Venue: John Anson Ford Amphitheatre
Address: 2580 Cahuenga Blvd East
Town: Los Angeles, US

The John Anson Ford Amphitheatre, officially nicknamed The Ford, is a music venue in the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles, California. The 1,200-seat outdoor amphitheatre is situated within the Cahuenga Pass within the Santa Monica Mountains, directly across the U.S. 101 freeway from its official sister venue, the Hollywood Bowl. Located in a County regional park, the facility is owned by the County of Los Angeles and operated in partnership with the Ford Theatre Foundation and the Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation. Built in 1920 and named after LA County Supervisor John Anson Ford in 1976, the Ford has been operated by the Los Angeles Philharmonic since 2020. === Christine Wetherill Stevenson and The Pilgrimage Play === An amphitheatre was built in 1920 as a venue for The Pilgrimage Play. The author, Christine Wetherill Stevenson, believed the rugged beauty of the Cahuenga Pass would provide a dramatic outdoor setting for the play. And for this reason, Stevenson named it the Pilgrimage Theatre. Together with Mrs. Chauncey D. Clark, she purchased the land along with that on which the Hollywood Bowl now sits. A wooden, outdoor amphitheatre was built on the site and the play was performed by noted actors every summer from 1920 to 1929, until the original structure was destroyed by a brush fire in October 1929. A new theatre was constructed of poured concrete and designed in the style of ancient Judaic architecture to resemble the gates of Jerusalem on the same site and opened in 1931. The Pilgrimage Play was again performed there, interrupted only by World War II. In 1941 the land was deeded to the County of Los Angeles. The Pilgrimage Play continued to be presented until a lawsuit in 1964 forced its closure because of its religious nature. Still, the bridge connecting the Ford to Cahuenga Boulevard over U.S. 101 was named the Pilgrimage Bridge, in honor of the play. In 1976, the Pilgrimage Theatre was renamed the John Anson Ford Theatre in honor of