Apr. 6, 1947: A trumpeter heralds the dawn for 25,000 worshipers at Hollywood Bowl sunrise service, one of several Easter programs covered in the next day’s Los Angeles Times.
For this holiday, here is a photo gallery looking back at Easter celebrations
Following a 1947 sunrise service at the Hollywood Bowl, above, the Los Angeles Times reported, “Standing beneath a rugged wooden cross on the north hillside, eight white-robed young women trumpeters hailed the rising sun with the inspiring "Gloria Patri."
The “Trumpeter,” by Paul Calvert, is my favorite L.A. Times Easter image. So of course, I made it the lead photo in this gallery.
March 31, 1918: Crowd at Easter Sunrise observance at Pulpit Rock on Mt. Lowe. The stripes on the flag were darkened by a staff artist to help reproduction.
(Los Angeles Times)
April 20, 1924: A crowd of 25,000 attends Easter Sunrise Service at the Hollywood Bowl. This panorama was made from three prints.
(Los Angeles Times)
Writer Alma Whitaker, covering the Hollywood Bowl Easter sunrise service in the above photo, wrote in the April 21, 1924, Los Angeles Times:
It was an extraordinary sensation rushing down wide boulevards surrounded on all sides and for miles in front and miles behind by multitudes of automobiles in that cold eerie two hours before the dawn. It was almost like driving furiously; almost silently through the Valley of Death; that queer silence relieved only by the whirr of the machines and an occasional uncanny screech from a motor horn.
By 4 a.m. the Hollywood Bowl seats were filled, but for an hour and a half after that the multitudes thronged in. The traffic jam had long since proved unmanageable, and most of us left our machines and trudged many long uphill blocks to the Bowl….
By 4:45 a.m. the sky was light, but no hint of sunshine had crept over the hills into the Bowl. But every mound, every hillside, was thronged with human beings of all sizes and ages, and still the crowd came on and climbed and climbed, upward toward the Cross — in a thrilling sort of silence with an undercurrent of whispered touchiness….
At precisely 5:35 a.m., the sun dawned over the hill and struck that Cross and the hilltops. The small boys climbed down in awe. And hushed awe and wonder filled that vast company….
Then upon another hilltop rang out the Easter sunrise trumpet call, sounded by the sisters Lorene and Alberta Lavis, in shimmering white angel gowns. And presently the Hollywood community orchestra was swelling into Humperdinck's "Vision of the Angels" and no other sound marred that ethereal strain.
Have a wonderful Easter!
Scott Harrison
This post originally was published on March 29, 2013.
April 12, 1925: Easter Sunrise Service at the Hollywood Bowl with the orchestra and choir led by Alice Gentle.
(Los Angeles Times)
April 17, 1927: Easter Sunrise Service at Mt. Rubidoux near Riverside attracts a crowd of 20,000.
(Los Angeles Times)
March 1937: Photo by Paul Calvert titled “Easter Morn.” Los Angeles City Hall with lights on forming a cross for Easter.
(Paul Calvert / Los Angeles Times)
April 25, 1943: Father Marius S. Chataignon, Army Chaplain, conducts Easter Sunday Mass for U.S. troops close to front lines in Tunisia.
(Associated Press)
Apr. 11, 1952: Cross is raised on Puente Hill overlooking La Puente to be used for interdenominational Easter services. Six different denominations participated.
(Bob Ritchie / Los Angeles Times)
April 8, 1966: Photo illustration shot for Easter stories in the April 9, 1966, Los Angeles Times. The caption reported “All of Christendom joins in observance of the Lord’s resurrectioni.”
(Larry Sharkey / Los Angeles Times)
April 14, 1968: Members of the Bel Canto Chorale of West Covina High School sing during 48th annual Hollywood Bowl Easter Sunrise services.
(Joe Kennedy / Los Angeles Times)
April, 1968: Katherine Kenal, 14, clad in costume of her ancestors, shows Ukrainian-style Easter eggs created in class held at the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Ukrainian Catholic Church in Hollywood.
(Mary Frampton / Los Angeles Times)
March 30, 1969: Children whose mothers are members of Pinafores of the League for Crippled Children take part in an Easter egg roll at Brookside Golf Club.
(Joe Kennedy / Los Angeles Times)
April 18, 1976: The Rev. Joseph E. Parshall leads prayer with hundreds gathered on Santa Monica pier for Easter Sunrise Service.
(Art Rogers / Los Angeles Times)
March 22, 1978: Father Joseph Pollard holds a lighted Easter candle in St. Andrew’s Church in Pasadena.
(Cal Montney / Los Angeles Times)
March 20, 1978: George Vick, 8, 1977 Poster Child for the Los Angeles Crippled Children’s Society, has his basket of eggs following annual Easter Egg Hunt at the Ambassador Hotel.
(Fitzgerald Whitney / Los Angeles Times)
March 26, 1978: Ruth Carter Stapleton, sister of President Carter, speaks during Easter sunrise services at Mr. Rubidoux in Riverside.
(Joel Lugavere / Los Angeles Times)
April 6, 1980: Easter sunrise services at Vasquez Rocks County Park.
(Cal Montney / Los Angeles Times)
March 21, 1991: Anthony Leoni, 3, of Bellflower, squeezes the nose of the Easter Bunny at Los Cerritos Center.
