Picnicking at the Hollywood Bowl

One of my favorite things to do (pre-kids) in Los Angeles was attend Summer concerts at the Hollywood Bowl. I honestly can’t remember the last time I was there – so it was a big deal for me when I went to see Harry Potter in concert.

I love a good picnic and the Hollywood Bowl provides the perfect setting – it’s honestly the best part of this outdoor concert experience. There are 14 designated picnic spots surrounding the area that are first-come, first served – so come early! But for this concert, we opted to have our little picnic on our reserved bench seats. It’s not the ideal spot but we didn’t want to clean-up and move after we were done eating. We just wanted to get comfortable in our seats before the show started! LOL

If you’re picnicking with friends, make sure you all bring a little something to share plus a bottle of your favorite wine. The Hollywood Bowl allows BYO alcoholic beverages except during leased events like a touring band, so make sure you check first. Don’t forget all of your picnic essentials like plates, napkins, utensils, cups…and most importantly the wine opener but I suggest bringing screw-cap wine bottles. Oh! and don’t forget water to stay hydrated during those hot summer nights or else it’ll cost you $4 for a small bottle.

The L.A. food scene has a lot of options to help you put together the perfect picnic. If you’re craving sushi, there’s Sugar Fish and for chicken there’s Zankou Chicken or Pollo a la Brasa on Western. And you can’t go wrong shopping at your local farmer’s market!

For this concert we brought small bites from Milk and Eggs, the farm-to-door delivery service and I also braved the weekend madness at Bay Cities to pick-up the Godmother with the works, the BEST sandwich on the Westside!

If you don’t feel like going shopping – you can always order a picnic box in advance from the Hollywood Bowl.

What are your favorite picnic essentials?