Have you ever seen the movie Beaches? The stage that Bette Midler is standing on at the beginning of the movie is the stage at the Hollywood Bowl. My first trip to the Hollywood Bowl was for a Fleetwood Mac concert that I had won tickets to from going to Ellen’s 12 Days of Giveaways. I was so excited to finally get to visit a venue that I had heard a lot about. My Dad is a big Fleetwood Mac fan so I invited him to be my plus one and he flew out from Tennessee for the concert. Prior to my visit to the Hollywood Bowl I did not know too much about the venue other than it was outdoors. Once we parked we began our walk up the hill to the entrance where you will go through bag check. When you get past bag check and have your event ticket scanned you will start to make your way through the many levels of the Hollywood Bowl. If you do not wish to eat prior to arriving to the Hollywood Bowl you have a few options when you get there. They have plenty of picnic areas and you do have the option of bringing your own picnic or buying one there. There are also some pretty good food options there as well but since the most I have gotten there are snacks I would encourage you to visit the Hollywood Bowl website for more information on the food.
After the Fleetwood Mac concert my next visit to the Hollywood Bowl was for a Grease sing-a-long. This was so much fun that I am really sad that they will not be doing it this year. Prior to showing the movie the actress who played Frenchy came out to talk and introduce Sha Na Na the band who play in the movie at the dance. After that Frenchy came back out to talk some more and had the actress who played Jan join her on stage. It was such a fun atmosphere but I was looking around and saw that lots of people had yellow bags. I hadn’t been given one so I was really curious what it was. The yellow bags had a pom pom, bubbles, a yellow cloth, a comb and a Grease is the word card. It was props for you to pull out at different times in the movie which made the night even more fun. But of course the most fun of all was singing the songs at the top of your lungs with everyone around you. They still showed the movie as regular but the songs had the words on the screen so you could join in.
The Grease props
I learned on my first visit to the Hollywood Bowl to avoid parking there if at all possible. I have since parked at the Hollywood Bowl when I went to see Live with Kelly and Michael and I have parked there for work. Parking there for a concert is a whole different story! When I park for work or for Kelly and Michael lanes were kept open on both sides of your car so that you can make a quick exit. However, when you go to a sold out concert you will have cars parked all around your car so unless you are the first in the lane you will be stuck inside your car until the ones around you leave. And once you leave the parking lot you will encounter quite a bit of traffic trying to get onto the 101 or whatever you destination may be.
After the hours it took to get home from the Fleetwood Mac concert I did some research and learned about the park and ride system. My next visit to the Hollywood Bowl was for a Grease sing-a-long and I decided to purchase a ticket to take a bus from a park by my house to the Hollywood Bowl. I got right onto an air conditioned bus and was dropped off at the entrance. After the concert I hopped right back on the bus and made it back to my car in under thirty minutes. The park and ride tickets for various locations can be purchased through the Hollywood Bowl website and make sure to arrive early or you might have to stand on the bus.
Other things that I love about the Hollywood Bowl include: the location, the seating options, and their amazing events. The Hollywood Bowl is located a few miles from Hollywood Boulevard so if you are out to see the sights there you can easily make your way over to the bowl for the evening. Also you can get some pretty good pictures of the Hollywood sign from the Hollywood Bowl. There are three different seating options for the Hollywood Bowl: the boxes, the super seats and the benches. As of now I have only sat in the benches from which you can still have a good view of the stage.
A word of advice would be to either bring your own seat cushion or to rent one from the bowl for $1. Also regardless of where you sit this is Southern California and it will get cold in the evening so I would encourage you to dress warmer and bring a small blanket. For information on the other seats please visit the Hollywood Bowl website.
