For some reason, residents of Los Angeles love finding spaces that help them forget they’re in LA.
Blame the merciless traffic or the unsightly ubiquity of strip malls, construction sites or cement walls. I’ve lived in various cities and in each one, I’ve craved spaces that have reminded me of where I was. But for me and many Angelenos, the best places in LA are the ones that inspire us to declare, “I don’t feel like I’m in LA when I come here.” The Hollywood Bowl is one of those places.
It’s ironic, given that on the surface, the Hollywood Bowl is about as LA as it gets, including the maddening traffic and congestion around the parking lots and the close view of the Hollywood sign. But in an LA that is increasingly eliciting a sense of pain, fear and anxiety among some residents due to the uptick in violent crimes, robberies and homelessness, spaces like the Hollywood Bowl can be healing precisely because they reinforce the best of LA.
I recently returned to the Bowl to attend a Fourth of July concert by The Beach Boys. Before entering the venue, I was treated to the classic LA experience: unbelievable traffic, expensive parking, and long lines that required standing for nearly an hour. But anyone who’s been to the Hollywood Bowl knows that once you enter that exquisite space and catch your first glimpse of those 17,500 seats, that iconic bandshell and that open-air sky, all of your frustration over the traffic, parking and long lines dissipates and you finally feel free, whether it’s your first or your 40th time there.
My first visit to the Hollywood Bowl coincided with my first concert, which rendered the experience even more amazing. It was the late 1990s and I celebrated my sixteenth birthday by treating my older sister and myself to a concert by one of my favorite bands, Aerosmith. Weeks earlier, I had asked my father to drive me to the Ticketmaster kiosk at the old Robinsons-May department store near The Beverly Hilton so that I could purchase the tickets, which cost $17.95 each.
Standing on those wooden benches that night and watching a sea of thousands of lighters illuminate the Bowl as Aerosmith sang their hit, “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing,” I instantaneously knew that I was experiencing one of the best nights of my life. And for the record, lighters feel so much more authentic than cell phone flashlights when a band is playing a slow megahit.
In the years that passed, I saw many wonderful performances at the Bowl, but The Beach Boys’ concert a few months ago was good for my soul because I needed a respite from my constant concern over crime as well as antisemitic acts in my beloved city. That concert was also extraordinary because the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra played a musical tribute to veterans and members of America’s armed forces before The Beach Boys appeared (with special guest John Stamos, who stole my heart).
As conductor Thomas Wilkins announced the names of each of the armed forces and the orchestra played each branch’s unique song, men and women who had bravely served this country stood up and were treated to resounding applause. I’ll admit that I was taken aback.
For various reasons, I had stopped counting on many in this city to espouse patriotism, or at the very least, to pay respect to our veterans and those who are currently serving in the armed forces. After all, this is California, not Texas. But watching tens of thousands of Angelenos cheer for our brave men and women was more than nice; for me, it was healing. And it didn’t hurt that my concert ticket cost less than $40.
That’s the beauty of the Bowl. You can still find affordable tickets, which also explains why this extraordinary space is accessible to Angelenos of various socioeconomic backgrounds.
I asked my friend and colleague Yael Swerdlow, who’s visited the Hollywood Bowl more than anyone I know, what keeps bringing her back. When I asked her how many years she’s been enjoying concerts at the Bowl, she told me, “I’m 66 and I first went there when I was five, so you do the math.”
Swerdlow is especially passionate about classical music; she is the CEO and founder of Maestro Games, which offers a groundbreaking virtual reality platform that helps everyone from first responders to those with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder access non-pharmaceutical intervention and healing. Her technology platform utilizes classical music and most of the concerts she’s attended at the Hollywood Bowl have featured artists playing some of the world’s most beautiful music, from Mozart and Beethoven to Bach and Rachmaninoff.
Swerdlow, who is a second-generation Angeleno, said her late father, who also had a passion for classical music, “spoiled” his kids with concerts at the Bowl. “He wanted us to be educated at a young age,” she said. Back then, during the 1960s, there were fountains near where the front-row seats are today, and as well as iconic spheres of various sizes beneath the bandshell. For a young Swerdlow, it was a magical place that seemed to fit “a million people.”
One of her best memories was the time her father “consented” to allow her and her sister to attend a concert which featured the Los Angeles Philharmonic during the first half, and strangely enough, the rock band Deep Purple, one of the pioneers of heavy metal music, during the second half. “My dad made sure we saw him put in earplugs when Deep Purple started playing, but at one point, the guitarist started riffing on Bach,” she recalled. “My dad worshiped Bach, and he pulled out his earplugs, stood up and yelled, “That’s Bach he’s playing!”
Over the years, Swerdlow has heard some of the best conductors and performers in the world at the Hollywood Bowl. In nearly every city she’s visited, she’s attended a classical music concert, but she believes “the Bowl is iconic because it’s outside, and it’s one of the only places in Hollywood that’s not tarnished by Hollywood.”
But lately, Swerdlow is witnessing a distressing trend: “I was at the Hollywood Bowl a few weeks ago and the thing that broke my heart increasingly was that rather than helping their kids enjoy the music, parents gave their kids their cell phones to play games and be distracted,” she said. “It is absolutely heartbreaking that you can’t even have a kid sit there for any length of time, listening to some of the most glorious music in the world, in a beautiful place, because of the phones.” Swerdlow recalled that when she visited the Bowl as a kid, her mother offered her and her sister large candy bars so they would be quiet. But during the concert, they were “enveloped” by the wonder of the music.
“All the joy and beauty that the music and this venue bring is completely lost on many kids today,” she said. And then, Swerdlow offered a plea to parents who visit the Hollywood Bowl with their children: Barring age or neurodevelopmental factors that would make it hard to stay in one place continuously, she begged parents to help their kids develop “the skills to sit and listen to a concert” (Taylor Swift shows notwithstanding).
Like me, she still experiences a sense of awe and wonder each time she returns to the Bowl.
“Sixty-one years after my first concert there, I’m still transported to such joy and beauty,” she said. “This is a place where magic happens.”
“Sixty-one years after my first concert there, I’m still transported to such joy and beauty,” she said. “This is a place where magic happens.”
Tabby Refael is an award-winning writer, speaker and weekly columnist for The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles. Follow her on Instagram and X @TabbyRefael
