Mount Wilson has been of interest to astronomers for over 100 years. A station of Harvard College Observatory was placed here briefly beginning in 1889. The current observatory was established by the Carnegie Institution of Washington in 1904 as the Mount Wilson Solar Observatory. The observatory is operated by the Mount Wilson Institute under an agreement with Carnegie.
To the right of the gate is the end of the Mount Wilson Toll Road. The Toll Road, widened from a hiking trail, was the first road to the summit from Altadena. Angeles Crest Highway, the paved road which is used today, was opened in1935. The area inside this gate, known as Skyline Park, is operated by the U.S. Forest Service and is open to the public on weekends.
Aside from the Observatory, there is also the village of Mount Wilson, California, the site of several television and radio antennas which broadcast to the entire Los Angeles Basin.
