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Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles

John Meagher

It is a view to live long in the memory. Far below the Hollywood Hills, stretching out to the hazy horizon, lies the vast sprawl of Los Angeles. The tall buildings of Downtown shimmer in the distance. Ten million souls reside here, but there’s an extraordinary sense of peace from this verdant vantage. And directly behind, at an even loftier summit, the famous Hollywood sign surveys everything.

I have just spent a couple of hours riding an e-bike through the uplands of Griffith Park in the company of Aussie ex-pat Gavin Brennan, and his enthusiasm for this refuge from the city — three times the size of the Phoenix Park — is infectious. We don’t get to see any bobcats or rattlesnakes, two of the park’s more celebrated residents, but we do get to stand on the spot where Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone first danced together in La La Land.