Just a stone’s throw west on Hollywood Boulevard from the Chinese Theatre, you’ll find Highland Ave., a major north-south road, and if you travel a few blocks north on Highland, you’ll see the legendary Hollywood Bowl on the left. I hung out there on two of my trips to Los Angeles.
The Bowl is aptly named, settled into a natural formation that resembles a huge bowl. And I mean, huge: that amphitheatre could hold a few Greek Theatres, another well-known venue I’ll mention in another piece. Back down on Hollywood Blvd., you can take a photographic tour of the history of the Bowl by checking out the series of photos with text around the upper landing at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. The stage started out as just a small wooden platform, which, over the decades, has grown to the current stage we’ve all seen. The more expensive seats are, naturally, down front, with the many rows of other seats reaching up to the top of the amphitheatre. My ankles were not happy with me when I went all the way up on my first visit; the steps are quite deep and create a quite unnaturally long stride. But it was worth it because I could see everything from up there–except the stage all that well, without binoculars. It’s a good distance down. But above the stage and above the north rim of the Bowl, I could see the Hollywood sign in the distance, which has got to look pretty spectacular at night!
The Bowl is open during the day, when not a lot is happening. You can stroll around, buy tickets to upcoming concerts, buy souvenirs and audio or video recordings of past performances at the Bowl Store, or just hang out and take in the view. On my first visit, I did most of that. On my second, the following year, however, I got a very nice surprise: the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra was rehearsing for a concert later in the week, so I got to hear them play little snippets of the classics (Beethoven, as I recall) they would be playing–at no charge! An employee was monitoring the folks listening to be sure there were no secret recordings being made.
If you have a chance to go there, you should do so. It’s easy to find and really something to see the first time, as you come out at the top of the steps from the parking lot into the Bowl itself. Also, you’ve got to check out the rest rooms–seriously. I haven’t seen anything that size since the fifties! Intermission must be a zoo!