Latest news with #GriffithPark
CBS News
2 days ago
- General
- CBS News
Possible person with gun in Griffith Park causes freeway ramp closures
Access to Griffith Park in Los Angeles was limited Tuesday morning as authorities investigated reports of a man with a gun. The report came in at about 4:38 a.m., according to the L.A. Police Department. Officers investigated the suspect in the 4700 block of Western Heritage Way, which is around the parking area for the Autry Museum of the American West, across from the Los Angeles Zoo. As of 7:45 a.m., there were no arrests made, and no suspect description was available. The LAPD was not calling it a barricade situation as of 7:45 a.m. Officers with the LAPD were investigating a man with a gun report in Griffith Park on Tuesday, June 3, 2025. No additional details were made available by police. Images captured by SkyCAL showed at least five marked police vehicles surrounding a black SUV in a parking lot on Tuesday morning. Several officers were standing outside their vehicles. According to the California Highway Patrol, the Zoo Drive off-ramps were closed on the westbound lanes of the 134 Freeway and the northbound lanes of the 5 Freeway for an unknown duration of time.
Forbes
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
War Offers L.A. And Japan Travel Ideas While Releasing New Album
Lonnie Jordan of War performs at the Greek Theatre in 2018 in his hometown of Los Angeles, California. (Photo by) Getty Images The funk band War has been synonymous with Los Angeles for many decades and just released a new double album Live in Japan 1974. War established an L.A. sound that scored many hits by incorporating rock, jazz, soul, blues, reggae and Latin music into their funky stew. Travelers heading to La-la-land or Japan may benefit from the recommendations of original War member Lonnie Jordan and the band's longtime producer Jerry Goldstein. Jordan, who has been the band's singer-songwriter, guitarist, pianist and percussionist, loves to hike in Los Angeles on trails at 4,210-acre Griffith Park. One of the nation's largest municipal parks with urban wilderness areas, it overlooks the Hollywood Hills and has 53 miles of trails, fire roads and bridle paths, according to the City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks. Visitors looking for live music should consider Herb Alpert's Vibrato Grill, The Baked Potato and the Catalina Jazz Club, Jordan says. All three are jazz clubs serving dinner, and remember to bring a full wallet. Most entrees at the Vibrato Grill cost more than $55, and the charge for the nightly music is $20-$75 per person. At the Catalina Jazz Club, recents acts have included renowned actress and singer Cybill Shepherd backed by a jazz ensemble. Jordan, a vegan, recommends his favorite restaurants, Planta and Un Solo Sol. Planta, located in the suburban Brentwood section of Los Angeles, offers numerous vegetarian options and sushi. The menu lists such items as udon noodles, vodka pizza (tomato cream, cashew mozzarella, basil pesto and chili bomba) and al pastor taco bowl (chipotle rice, pinto beans, grilled pineapple, pickled jalapeno, potato chorizo, avocado, pico de gallo and green goddess dressing). At Un Solo Sol, the menu includes such main courses as ghormeh sabzi, a Persian stew with portobello mushrooms or organic tofu and parsley, green onions, cilantro, spinach, fenugreek greens, kidney beans and dried lemon. Comedian Tommy Chong, War's Lonnie Jordan and comedian Cheech Marin attend a 2014 KCET Pledge Drive in Burbank, California. (Photo by Rodrigo Vaz/FilmMagic) FilmMagic Goldstein, who produced every War album, also recommends Herb Alpert's Vibrato Grill and Spago, the South Beverly Grill and Madeo. Spago in Beverly Hills is the flagship restaurant of the Wolfgang Puck Fine Dining Group, and Madeo in West Hollywood offers northern Italian fare. It's about an 11 1/2-hour flight from Los Angeles International Airport to another of War's favorite cities, Tokyo. Goldstein and Jordan have fond memories of their concerts in Japan in 1974 and subsequent visits. Goldstein loved Mount Fuji and Kyoto and found a ride on a bullet train 'interesting.' Mount Fuji—Japan's tallest mountain at 12,388 feet—can be reached by car from Tokyo in about 2 1/2 hours. Every summer, 200,000-300,000 people climb the mountain, according to the Japan National Tourism Organization. Goldstein traveled four or five times annually to Japan for several years, and Jordan says he went back to the country many times after War's first visit in 1974. Wakatake, a Tokyo tempura restaurant specializing in seafood, is Jordan's favorite eatery in Japan. Located in the Grand Prince Hotel Takanawa near the Shinagawa train station, the restaurant says its food is 'a feast for all the senses' with 'the finest seasonal ingredients prepared before your eyes.' Tiger prawn 'is a perennial favorite,' the restaurant says, 'whilst conger eel and sillago (northern whiting) are also here to experience the genuine tempura cuisine.' Jordan recommends walking around Tokyo to experience its unique architecture and enjoying music at the Blue Note and the Cotton Club. The Cotton Club, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, says it presents 'adult-focused jazz performances played in an elegant, luxuriously appointed venue, topped off by a delicious menu of authentic cuisine.' War played two nights earlier this year at the Blue Note after releasing the Live in Japan 1974 double album. The album was culled from life shows in Tokyo, Shizuoka, Osaka and Kobe. 'I love all of Japan—the culture, sites and, most importantly, the people,' Jordan says. 'It is such a spiritual and loving place. Japan is that place you will never forget.'
CBS News
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- CBS News
Los Angeles Mayor Bass announces plan to boost local movie and TV production
Mayor Karen Bass outlined a plan to make Los Angeles more film-friendly by lowering production-related costs and making it easier at certain iconic LA landmarks to shoot movies, television shows and commercials. Joined by film and television industry representatives at SAG/AFTRA's Los Angeles headquarters on Tuesday afternoon, the Mayor said she's making it easier to get a production permit -- to keep Hollywood home. Easier access will be granted to city locations like the Central Library, the Port of Los Angeles and Griffith Park Observatory. That includes guidelines for onsite filming, cutting review timelines, and lowering city fees for certain locations. She also said the Central Library will institute "reasonable safeguards to enable interior filming." "Beloved LA landmarks are featured in many movies and shows from 'Beverly Hills Cop' to 'La La Land' and absolutely must continue to be the case," she said. "It's not just about movies and TV shows, it's about good-paying union jobs, middle-class livelihoods, small business success and the economic strength of our city, one of our defining industries." Existing city land and buildings will also be evaluated for use in "film-related purposes," like filming locations, parking and more. Bass said she is reducing city staffing requirements to monitor filming as well, which adds cost-cutting benefits and minimizes levels of bureaucracy. Bass said the issues laid out in this directive were all brought to the Mayor's Office specifically by representatives in the entertainment industry as the industry has been lured elsewhere because of attractive incentives in other states and tax credits in countries around the world. She also said she is excited about what is pending in Sacramento. "I know my colleagues in Sacramento will get that tax credit done." Last year, Gov. Gavin Newsom and Bass proposed an increase in California's annual film tax credit from $330 million to $750 million. The film industry has taken multiple hits in recent years with the COVID pandemic in 2020, the Hollywood strikes in 2023, and most recently the Los Angeles wildfires. Production has failed to return to pre-pandemic levels since experiencing a 22% drop in the first quarter of 2025 from 2024 levels. "Today is really a great day for Los Angeles's local entertainment industry. As you know the film and television industry is the heart of Los Angeles. It lives in our history, our culture and most importantly our economy," Jodi Long SAG/AFTRAs national Los Angeles vice president and president of Los Angeles Local.
CNN
17-05-2025
- Entertainment
- CNN
The greatest city park in America? A case for LA's Griffith Park
Griffith Park is a massive, mountainous, wild oasis in the middle of the dense urban sprawl characterizing much of this fabled city. Yet its identity is still very LA — fun, sunny and it's been in enough films and television series that were it a person it would have its own star on the nearby Hollywood Walk of Fame. At 4,210 acres, Griffith outshines other extraordinary city parks of the US, such as San Francisco's Golden Gate, which barely tops 1,000 acres, and New York's Central Park, a mere 843 acres. Griffith's peaks tower above those flat competitors too, with nearly 1,500 feet in elevation gain, making it practically vertical in orientation. And LA's crown jewel of a park is still largely uncut, much of it remaining a wilderness area preserved more than 100 years ago, and barely developed, unlike the pre-planned 'wild' designs of Golden Gate and Central Park. Add its history, views, recreation opportunities, unique and hidden spaces, a free Art Deco observatory and museum, the most famous sign in America and the park's overall star-power, and you have a compelling case that Griffith is not just epic in scope but the greatest city park in the nation. There's something for everyone there: a zoo, playgrounds and an old-timey trainyard for the kids; challenging and steep trails for hikers; dirt paths for equestrians; paved roads for bikers; diverse flora and fauna for nature enthusiasts; and museums for the science and history learners. Prev Next The modern history of the park begins with a tax write-off so big it has its own deed, scrawled out like the Declaration of Independence. You can see a copy of it in the park's visitor center. 'To be used as a PUBLIC PARK for the uses of recreation, health and pleasure for the use and benefit of the inhabitants of the said City of Los Angeles, forever,' reads the 1896 deed to the original 3,000 acres, donated by mining magnate Colonel Griffith Jenkins Griffith. Griffith was no relation to the famous and controversial silent film director D.W. Griffith of the early 20th century, but Col. Griffith flirted with infamy himself. Though a public advocate of Prohibition, Griffith shot his wife in the eye in a drunken rage. (She survived, but justifiably divorced him.) Before Griffith started buying up the land he'd later give away, it was previously occupied by José Vicente Feliz as part of a Spanish land grant. Before that, the Tongva, an Indigenous people of California, lived in these hills. You can learn more about those eras in the excellent Autry Museum of the American West, located in the park, including a debate about whether local Spanish missionaries committed genocide on the Native people. The high level of sensitivity in the exhibits may be surprising for a history and art museum named after 'America's favorite singing cowboy.' There are moving displays about slave markets for local Native people, the local gay rodeo movement that began in the 1970s, beautiful modern Western art, Billy the Kid's actual rifle, an old, recreated saloon, and memorabilia about TV cowboy Gene Autry himself. In park history, and near the museum, Griffith Park's Merry-Go-Round was where Walt Disney got the idea in the early 1950s to build his eponymous amusement park, according to a sign on a bench (now on display in Disneyland) from the ride. The carousel was also the epicenter of a race riot in 1961 following police being called on a group of young Black boys jumping on and off it. The Merry-Go-Round is currently closed for repairs. Behind the carousel, supplied with a paper map from the nearby visitor center and the spotty reception of your phone's map app, you can start a challenging scramble up to the highest peaks of Griffith on the east side of the park. First you'll passed the old Los Angeles Zoo, which closed in 1965, much of it built in the 1930s by Works Progress Administration (WPA) crews. The old animal enclosures are now open for exploring, or a picnic. On a sunny April day, a gathering of Furries (the friendly subculture known for dressing up as anthropomorphic animal characters) were fittingly hanging out in what was once a polar bear cage. The new, currently operating zoo is about two miles away, still in the park. After passing the old zoo's bird cages, a narrow dirt trail snakes up toward the hive-looking Bee Rock peak. The incline is so steep there are times when hikers slip-slide on all fours, grabbing onto shrub roots for purchase as tiny lizards dart under their hands. At 1,800 feet above sea level, and looking beyond the maze of trails zigzagging through the park, the 360-degree CinemaScope views of the city are stunning — well worth the effort of the sweaty climb. A majestic red-tailed hawk hovering on an upward air current up there is not uncommon. On the way back down, you can scramble through the semi-tamed tiers of Amir's Garden — packed with plants and trees that a man named Amir Dialameh began hauling up, by hand, in the early 1970s when those trees were saplings. 'In the land of the free, plant a tree,' Dialameh, an immigrant from Iran, is quoted on a sign in the park. One hike or bike destination is 'Cathy's Corner' off Mt. Hollywood Drive, famous for the singing-and-dancing bench scene of 'A Lovely Night' in the film 'La La Land.' Other than the view, there's not much to see (the bench is not there), unless you happen to approach the hairpin turn at the same moment as a baby deer — then suddenly you're in a Disney movie. You can continue a self-guided 'La La Land'-in-the-park tour at the Griffith Observatory, which is immortalized in a long list of other films including 'The Terminator,' 'Bowfinger' and 'Rebel Without a Cause.' A bust of James Dean, star of 'Rebel,' is on display outside the arresting and iconic whitewashed Art Deco observatory. Built 90 years ago, the observatory is free to explore, and admission to its excellent planetarium is only $10. The small museum it houses is a greatest hits of exhibits, including a Foucault's pendulum, a camera obscura, an actual moon rock, and a Tesla coil that shoots lightning bolts during short presentations scheduled throughout the day and night. The observatory is open every night until 10 p.m., so a drive up after the sun sets promises lights above and below. Just outside the hilltop observatory you get an eye-level view of the fabled Hollywood sign, restored and preserved primarily by late Playboy publisher Hugh Hefner. You can hike above or below the 45-foot-tall letters, but you can no longer go up and touch them. In the Griffith Park visitor center it's explained that the sign originally read 'Hollywoodland' because it was an advertisement for a real estate subdivision below. To reach the famous Batcave (aka Bronson Caves) from the kitschy 1960s 'Batman' television series, take a modest hike alongside prickly pear cacti from the parking lot of the Bronson Canyon entrance. (The location inspired the stage name of action actor Charles Bronson, née Buchinsky.) Due to the risk of falling rocks, you currently can't walk into the cave, but you can see it clearly through the chain link fence across the entrance. At the base of the park, the free Travel Town Museum is an ideal kids' birthday party setting full of trains, both the vintage kind you can climb through and the miniature kind you can ride. The 'town' has been featured in so many films and TV series they have a large sign listing them all, from 'The Monkees' to 'Quantum Leap' and dozens in between. Just above the gentle, winding Fern Dell nature trail section of the park, with its cascading waterfalls, lies the outdoor coffee shop, The Trails. You can enjoy pastries, coffee drinks and light lunch fare on concrete picnic tables under shady trees. It's a perfect stop before or after the hike up to Griffith Observatory on the southwest side of the park. At Golden Road Brewing's beer garden, you can wash the dust out of your mouth from a hike on the east side of Griffith Park with a crisp and fruity Ride On West Coast IPA. Located just over the LA River from the old zoo and Autry Museum, Golden Road is a lively spot with great beer and grub (try the fried avocado tacos), a fun spot to relax and talk about your favorite parts of the park or plot out the next day's exploration
CNN
17-05-2025
- Entertainment
- CNN
The greatest city park in America? A case for LA's Griffith Park
Griffith Park is a massive, mountainous, wild oasis in the middle of the dense urban sprawl characterizing much of this fabled city. Yet its identity is still very LA — fun, sunny and it's been in enough films and television series that were it a person it would have its own star on the nearby Hollywood Walk of Fame. At 4,210 acres, Griffith outshines other extraordinary city parks of the US, such as San Francisco's Golden Gate, which barely tops 1,000 acres, and New York's Central Park, a mere 843 acres. Griffith's peaks tower above those flat competitors too, with nearly 1,500 feet in elevation gain, making it practically vertical in orientation. And LA's crown jewel of a park is still largely uncut, much of it remaining a wilderness area preserved more than 100 years ago, and barely developed, unlike the pre-planned 'wild' designs of Golden Gate and Central Park. Add its history, views, recreation opportunities, unique and hidden spaces, a free Art Deco observatory and museum, the most famous sign in America and the park's overall star-power, and you have a compelling case that Griffith is not just epic in scope but the greatest city park in the nation. There's something for everyone there: a zoo, playgrounds and an old-timey trainyard for the kids; challenging and steep trails for hikers; dirt paths for equestrians; paved roads for bikers; diverse flora and fauna for nature enthusiasts; and museums for the science and history learners. Prev Next The modern history of the park begins with a tax write-off so big it has its own deed, scrawled out like the Declaration of Independence. You can see a copy of it in the park's visitor center. 'To be used as a PUBLIC PARK for the uses of recreation, health and pleasure for the use and benefit of the inhabitants of the said City of Los Angeles, forever,' reads the 1896 deed to the original 3,000 acres, donated by mining magnate Colonel Griffith Jenkins Griffith. Griffith was no relation to the famous and controversial silent film director D.W. Griffith of the early 20th century, but Col. Griffith flirted with infamy himself. Though a public advocate of Prohibition, Griffith shot his wife in the eye in a drunken rage. (She survived, but justifiably divorced him.) Before Griffith started buying up the land he'd later give away, it was previously occupied by José Vicente Feliz as part of a Spanish land grant. Before that, the Tongva, an Indigenous people of California, lived in these hills. You can learn more about those eras in the excellent Autry Museum of the American West, located in the park, including a debate about whether local Spanish missionaries committed genocide on the Native people. The high level of sensitivity in the exhibits may be surprising for a history and art museum named after 'America's favorite singing cowboy.' There are moving displays about slave markets for local Native people, the local gay rodeo movement that began in the 1970s, beautiful modern Western art, Billy the Kid's actual rifle, an old, recreated saloon, and memorabilia about TV cowboy Gene Autry himself. In park history, and near the museum, Griffith Park's Merry-Go-Round was where Walt Disney got the idea in the early 1950s to build his eponymous amusement park, according to a sign on a bench (now on display in Disneyland) from the ride. The carousel was also the epicenter of a race riot in 1961 following police being called on a group of young Black boys jumping on and off it. The Merry-Go-Round is currently closed for repairs. Behind the carousel, supplied with a paper map from the nearby visitor center and the spotty reception of your phone's map app, you can start a challenging scramble up to the highest peaks of Griffith on the east side of the park. First you'll passed the old Los Angeles Zoo, which closed in 1965, much of it built in the 1930s by Works Progress Administration (WPA) crews. The old animal enclosures are now open for exploring, or a picnic. On a sunny April day, a gathering of Furries (the friendly subculture known for dressing up as anthropomorphic animal characters) were fittingly hanging out in what was once a polar bear cage. The new, currently operating zoo is about two miles away, still in the park. After passing the old zoo's bird cages, a narrow dirt trail snakes up toward the hive-looking Bee Rock peak. The incline is so steep there are times when hikers slip-slide on all fours, grabbing onto shrub roots for purchase as tiny lizards dart under their hands. At 1,800 feet above sea level, and looking beyond the maze of trails zigzagging through the park, the 360-degree CinemaScope views of the city are stunning — well worth the effort of the sweaty climb. A majestic red-tailed hawk hovering on an upward air current up there is not uncommon. On the way back down, you can scramble through the semi-tamed tiers of Amir's Garden — packed with plants and trees that a man named Amir Dialameh began hauling up, by hand, in the early 1970s when those trees were saplings. 'In the land of the free, plant a tree,' Dialameh, an immigrant from Iran, is quoted on a sign in the park. One hike or bike destination is 'Cathy's Corner' off Mt. Hollywood Drive, famous for the singing-and-dancing bench scene of 'A Lovely Night' in the film 'La La Land.' Other than the view, there's not much to see (the bench is not there), unless you happen to approach the hairpin turn at the same moment as a baby deer — then suddenly you're in a Disney movie. You can continue a self-guided 'La La Land'-in-the-park tour at the Griffith Observatory, which is immortalized in a long list of other films including 'The Terminator,' 'Bowfinger' and 'Rebel Without a Cause.' A bust of James Dean, star of 'Rebel,' is on display outside the arresting and iconic whitewashed Art Deco observatory. Built 90 years ago, the observatory is free to explore, and admission to its excellent planetarium is only $10. The small museum it houses is a greatest hits of exhibits, including a Foucault's pendulum, a camera obscura, an actual moon rock, and a Tesla coil that shoots lightning bolts during short presentations scheduled throughout the day and night. The observatory is open every night until 10 p.m., so a drive up after the sun sets promises lights above and below. Just outside the hilltop observatory you get an eye-level view of the fabled Hollywood sign, restored and preserved primarily by late Playboy publisher Hugh Hefner. You can hike above or below the 45-foot-tall letters, but you can no longer go up and touch them. In the Griffith Park visitor center it's explained that the sign originally read 'Hollywoodland' because it was an advertisement for a real estate subdivision below. To reach the famous Batcave (aka Bronson Caves) from the kitschy 1960s 'Batman' television series, take a modest hike alongside prickly pear cacti from the parking lot of the Bronson Canyon entrance. (The location inspired the stage name of action actor Charles Bronson, née Buchinsky.) Due to the risk of falling rocks, you currently can't walk into the cave, but you can see it clearly through the chain link fence across the entrance. At the base of the park, the free Travel Town Museum is an ideal kids' birthday party setting full of trains, both the vintage kind you can climb through and the miniature kind you can ride. The 'town' has been featured in so many films and TV series they have a large sign listing them all, from 'The Monkees' to 'Quantum Leap' and dozens in between. Just above the gentle, winding Fern Dell nature trail section of the park, with its cascading waterfalls, lies the outdoor coffee shop, The Trails. You can enjoy pastries, coffee drinks and light lunch fare on concrete picnic tables under shady trees. It's a perfect stop before or after the hike up to Griffith Observatory on the southwest side of the park. At Golden Road Brewing's beer garden, you can wash the dust out of your mouth from a hike on the east side of Griffith Park with a crisp and fruity Ride On West Coast IPA. Located just over the LA River from the old zoo and Autry Museum, Golden Road is a lively spot with great beer and grub (try the fried avocado tacos), a fun spot to relax and talk about your favorite parts of the park or plot out the next day's exploration
