Vintage Hollywood Bowl

This vintage 1940’s shot of the entrance to the Hollywood Bowl screams art deco in the best way possible. Anyone out there able to figure out what the neon sign at the edge of the frame on the left was for? It’s probably something obvious, but not to me. Too much birthday celebration last weekend. The statue at the entrance was still fairly new when this photo was taken; designed by sculptor George Stanley (designer of the Oscar statuette), it was installed in 1940.

This vintage 1965 image shows a guest posing with the bandshell behind her. The 1928 bandshell concentric circle design was by Lloyd Wright, Frank’s son. Unfortunately, it wasn’t built for the ages and had to be replaced a year later by one that looked similar, but was apparently not quite as good acoustically. Oh those Allied Architects; if only they had consulted with Lloyd. Mercifully, the 1980s Frank Gehry designed fiberglass spheres were removed in 2003 when the entire shell was replaced.

Can you believe the entrance is still there? Or at least it was when I snapped this 2015 image:

UPDATE: Thanks to Darryl for finding this 1948 shot from the USC Digital Library of the mystery neon sign which says “Auto Park Full”:

See more Hollywood Bowl photos at my main website.

Art Deco at The Hollywood Bowl

You may not know who George Stanley is, but you most likely know the little statuette that he created called "Oscar." On a recent trip to Hollywood, I photographed another one of his amazing creations, located at the entrance of the Hollywood Bowl. The Art Deco styled monument was built between 1938-1940and titled The Muse of Music, Dance, Drama. Here is a corresponding vintage shot from July 1963:



Here's the Muse of Music:



and how she looked in July 1963:



More details of this art deco beauty:







This vintage shot shows you the iconic band shell at the Bowl:



A closeup of the stage:



More Hollywood Bowl photos at my main website.