10 Real World Star Trek Locations You Can Visit
2. The Griffith Observatory
It's left at Mars, right at Hailey's comet, and then straight ahead to the 'grooviest' place in the galaxy or, at least, in Southern California.
The Griffith Observatory, built on the south side of Mount Hollywood in Griffith Park with some rather amazing views of downtown Los Angeles, first appeared in Future's End when one of its astronomers detected Voyager in orbit. Notorious freakasaurus Tuvok and B-movie boffin Tom Paris then went to check up on her Fourier analyses. The site also featured more recently in a dreamy set of establishing shots of L.A. County in the Star Trek: Picard episode Assimilation.
In the real world, the Griffith Observatory, built from funds bequeathed by Griffith J. Griffith [sic], and opened in 1935, is free to visit, which includes use of its Zeiss and solar telescopes by the general public. The Observatory does have a Planetarium, although shows are sadly not hosted on Tuesday nights by Rain Robinson — "The best stars in Hollywood are right above us".
Griffith Observatory is also home to the Leonard Nimoy Event Horizon Theater, funded by a contribution from the legend himself and wife Susan Bay-Nimoy. Aptly, the theatre serves as a presentation space for the Observatory's astronomy, space science, and space exploration programming and as a classroom for school visits.