If not for Christine Stevenson, the Hollywood Bowl, the crown jewel of American outdoor music venues, would never have existed. The Philadelphian born into the Pittsburgh Paint Company fortune used her healthy inheritance to bankroll art in its grandest forms: theaters, pageants, and eventually a hillside amphitheater in Los Angeles.
In 1919, Stevenson and the Theatre Arts Alliance found primo land in a Hollywood canyon called Daisy Dell, forking over $48k (about $745k today) for the 59 acres, which boast natural acoustics.
Just three years later, on July 11, 1922, Alfred Hertz conducted the Los Angeles Philharmonic on a makeshift wooden platform with a canvas awning, charging just 25 cents a ticket.
From that humble beginning it eventually blossomed into a legendary venue boasting performances by Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, and Duke Ellington.
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