Hollywood Bowl May Shed Famous Shell

The Hollywood Bowl wants to demolish its trademark orchestral shell, a cultural icon blessed with an interesting design but cursed with bad acoustics.

Officials with the L.A. Philharmonic, after decades of trying to repair the 71-year-old shell, have proposed an $18-million spending plan to build a bigger, modern structure.

Known for classical music concerts, the Hollywood Bowl has drawn artists as diverse as the Beatles, Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, Tony Bennett and Chick Corea. Its Web site boasts that its summer music festivals are as Southern California as beaches, barbecues, Dodgers and Disneyland.

A battle of the bowl, however, is pitting musicians and their fans against preservationists. The issue boils down to this: function versus form. Do Angelenos want to hear quality music outside? Or do they care more about ambience and history?

The county Board of Supervisors will hear the first debates on the proposal next month.

Music aficionados argue that the city deserves a state-of-the-art outdoor venue to rival the nation’s best, such as Blossom Music Center near Cleveland.

The current shell is too small. Sometimes one-third of the orchestra members are forced to sit outside the shell, where they cannot hear each other--an impediment to ensemble playing.

It is riddled with asbestos and covered with lead paint. It leaks in the rain, warping the stage and dripping water into basement offices and dressing rooms.

Preservationists See Shell as an L.A. Icon

Some Angelenos, however, believe tearing down the shell would be akin to destroying the famous Guggenheim Museum in Manhattan.

“To us, the shell of the Hollywood Bowl is the visual symbol of the bowl itself and one of the most identifiable icons of Los Angeles,” said Ken Bernstein, director of preservation issues for the Los Angeles Conservancy. “How serious are the acoustical needs? And are they serious enough to warrant the demolition of this important symbol? Are there other creative alternatives?”

Philharmonic officials say they have already tried to remedy the problems. The venue’s notoriously poor acoustics--a result of its size as well as the way sound is reflected--have prompted several unsuccessful fixes. First, in 1970, architect Frank Gehry, working with an acoustician, installed large cardboard tubes inside the shell to enhance sound. Ten years later, the tubes were discarded and Gehry attached fiberglass spheres that still hang from the ceiling.

Neither plan worked and each obscured the design.

Built by Allied Architects, the shell was modeled after one created in 1928 by architect Lloyd Wright, the eldest son of Frank Lloyd Wright.

The acoustics are so bad that John Mauceri, conductor of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, has a speaker that pipes in areas that he would otherwise not be able to hear. Certain sections of the orchestra also have their own speakers so they can hear other players. The trumpets have a speaker that pipes in the percussion players.

“We have created an electronic Band-Aid,” said Mauceri, who has led more than 200 concerts at the bowl.

When his electronic sound system fails, he said, “I really have a difficult time keeping it together.” For such emergencies, Mauceri has a telephone.

“It’s such a great place,” he said, “it’d be wonderful and appropriate that we build something worthy.”

There are other problems besides acoustics. The shabby trailer dressing rooms are an affront to visiting conductors and divas, accustomed to more luxurious settings, Philharmonic officials say. The lighting system is unwieldy and musical instruments must be carted off-site for storage.

The walls of the shell are so decrepit and flimsy that it’s possible to pierce them with a fist, said County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, a longtime supporter of the Philharmonic and a former amateur oboe player.

“The whole complex is old and run down and needs to be brought up to code; it’s dangerous,” Yaroslavsky said. “The bowl has got to be brought up to 21st century standards.”

Some feel county officials, who lease the bowl to the Philharmonic, could be setting a poor precedent for historic preservation.

“The county is supposed to be showing leadership in protecting landmarks; for them to demolish the most famous thing they have is a terrible example of leadership,” said Robert Nudelman, president of Hollywood Heritage, a preservationist group. “We should be doing all that we can to protect and enhance, as opposed to demolishing.”

He said his group is reviewing legal options to save the shell.

One possible solution, some preservationists say, would be to relocate it on the Hollywood Bowl property. Yaroslavsky, however, counters that such a move would cost between $5.8 million and $6.3 million.

“It’s a large sum of money which we don’t have,” he said.

Patricia Mitchell, chief operating officer of the L.A. Philharmonic Assn., said planners had considered relocating the shell, which is technically feasible, but decided that visitors would be better served by a program that explained the Hollywood Bowl’s cultural and architectural history.

“The bowl has always existed to bring artists and audiences together for performances,” she said. “We have to fix it.”

The plans for the new shell call for a unified Streamline Moderne style reminiscent of the 1930s, with an emphasis on simple lines and geometric shapes. (Think: Radio City Music Hall and the Chrysler Building in New York.)

“Visually, we’re trying to make it look as it does now,” said architect Eric Holmquist, of Hodgetts and Fung Design Associates Inc., a Los Angeles firm that has worked on the project since 1998. “The goal is twofold: As a look, we want it to be cleaner, and technically, we’re trying to improve the acoustics.”

Why demolish the historic shell to construct one that looks as if it’s from a previous era?

“There is, indeed, a memory that’s worth continuing,” said architect Craig Hodgetts.

Off With the Shell, on With a Halo

As part of the effort to improve acoustics, a glass or plastic reflector is to be placed 30 feet above the entire orchestra, like a halo, to reflect sound. Such acoustical canopies are common in modern facilities, Hodgetts said. That type of reflector wouldn’t work in the current shell, Hodgetts said, because the structure cannot include the entire orchestra.

The new shell would be 30% larger and could accommodate a full orchestra. It would also include a 50-foot-diameter turntable, capable of moving one band on stage as another sets up backstage. Currently, the Hollywood Bowl uses a temporary 30-foot turntable that takes one day to erect.

Demolition of the old shell and construction of the new one, funded by Proposition A money approved by county voters in 1996, is expected to be completed by summer 2002. Most work will occur during the bowl’s off-season so performance schedules will not be affected, Philharmonic officials said.

Efforts to improve the bowl have been ongoing. In 1992, county voters approved funding that allocated $25.5 million to upgrade the facility. That money was used to upgrade lighting and electrical systems, restrooms, the bowl’s museum, food services and accessibility.

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New Bowl Sights and Sounds?

L.A. Philharmonic wants to demolish the Hollywood Bowl shell and replace it with a bigger, modern structure.