LA stars are more than just celebrities

Although Los Angeles is now known for its movie stars, many years ago, scientists flocked to the city to look at real stars — the ones in the sky.

Despite the incessant blanket of smog caused by Hummers and light pollution from endless rows of streetlights, Los Angeles sits at a unique location that allows it to look at stars with a clearer view, because there is very little air movement between the Earth and the edge of the atmosphere.

In reality, Los Angeles has served as the Alexandria for astronomy; it houses two world-class observatories — the Planetary Society and the Los Angeles Astronomical Society — as well as the center for Jet Propulsion Laboratories, a research facility managed by the technology powerhouse Caltech Institute of Technology for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

One of LA’s landmarks, the recently renovated Griffith Observatory, boasts the title of most visited and photographed space observation center in the country. Its place, perched on the hills overlooking the Hollywood sign and the city below, is as iconic as the palm trees and sprawling highways that make up most of the city’s visual tale.

The regal, quasi-Greek structure sits on top of the Griffith Park complex, donated to the city by Griffith J. Griffith, a Welsh-American mining industry millionaire who paved the way for the observatory’s opening on May 14, 1935.

Though the industrialist shot his philanthropist wife in the face in a heated dispute and served a mere three years for attempted murder, Angelenos don’t remember him for a lurid past — or even for his grand fortune — but for the elegant, cream-colored observation facility that gave the public its very own special window to the sky.

With solid concrete walls, stately raised ceilings and meticulously restored artwork, the new observatory still retains much of the art deco charm that older Angeleno generations remember from their childhood rite of passage: the field trip to the Planetarium.

Before the massive renovations, most elementary school-aged children in the county would file into a stuffy planetarium with a looming concave ceiling where they could see cheesy lights mimic star constellations as they sat in what looked like a hybrid between a school desk from the 1960s, a dirty, neglected church pew and some sort of dentistry torture device complete with uncomfortable headrest.

Now, the Samuel Oschin Planetarium offers different shows that tell the story of astronomy with a fancy projection system that gives today’s kids a dizzying 3-D version of galaxies they have only seen grainy pictures of in textbooks. The detail hypnotizes the viewer who can appreciate the state-of-the-art digital dance above, but kids may just feel the need to sleep as they recline in a cushy, comfortable chair perfect for napping.

A weekend routinely sees groups of gum-smacking fifth-graders, backpack-wearing tourists and hand-holding couples alike in a packed planetarium coursing with the warmth of lasers and good, old-fashioned human bewilderment.

A futuristic downstairs area with interactive, modern exhibits and a slick auditorium, the Leonard Nimoy Event Horizon Theater seems like a regular modern attraction, complete with screaming toddlers clamoring at the chance to get a hold of a mist-filled model of Mars.

Visitors, who file through the facility in a slow and steady stream, can’t help but feel something different here than, say, the museum or an amusement park. They still see many of the landmark’s original details, like a bronze plaque at the entrance, which reads: “No smoking, please. The smog is bad enough.”

It’s this kind of polite optimism that makes stargazing so appealing, despite the decline in public interest in space exploration. Little boys have dreams of driving nice cars, not of becoming astronauts. But, even after man has touched the moon, people still look to the sky for answers.

Public membership organizations like the Planetary Society help support those interested in astronomy — and the organization started in the Los Angeles area. The Society’s associate director, Charlene Anderson, explained that to gaze upwards as an innately human quality.

“It’s something in our nature that looks up and tries to figure out what those lights are … There’s some sort of emotional response when you go out in the dark and there’s lights up in the sky,” Anderson said in an interview a couple hours after NASA’s LCROSS satellite crashed into the moon in a mission to find lunar ice.

The mission is NASA’s latest news-making endeavor in space exploration.

Friday morning’s scientific display did not have the drama that stargazers hoped.

“The light was very dim,” Anderson said. “People were disappointed with what they could see … It was not a Hollywood special effects explosion. It was unfortunate it was portrayed that way.”

Though Anderson noted that no Angelenos can see the full wonder of starlight in the middle of the city, she reasoned that, luckily, the surrounding mountains and the desert allow people to see just how powerful starlight can be.

The culture has changed, however, since the Society’s founding in 1980. New generations don’t view space as an unattainable final frontier; they’ve seen plenty of interplanetary battles on TV already.

“Science has become a political battlefield,” Anderson said. “Once we could impress people with the awe of the universe. They aren’t into that anymore.”

Nevertheless, locals still continue to flock to the Griffith Observatory on lazy Saturday afternoons — maybe because there is no charge for general admission. Or perhaps its the drive up to the looking point passes some spectacular views of the LA basin.

Whatever the reason for their visit, Angelenos still feel the desire to look up — and they like what they see.

Clare Sayas is a junior majoring in public relations. Her column, “Lost & Found,” runs Thursdays.