Daniel and I visited the newly refurbished Griffith Observatory last Saturday. Overall it is very well done. The new planetarium is very nice, however I wanted to see more of a star show rather than the lengthy computer generated video that they were showing. Most of the exhibits, especially the new space below the front lawn are top rate and contain the latest and greatest information on all space things.
A few smaller finishing touches are still being added here and there, but nothing major. There has been heavy usage of the observatory and there are some signs of wear already. I sure hope they get a good maintenance budget so they can avoid all the problems that led to them having to refurbish in the first place.
The Observatory is free, but if you do not want to hike in for free, you have to pony up $8 for the shuttle bus. It is a bit steep for a 15 min trip, but hopefully the money goes to maintenance.
