Griffith Observatory - Los Angeles, CA
Posted by: 
Metro2
N 34° 07.108 W 118° 18.018
11S E 380083 N 3776054
The rehabilitation of the Griffith Observatory was recognized with the 2007 Trustees Award for Excellence in Historic Preservation
from the California Preservation Conference.
Waymark Code: WMEC5G
Location: California, United States
Date Posted: 05/06/2012
Views: 13
Unfortunately the California Preservation Conference's website (
visit link) simply indicates that the Griffith Observatory received this honor...without giving any details.
Wikipedia (
visit link) however fills in some of the details:
"The observatory closed in 2002 for renovation and a major expansion of exhibit space. It reopened to the public on November 3, 2006, retaining its art deco exterior. The $93 million renovation, paid largely by a public bond issue, restored the building, as well as replaced the aging planetarium dome. The building was expanded underground, with completely new exhibits, a café, gift shop, and the new Leonard Nimoy Event Horizon Theater. The Café at the End of the Universe, an homage to Restaurant at the End of the Universe, is one of the many cafés run by celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck. One wall inside the building is covered with the largest astronomically accurate image ever constructed (152 feet long by 20 feet (6.1 m) high), called "The Big Picture" (http://bigpicture.caltech.edu), depicting the Virgo Cluster of galaxies; visitors can explore the highly detailed image from within arm's reach or through telescopes 60 feet (18 m) away. The 1964-vintage Zeiss Mark IV star projector was replaced with a Zeiss Mark IX Universarium. The former planetarium projector is part of the underground exhibit on ways in which humanity has visualized the skies."