IT’S SHAPE-UP TIME AT HOLLYWOOD BOWL

The ongoing Hollywood Bowl face lift has yielded another crop of improvements to the venerable amphitheater, which unofficially opens its doors for its 66th summer tonight.

Concertgoers will find another generation of benches, newly spiffed-up boxes and new anti-aircraft installations: the little things that mean so much.

But officials at the Bowl and the Los Angeles Philharmonic are also thinking big these days. This is no small-time operation here: We’re talking marathon concerts--and major-league earth-moving.

“If we could just put that mountain back on the east side and put some pine trees up on it,” Pat Moore muses, “that sure would make things better for the folks in the back.”

The man is serious. Moore, chief of operations at the Bowl, insists it’s just a matter of time--and money, of course--before this gigantic project is launched.

“Remember, this is a very old plant,” he notes from his office at the Bowl. “Things were a lot simpler when I started here in 1950. And there was hardly anything built up around here. But if they keep putting up more and more buildings, the noise level will mount. You know, Highland Avenue is the second heaviest street in town.

“We used to have a mountain on the east side of the Bowl but most of it was eliminated in 1949 to make it easier for folks to get to their seats.” With that in mind, the return of the hill would be preceded by construction of pedestrian tunnels leading to each seating section.

Not only would all of that unwanted sound be kept out, Moore predicts, but wanted sound--the music--will be enhanced. “It’ll be two, maybe three times better,” he says, dubbing the proposed mountain “Meltzer Hill,” in honor of Bowl acoustician Abe Meltzer.

Anyone have any spare dirt?

If Meltzer Hill promises an escape from future street noise, the placement of three pulsating warning beacons around Cahuenga Pass may spell immediate relief from aerial distractions, in the form of intruding aircraft. “The old searchlights will remain,” Moore says, “but the new strobe units will work better, since you can see them from farther away (approximately 20 miles).” The flickering lights will be collared so as not to prove a distraction for Bowl patrons, he adds.

Far more visible to concertgoers will be the renovated box seats--boasting new redwood slats, stripped down and repainted railings and new metal folding director’s chairs--plus the latest batch of benches. The new cedar will make things a lot more comfortable for the 4,000 patrons in Sections L-P, Moore says. Now two-thirds complete, the re-benching of the Bowl--due to be finished next year--will end up costing more than $1 million.

These seating improvements arrive in the nick of time, considering the impending return of one of the great Hollywood Bowl experiments--the marathon concert.

On Friday, Lukas Foss, David Alan Miller and a trio of Philharmonic Institute conducting fellows will lead the Philharmonic and the Institute Orchestra in a five-hour “American Holiday Marathon,” beginning at 6 p.m.

Many Bowl patrons remember those often grueling evenings in the ‘70s (the last one, a 75th birthday salute to the late Lawrence Morton, was in 1979). For Philharmonic Managing Director Robert Harth, that all happened before his time--which is one of the reasons he pushed for the marathon’s return.

“There’s a whole group, including myself, that hasn’t experienced it and it seems they want to,” he says. “The Philharmonic did an extensive survey last year among the bench patrons. We asked them what we were doing right and wrong. It’s a regular practice with us, both at the Bowl and the Pavilion.” The survey indicated that a monster concert would, in fact, draw an audience.

“I know the marathon is a calculated risk,” Harth notes. “but we think there is the interest again. Right now, it’s selling well. I think people will like the element of come-and-go-as-you-please.”

In addition to the two orchestras, music will be provided by the jazz group Maiden Voyage, the bluegrass band Smokewood and the Holman United Methodist Church Choir. Soloists include actress Esther Rolle, pianist Michael Zearott and harmonica player Robert Bonfiglio.

Bring a cushion.

As Harth points out, pleasing everyone at the Bowl is an impossible task. Since there are so many seats to fill, audience interest is a key element in planning the lengthy summer season.

“Every person has distinct ideas about programming,” he says. “We’ve discovered that interesting programs translate into sales. So, when we plan our schedule, we have to keep things fresh and maintain the right balance (between familiar and unfamiliar music). We encourage innovative but popular programming. This is, remember, a summer festival.”

Nestled among the expected samplings of Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Gershwin and Brahms are a few unlikely names: John Adams (“Short Ride in a Fast Machine,” set for Aug. 27), Steve Reich (“Three Movements,” Sept. 3) and Arthur Benjamin (Harmonica Concerto, Sept. 10).

The Philharmonic’s sensitivity to popular tastes also extends to the price of admission, which has gone up a bit this year. For those in the bench sections, the increase is 5% (or an average of 50 cents per ticket), the surcharge going to the newly created Facility Improvement Fund. Yet, as Harth notes, the famous $1 seats in the back will remain $1.

For those in the boxes, the price increase is a bit higher, averaging around 20%, or $10 per ticket. “We don’t raise prices lightly,” Harth insists. “All our calculations are based on supply and demand and we know we can sustain an increase in the boxes a lot easier than in the benches.” He has stats to back up this assumption: Subscription renewals this season are at 98% from last year.