From the Archives: Painting the Hollywood Bowl shell

Martin Sipma had twice painted the Hollywood Bowl shell. The two images here document his third effort in 1935.

On July 6, 1935, the Los Angeles Times reported: “Martin Sipma, who has painted the shell of the world's largest outdoor theater stage twice since it was built in 1927, donned a huge straw hat to keep paint from his face, took his spray-gun in hand and mounted to the top of a forty-foot high ladder-scaffold to redecorate the ceiling of the oval structure.”

“When he finishes the job, thousands of names scribbled by tourists from all parts of the world on the walls of the structure will be obliterated.”

The image above appeared in the July 6, 1935, Los Angeles Times. The image below was not published then.

This post was originally published on Oct. 1, 2014.