Judge Refuses to Halt Building of New Shell at Hollywood Bowl

A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge has denied a request to halt construction of a new elliptical music shell to replace the existing white dome over Hollywood Bowl’s performance stage.

Groups that want to preserve the existing shell as a historic landmark--Hollywood Heritage and the Friends of the Santa Monica Mountains Parks and Seashore--say they plan to appeal the decision.

Patricia Mitchell, chief operating officer of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, said the groups had filed suit against the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors to stop construction of the new shell. Built on county-owned land, the Bowl is the summer home of the Philharmonic.

“We are very gratified by the judge’s ruling, and we look forward to the future,” Mitchell said.

The Hollywood Bowl has had several shells since the Philharmonic’s first season there in 1922, when the Bowl was still an open-air theater. The first shell, a wooden ellipse, was erected in 1926, followed by a pyramid-shaped shell in 1927 and an elliptical shape with concentric arches in 1928.

The current shell, built in 1929, was constructed before the existence of the Hollywood Freeway, and has long been considered to have inferior acoustic properties. The new shell project was approved by Los Angeles County voters in 1996.