Here’s some L.A. history in the making. After two years of construction as a Works Progress Administration project, the U.S.’s third planetarium, the Griffith Observatory on Mount Hollywood opened with a ceremony for 500 invited guests on May 14, 1935. It looks like the early birds in this photo nabbed the best seats.
The Griffith Observatory is still very much a part of the Los Angeles fabric. Here is a satellite photo from 2020:
From the number of unoccupied seats, it looks like they were expecting more people.
Yes, that’s possible too, depending on when this photo was taken and when the official ceremony was due to take place.