California Diary | Griffith Observatory

I know, I know: too many photos, right?

I just can’t help it, though, because I know I’ve said every single place I’ve visited on this trip has been my “favourite”, but Griffith Observatory is my ACTUAL favourite. My favourite favourite.

Griffith was one of the first places we visited the last time we were in LA, and, for me, it sums up the city perfectly. As much as I love LA, there are lots of parts of the city which are pretty anonymous, really – they all have their moments, of course, but for the most part you could be Almost Anywhere, USA. At Griffith, though, there’s absolutely no doubting where you are: from the Hollywood sign on the hill behind you, to the city skyline down below, Griffith is so ‘LA’ it almost feels like being on a movie set. (Which is ALSO very LA, I guess…)

We’d already visited the observatory itself after our dinner at Madeo, so we didn’t go inside this time, but I really wanted to go up again, just to see it in the daylight. I first saw the observatory in Rebel Without a Cause, which is one of my favourite movies (I went through a stage in my teens where I was obsessed with James Dean), and I remember being totally blown away to sit in the same planetarium he did, and walk down the same steps. It’s just such an iconic building, and no matter how often I visit LA, I’ll always want to come back here, and take another thousand photos – or possibly more.

The dress I’m wearing in these photos is yet another item from that Choies parcel I carried home from the post office a few weeks ago. As soon as I saw it, I knew I wanted to wear it at Griffith: unfortunately, though, it turned out to be a little more see-through in the California sunshine than it had looked in my bedroom back home, so if you’re thinking these photos look glamorous, let me just tell you that my day started with a quick trip to Target to buy a sensible nude slip, which I struggled into in a filthy restroom, and spent the entire day tugging down from my thighs: such glamour! Much fashion! But at least no one shouted “YOUNG GIRL!” at me, so I’m calling it a win…