The Los Angeles Recreation and Parks Commission has characterized Griffith Park as an "urban wilderness" since 2014 — an unusual designation for a city park that emphasizes what makes it distinctive. The 4,310-acre park is more rugged and less manicured than Central Park or Golden Gate Park. Its chaparral-covered ridgelines, deep canyons, and dirt trails feel removed from the city that surrounds it on three sides, even though Griffith Observatory sits on one hill and the Greek Theatre sits in another hollow.

The park runs along the eastern end of the Santa Monica Mountains, from the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles to the edge of the San Fernando Valley. Its topography is steep and varied: wildland hiking trails connect to paved roads and concession stands in ways that allow visitors to choose their own level of engagement with the landscape. Mountain lions have been documented in the park. Hawks and owls nest in the chaparral. The whole place sits within one of the most densely urbanized regions of North America, and it absorbs visitors who have no other access to open land.

The inventory of attractions within Griffith Park reads like a city's worth of amenities compressed into a single green corridor. The Griffith Observatory on the south slope of Mount Hollywood. The Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Gardens in the northeast. The Autry Museum of the American West. The Greek Theatre, one of Southern California's primary outdoor music venues. The Griffith Park & Southern Railroad, a miniature steam train. A merry-go-round built in 1926. Golf courses. Tennis courts. An equestrian center. Hiking and riding trails that total more than 50 miles.

On the southern boundary of Mount Lee — the highest point in the park at 1,680 feet — the Hollywood Sign stands on steep terrain accessible only from the park's trail system. A pine tree near the observatory was planted in 2004 in memory of George Harrison; it died from a beetle infestation and was replaced. Bronson Canyon in the park's southwestern corner is one of Hollywood's most-used backlot locations: it appeared in Invasion of the Body Snatchers, John Ford's The Searchers, and as the Batcave entrance in the 1960s Batman television series.

In 2011, Griffith Park was the busiest on-location filming destination in all of Los Angeles, with 346 production days logged by FilmL.A. The number reflects what the park offers: terrain that can stand in for wilderness or suburb or western prairie, proximity to Hollywood and Burbank studios, multiple distinct environments within a short drive of each other, and a city that has decades of experience accommodating film crews.

Bronson Canyon's craggy old quarry tunnels have appeared in westerns, science fiction films, and horror movies continuously since the 1930s. The Greek Theatre has hosted concerts by everyone from the Beatles to Kendrick Lamar and filmed countless music specials. The park's roads and hills have provided chase sequences, romantic walks, and establishing shots for productions too numerous to catalog. Griffith J. Griffith donated land so that ordinary Angelenos could have access to open space. The park delivered on that intention — and then added a side business as the city's most productive outdoor set.