Hollywood Bowl

A natural canyon turned into one of the world's great outdoor concert venues, the Hollywood Bowl's iconic concentric-arch shell has hosted everyone from the Los Angeles Philharmonic's founding 'Symphonies Under the Stars' to the Beatles.

Community boosters acquired the bowl-shaped canyon known as Daisy Dell in 1919, drawn to its natural acoustics at a time before amplification made such considerations less critical. The venue formally opened in 1922, when the newly organized Los Angeles Philharmonic gave its first outdoor 'Symphonies Under the Stars' concert, establishing a summer tradition that has continued for over a century.

Through the 1920s, a series of experimental band shells were built, tested, and torn down as engineers and architects worked to improve the venue's sound. Architect Lloyd Wright, son of Frank Lloyd Wright, designed influential shells during this period whose stepped, concentric-arch form shaped the silhouette audiences recognize today, even as later architects and engineers refined the design further.

The Hollywood Bowl grew into one of the largest natural amphitheaters in the world, seating roughly 17,500 people, and became a stage for far more than classical music — the Beatles played two sold-out shows there in 1964 and 1965, and the venue hosted an annual Easter Sunrise Service for decades. In 2004 the shell underwent a major acoustic rebuild, preserving its historic arched profile while modernizing the technology behind it.