Ancient Greece was the birthplace of classical drama; the Greeks loved to put on performances, building specially-designed semicircular structures that would both seat a large number of people and amplify sound. The amplification was particularly important, as the venues were still outdoors and actors had to compete with the regular sounds of the city. This sound conductivity is still prized to this day, despite the wide availability of electronic amplification. Many amphitheaters have been carefully constructed to heighten the amplification effect, but in several places around the world, the location itself does half the work.

On this day, July 11, in 1922, the Hollywood Bowl, one of just a handful of natural amphitheaters in the United States, opened with a concert by the L.A. Philharmonic. The L.A. Phil still calls the Hollywood Bowl its summer home, and the venue has also hosted many other notable acts from its earliest years.

Frank Sinatra played at the Hollywood Bowl in 1946, backed by the L.A. Phil (many thought Sinatra was not worthy to share the stage with the Philharmonic.) Other notable performances came soon after, and for one memorable week in 1965 the venue hosted separate performances by the Beatles, Aaron Copland, Igor Stravinsky, and Bob Dylan. Two of the most popular visitors to the Bowl did not sing or dance, or do much of anything except talk, but went before a packed house nevertheless. President Franklin Roosevelt, and Soong May-ling, the wife of Chinese Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek stopped by the Hollywood Bowl for political rallies, greeted by enthusiastic crowds easily rivaling that for famous stars of stage and screen.