Feeling the burn at the Bowl

Robert Almodovar loves the Hollywood Bowl both for its music and for the workout he gets on the stairs.

By night, the steps of the Hollywood Bowl fill with music lovers, filing into their seats with picnics, popcorn and wine. Come sunup, however, a whole other crowd hits the house—locals like Robert Almodovar, for whom the Bowl is not just a world-renowned concert shell but also Los Angeles’ most iconic Stairmaster.

“It’s a beautiful place and I live just up the street,” panted the 61-year-old actor, smiling as he jogged uphill between the Garden Level boxes and the cheap seats on Tuesday morning. “I know all the guys who work here. I’ve been coming for years.”

Almodovar is among thousands of Angelenos who use the Bowl for recreation and fitness—a side attraction that stems from the fact that, when the Bowl isn’t serving as one of L.A.’s best-loved cultural destinations, it’s a Los Angeles County regional park.

“We get close to a million visitors coming by the park in the off-season and when we’re not having concerts,” said Gail Samuels, chief operating officer for the Los Angeles Philharmonic, which operates the Bowl under a lease with the county. Some of them picnic, she said. Some meditate. Some wander in during the summer for kids’ programs, or to quietly eavesdrop on open rehearsals. But for neighbors, the Bowl’s cardio benefits are an undeniable attraction.

“People walk the stairs, people walk the hillside,” said Samuels. “It’s a pretty steep grade, and definitely a good workout.”

“Every day, you see runners here,” agreed Bowl operations director Christine Whitman, strolling the foggy amphitheater as Almodovar worked out in the distance. Onstage, crews behind her toted chairs and music stands for Itzhak Perlman’s rehearsal later in the morning with the L.A. Phil.

“People come first thing in the morning when the gates open, and after work in the evening. When school is in session, the kids come up from Hollywood High School.”

Personal trainers meet clients at the Bowl. Local bloggers discover and rediscover the stairs there. This weekend, a fitness event there for Los Angeles County employees is expected to draw several hundred office workers for a power walk and choreographed dance workout.

As the nation’s largest natural amphitheater, Whitman said, it’s a natural athletic challenge: “From the Pool Circle to the back of the house, it’s 450 linear feet with a hundred-foot rise, so you can imagine how that would make your heart race.”

The Bowl and its grounds are free and open to the public from sunrise to sunset daily, except during closed rehearsals and after about 3 p.m. on concert nights. Parking is also free during the Bowl’s off-hours. Because the musicians prefer not to be distracted, the stairs are closed to runners during summer rehearsals, which typically run from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

“But otherwise, people can be there all day,” Whitman said.

It’s a fact that not all Angelenos are aware of. While exercisers jam public stairways in Santa Monica, Silver Lake, Rustic Canyon and other hilly parts of the city, only the bolder—and better informed—fitness buffs tend to brave the climb at the Bowl.

“We weren’t sure if it was OK to be here, but we thought we’d just keep walking until we got yelled at,” John Justice Parker, a 26-year-old songwriter, actor and newcomer to Los Angeles, confessed Monday evening as he and three friends made the long trek from the bottom to the top of Aisle 3, their calves burning.

“But we’re a pretty single-minded group and we wanted to conquer the mountain.”

“Also we wanted to get a picture from the top,” added Brandon Blouin, his out-of-town friend.

Almodovar applauds their effort. He has honed his own workout to maximize the Bowl’s assets.

“I do a stretching routine to work on all the aches and pains,” he said. “Then I do sit-ups. Then I start a very sloooow, old-man jog through the Bowl, all the way to the picnic area at the top. Then I come down and do the stairs.”

All in all, he says, it takes him about an hour and 20 minutes. But his work demands that he stay in shape. Along with TV and film roles, he does theater and is a familiar face in commercials for tires, credit cards and restaurants.

“I’ve been here every day for the last two weeks, except for one day when I had an audition,” said Almodovar, giving himself a personal high-five as he finished his run and the morning fog gave way to sunshine.

“Wooh! This is what we love about exercise, isn’t it? I’m awake!”

And all before the first note of the day sounded on the legendary Bowl stage.

Almodovar, victorious, after conquering the Bowl stairs.

Posted 8/21/13