Mt. Wilson towers up over the
San Gabriel Valley, big desert mountain with
alluvial fans radiating down. When the
smog is gone or nearly so, you can see it from
Arcadia, a dominating presence.
In the very early 1950's someone decided that Mt. Wilson would be an ideal site for the primitive television transmissions of the time. Accordingly, facilities were placed there for this purpose, at the end of a long, winding road.
The silence was worth more than the television. But again, what isn't.