Venue: Greek Theatre
Address: 2700 N Vermont Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90027-1247
Town: Los Angeles, US
Capacity: 5,872

Greek Theatre is an amphitheatre and performance venue located in Griffith Park, Los Angeles, California, which has been hosting various live performances and music concerts since its opening in the early 1930s. Today, the theatre is owned by the City of Los Angeles and operated by ASM Global (AEG Ogden). Designed by architects Samuel Tilden Norton, Frederick Hastings Wallis, and Tacoma firm Heath, Gove, & Bell, the main stage and seating layout were inspired by Ancient Greek-style amphitheaters. The idea for the Greek Theatre originated with wealthy landowner Griffith J. Griffith, who donated 3,000 acres (1,200 ha) of land to the city of Los Angeles in 1896 to create Griffith Park. In his will he left money for the construction of a Greek theatre. A canyon site was chosen because of its good acoustics. The cornerstone was laid in 1928 and the building was dedicated on September 25, 1930. The first performance took place on June 26, 1931, attended by a capacity crowd of 4,000. During its first decades the theatre was rarely used, although it was utilized as a barracks for troops during World War II. In the late 1940s a San Francisco producer brought touring shows to the venue. In 1952 (and for the next 23 years) James A. Doolittle, a Los Angeles dance impresario, leased the theatre and upgraded it with better seating and backstage equipment. Over time, Doolittle brought classical productions, entertainers and popular music concerts to the venue in a mixed summer season. Under his management the Greek Theatre introduced Los Angeles to many of the celebrated dance, opera and foreign theatre companies of the world and was credited at the time with enhancing Los Angeles's cultural image. Some of these foreign visitors came to America for the first time at the instigation of Doolittle and the Greek Theatre Association, and continued their successful tours in New York City - a reversal of the traditional route of importation at the time. Between 1975 and 2015, the theatre