Hollywood Bowl with Kids

John Williams: Maestro of the Movies at Hollywood Bowl

the experience:

1. I thought this is John Williams’s show, but it turned out the first half was conducted by David Newman. Still great, just different than I thought. As I chatted with a girl who has been to this concert the 3rd time, it turned out that this has been always the case- someone open the show for John Williams.
2. I thought he would play all his master pieces, but almost the scores John Williams played were from Star Wars. The whole event was like a Star Wars fan fair, so many people wearing Star Wars t-shirts or dress like Star Wars characters, and the audience uses light sabers like glowing sticks. It’s very cute; just different than I thought. I was happy that he was able to pay his other master piece during encore, which are Harry Potter, Superman, and E.T.
3. kids behave way better than I thought, especially N. They didn’t complain. N said couple of times that he wanted to go home, but settled. And when necessary (fewer times than I anticipated), he was watching cartoon on ipad with headphones on. When I asked him to take a break after watching for one episode, he put ipad away without any fuss, and was enjoying Force Awaken was performed.
4. I used to think that going to a concert or game, the experience is to gather with people and sharing the excitement. but this time I went, I wanted to get closer to be able to see the performers on the stage.
5. We went to Getty Center early that day because our b-day boy wanted to take the tram and eat at Getty Center. We got to Hollywood Bowl around 4 to park at front. It was lots of waiting, but time flies while people watching. 🙂

note to ourselves for future Hollywood Bowl visits:

1. bring table cloth. lots of picnic tables and areas.
2. bring ice box (on wheels) to keep the picnic food
3. if parking at the Hollywood Bowl (it’s better with small children), come early so we can park near front of the stacked parking. The parking lot open 4 hours before the show, we parked near the exit.
4. with #3, leave early so we can avoid the crowd exiting. also, don’t have to worry about cars with their engines on while making our way to the car.
5. when the kids are older, maybe we can consider the shuttle service like people on yelp, many of them recommend parking the car by the mall on Highland or LA zoo and taking the shuttle.
6. there are escalator and stairs, if bringing wheelchairs or strollers, fold it up. Also a reason to leave early, to have ample of time  to maneuver
7.