If you want to go to the Hollywood Bowl, you have to really want to go to the Hollywood Bowl. It is one of the most frustrating landmarks in a city that has made arduous travel an art form. I can think of numerous times when I’ve had both the opportunity and the interest to go to the Bowl and passed.
I went so far as to skip an LCD Soundsystem concert at the Bowl in 2018 that I had already bought tickets for. Instead, I slept. The only thing that could roust me from my peaceful slumber was the most grotesque vision imaginable: an undulating river of red lights in front of me.
The choked arteries of traffic winding down the hill from the Hollywood Bowl. I awoke in a cold sweat, comforted by the realization that I was still at home. There were no cars.
I was safe. Going to a show at the Bowl is not a “night out.” It is days of planning, recon and meal prep.
And this year, it’s only going to get more complicated. The L.A.
Phil, which manages the Bowl, opted to close parking lots to make room for more ride-share and shuttle bus traffic . L.A.
Phil interim executive director Daniel Song told The Times in March, “People don’t like getting to the Bowl, but everyone loves the Bowl. So if there’s a barrier [for] someone to be able to come to the Bowl, we’re going to try to fix that and we’re going to try to mitigate that as best as we can.” The theory behind scrapping 350 of the Bowl’s 1,700-plus parking spots is to have fewer cars going in and out of the area on.