L.A.'s Buffed-Up Observatory: The Sequel Outshines the Original

While most Griffith Park attractions carried on as usual during the observatory renovation, many have also undergone subtle-but-noticeable improvements in such things as food, organized hiking activities and visitor guidance.

Last year, a couple of entrepreneurs turned a former snow-cone shack into a gourmet snack stand, called the Trails Cafe, that serves goat cheese and tomato pie, homemade apple pie and pumpkin scones. The park headquarters still offers vague, hard-to-decipher maps of the property, but it now has an interactive display of the grounds and a help desk staffed by a knowledgeable ranger. And the Gene Autry-founded Museum of the American West, which celebrates all things cowboy, is undergoing big changes of its own as it works with the Southwest Museum of the American Indian and builds one of the most comprehensive collections of Western art and history in the country, slated for completion in 2008.

Other things in Griffith Park haven't changed much at all, such as the 1926 merry-go-round, which purportedly inspired Walt Disney's theme-park idea as he watched his daughter ride the wooden horses (not so far-fetched, since he lived nearby), and Fern Dell, a flat path lined with a bubbling stream and leafy ferns and pine trees on the park's southwest side.

The park still lacks trail signs and a coherent map of hiking paths, but it has been offering an increasing number of free guided hikes to help familiarize visitors with its wild hillsides.

On a recent Tuesday evening, more than 100 exercise hounds, from triathletes to parents with bundled-up toddlers strapped to their backs, gathered around a megaphone-barking leader from the Sierra Club as he divided everyone into groups based on their fitness levels. Level 1 participants were told to expect a vigorous stroll through the woods. Level 5 meant you'd better be ready for anything, from scrambling up rock-covered ridges to doing wind sprints around the Hollywood sign.

Kariné Armen, a petite photographer from Glendale wearing an "I Love Armenia" T-shirt, led a group of Level 2 hikers up a well-worn fire road shadowed by pine trees and scrub. Flashlights were unnecessary as the path weaved in and out of twinkling city views. When asked to name the trail, Armen shrugged. "I call it my favorite trail," she said.

At a small dirt clearing, the group stopped to gaze at the Griffith Observatory glowing in the distance to the west, with the glittering metropolis unfurled below it.

No one was aware that the beautiful building was reopening soon. They just quietly savored the view of their city's unique landmark.

Laura Randall last wrote for Travel on Desert Hot Springs, Calif.