Summer is almost here and it’s the perfect time to start looking for and booking a concert at one of our many spectacular outdoor venues in Los Angeles. See the biggest performers, stage performances and the L.A. Phil on stages such as the Hollywood Bowl, The Greek Theatre, and The John Anson Ford Theatre. You’re sure to find your favorites, but if history plays a part in your decision, here’s a little bit of that as well…
Hollywood Bowl Los Angeles
From the Hollywood Bowl website:
Hollywood was a small town of only about 5,000 people in 1910. By 1920 the growth of the movie industry had turned the community into a boom town, with a population close to 50,000 and an identity all its own. Theatregoers, music and art lovers, nature buffs, politicians, real estate developers and civic boosters all agreed that an open-air theatre would be a great asset to the community.
The Los Angeles Philharmonic first played at the Hollywood Bowl at an Easter Sunrise Service in 1921 and inaugurated the first official Hollywood Bowl season, called “Symphonies Under the Stars,” in July of 1922. The Hollywood Bowl has been the summer home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic ever since.
John Anson Ford Theatre Los Angeles
From the John Anson Ford Theatre website:
The John Anson Ford Amphitheatre was built in 1920 as the site of The Pilgrimage Play. The author, Christine Wetherill Stevenson, believed the rugged beauty of the Cahuenga Pass would provide a dramatic outdoor for the play. Together with Mrs. Chauncey D. Clark, she purchased this land along with that on which the Hollywood Bowl now sits. A wooden, outdoor amphitheatre was built on this site and the play was performed by noted actors every summer from 1920 to 1929, until the original structure was destroyed by a brush fire in October of 1929.
The present theatre, constructed of poured concrete and designed in the style of ancient Judaic architecture to resemble the gates of Jerusalem, was built on the same site and opened in 1931. The Pilgrimage Play was again performed here until 1964, interrupted only by World War II. In 1941 the land was deeded to the County of Los Angeles. The Pilgrimage Play continued to be presented until a lawsuit in 1964 forced its closure because of its religious nature.
In 1976, the Pilgrimage Theatre was renamed the John Anson Ford Theatre in honor of the late LA County Supervisor’s significant support of the arts. John Anson Ford (1883-1983) helped found the Los Angeles County Arts Commission, encouraged the Board of Supervisors to support the building of The Music Center and led the County’s acquisition of Descanso Gardens, among many other achievements. The theatre was used intermittently for Shakespearean theater, jazz concerts and dance performances until former County Supervisor Ed Edelman revived the historic theatre, spurring the creation of the Ford Amphitheatre summer season (originally called “Summer Nights at the Ford”) in 1993 and obtaining funding for capital improvements to the facility.
Greek Theatre Los Angeles
From the Official Greek Theatre website:
The history of the Greek Theatre dates to 1882, when Colonel Griffith J. Griffith, came to America from South Wales to seek fortune in gold mining. Colonel Griffith settled in Los Angeles and purchased the Los Feliz Rancho, which he later donated to the City of Los Angeles in 1896. This three thousand acre gift to the residents of Los Angeles was given with the intent that Griffith Park would be made an eternal place of public recreation.
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