Griffith Observatory

This guide to Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles opens on a 1903 Santa Monica hotel room, where park benefactor Griffith J. Griffith shot his wife Tina, and the trial that followed, where his lawyer argued paranoid delusions brought on by secret drinking. It traces the two years he served at San Quentin, his release in 1906, and the city's refusal to accept his later offer to fund an observatory and a Greek theater. The guide follows how Griffith tried to make the gift stick anyway, and what it took for Los Angeles to finally change its mind.