The Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles was the workplace of astronomer Rain Robinson, who detected Voyager in orbit in 1996 and so drew the attention of Henry Starling.
The real Griffith Observatory, on Mount Hollywood, is a principal location in the two-part story Future's End. When Voyager is thrown back to 1996, Rain Robinson, a young researcher working there on a search for extraterrestrial signals, picks up the ship's warp signature and transmits a greeting.
Her funding comes from Chronowerx, whose founder Henry Starling built his fortune on technology looted from a crashed timeship. He had asked to be told of exactly such a reading, and once she reports it he sends an assassin to silence her.
Tom Paris and Tuvok trace the signal to the observatory and arrive in time to save her. Robinson then helps them track Starling.