,000 for an observatory to be built on the top of Mount Hollywood to be fully owned and operated by the City of Los Angeles. Griffith's plan for the observatory would include an astronomical telescope open to free viewing, a Hall of Science designed to bring the public into contact with exhibits about the physical sciences, and a motion picture theater which would show educational films about science and other subjects. This last aspect of the plan would eventually evolve into the planetarium, a technology not invented until the 1920s.The City Council accepted Griffith's gift and appointed him head of a three-person Trust committee to supervise the construction of the observatory and a greek theatre performing arts facility, which Griffith promised to the city the following year. Bogged down by further political debate, the project continued to be delayed. In 1916, with his health failing, Griffith realized that his vision of a public observatory would not be realized in his lifetime. He drafted a will containing bequests for the observatory and greek theatre, along with detailed specifications regarding the nature of the observatory, its location, and programmatic offerings. Griffith died on July 6, 1919.On May 12, 1961 a wildfire on the south side of the park burned 814 acres. It also destroyed eight homes and damaged nine more, chiefly in the Beachwood Canyon area.On May 8, 2007 a major wildfire burned more than 817 acres, reportedly destroying the bird sanctuary, Dante's View and Captain's Roost, and forcing the evacuation of hundreds of people. It was the third fire of the year.The city announced a $50 million plan to stabilize the burned slopes.