Hollywood Bowl

Looking for section numbers and the best seats by level? See the Hollywood Bowl Seating Chart.

What the Hollywood Bowl is and who plays there

The Hollywood Bowl is an open-air amphitheater of 17,500 reserved seats cut into a canyon of the Hollywood Hills, with a white concentric-arch bandshell at the bottom and the hills rising around the back rows. It opened on July 11, 1922, and it is owned by the County of Los Angeles and run in partnership with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association.

The Bowl is the summer home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic (the LA Phil) and the home of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra. Its season is built around summer: in 2026 it opened on June 20 and closed on September 27. The calendar mixes three kinds of nights:

• LA Phil classical programs, which are typically the easiest tickets to find.
• LA Phil-presented specials such as film nights with live orchestra, jazz and fireworks programs.
• Lease events (concerts booked by outside promoters), which are rock, pop and hip-hop shows and usually draw the heaviest demand.

That distinction matters for more than the music. As explained below, it changes what you are allowed to carry in.

How the Hollywood Bowl seating is laid out

The Bowl is one continuous slope rather than a set of decks. From the stage uphill, the main zones are:

• Pool Circle: a small zone of movable chairs (about seven rows) directly in front of the stage.
• Garden Boxes: semi-private boxes with four or six folding chairs around a small table, closest to the stage behind the Pool Circle.
• Terrace Boxes: the same box format, one tier higher and farther back.
• Super Seats: padded seats with backs in a few center sections (sections such as G1, H and J1), placed just above the boxes.
• Bench sections: wooden benches with backs, lettered sections that climb from the E sections near the boxes up to the X sections at the top of the hill.

Two quirks catch first-timers. Bench seats are numbered odd on one side of a section and even on the other, so a pair of seats numbered 11 and 12 may not be together; buy all odd or all even numbers for a group. And the benches are hard, which is why cushion rental is a long-standing Bowl habit.

Best seats for each kind of night, and seats to skip

For classical and film-with-orchestra nights

The Bowl runs an amplified sound system, so the sound carries across most of the hill. The real differences are sightline and comfort. The center Super Seats and the front half of the center bench sections give a straight-on view of the shell, padded or backed seating, and the video screens without craning. They are the value pick for a long program.

For pop and rock concerts

Lease concerts sell from the front. Pool Circle and Garden Box seats put you close enough to read faces; Terrace Boxes keep that feeling at a lower demand level. In the benches, center sections in the lower half beat any side section at the same height, because the side sections angle you toward the shell and partly behind its outer arches.

For picnics and groups

The boxes are built for eating. Four or six people share a table, and the box itself holds your food, which solves the under-seat space problem the benches create. If the night is about dinner and a show, a Terrace Box is a better purchase than a slightly closer bench.

Seats to think twice about

• The extreme side bench sections look like a bargain on the map but view the stage at a sharp angle.
• The top lettered sections are far from the stage and a long uphill climb from the entrance; you will watch the screens for detail. The trade is the widest view of the hills and the city lights, which some regulars prefer.
• Single seats in a box mean sharing a table with strangers, which is fine for some buyers and not for others.

What you see from the boxes, the middle and the top

From the Pool Circle and Garden Boxes, the performers fill your field of view and the shell feels like a room. From the Terrace Boxes and Super Seats, you see the whole shell, its lighting and the screens in one frame, which suits fireworks nights and film concerts. From the middle benches, the stage reads clearly and the canyon opens around you. From the upper benches, the performers are small, the screens carry the show, and the trade is a panoramic view of the Hollywood Hills that changes as the sun goes down.

Because the venue faces the hillside rather than the sky, evening shows begin with daylight and end in the dark. Seats high on the hill cool off fastest; bring a layer for any night show, even in August.

Getting to the Bowl: shuttles, Metro and stacked parking

Transportation is the single biggest decision of a Bowl night. Plan it before you plan dinner.

• Metro: the Metro B Line stops at Hollywood/Highland. The venue says a free Bowl shuttle runs from Ovation Hollywood for riders who show a valid TAP card or GoMetro round-trip pass.
• Park and Ride and Bowl Shuttle buses: the venue runs buses from lots around the region directly to the gate, which avoids both traffic on Highland Avenue and on-site parking.
• On-site parking: the Bowl describes it as extremely limited, stacked (cars are parked bumper to bumper, so you cannot leave until the cars around you do) and likely to sell out in advance. Buy it ahead if you choose it, and expect a slow exit.
• Rideshare: drop-off and pickup is in Lot C (Purple); the venue directs drivers to 6655 Odin St.

The venue advises arriving at least 90 minutes early and warns that Milner and Camrose may close about two hours before showtime. It also asks fans not to park in the surrounding neighborhoods, which are heavily ticketed. Check the Bowl's getting-here page for the current shuttle schedule before you go.

Picnics, wine and the bag rules

The Bowl is one of the few major venues where bringing dinner is part of the experience, but the rules depend on who presents the show. As of the 2026 season:

• Food: you may bring your own food to any event.
• LA Phil-presented events: outside wine and beer are permitted.
• Lease events: no outside alcohol; beer and wine are sold inside.
• Size limit: bags, picnic baskets and coolers may be no more than 15 inches wide, 15 inches high or 22 inches long, and must fit under your seat or inside your box.
• Common prohibited items: umbrellas, chairs, selfie sticks, detachable-lens cameras, laptops and tablets. The Bowl does not store prohibited items.

The venue's own pages differ on glass containers, so confirm the beverage rules for your specific night on the house rules page before you pack. Ticket listings on the event page show which presenter is behind the show, and every order through this site is backed by a 100% guarantee.

A century in the canyon

Organizers chose the site, then called Daisy Dell in Bolton Canyon, in 1919 for its natural acoustics, and the first sunrise service was held there on November 11, 1921, months before the official opening. The shell has changed several times: Lloyd Wright designed shells in 1927 and 1928, the concentric-arch shell of 1929 stood until 2003, and Frank Gehry added acoustic tubes and fiberglass spheres in the 1970s and 1980s. The current shell, designed by Hodgetts + Fung with engineering by Arup, opened in 2004 and incorporates design elements from the earlier shells.

The Beatles played the Bowl in 1964 and 1965, and the recordings became a live album in 1977. The Hollywood Bowl Orchestra was relaunched by the LA Phil Association in 1991. The free Edmund D. Edelman Hollywood Bowl Museum, which opened in 1996, sits on the grounds, and the Bowl was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2023.

Sources

• Wikipedia: Hollywood Bowl
• Hollywood Bowl: Getting Here
• Hollywood Bowl: House Rules
• Hollywood Bowl FAQ: Food and wine
• LA Phil: Hollywood Bowl 2026 season announcement
• This Stage LA: Best seats at the Hollywood Bowl