It is dubbed the “Long Beach Bowl”—think Greek Theater in capacity and Hollywood Bowl in style. It will be by the Queen Mary with the DTLB skyline as its backdrop. With the potential to draw from a larger pool of artists with such a distinctly unique venue, the City has formally sanctioned the project. “Formally sanctioned” means the Council approved an operator and a budget to move the project forward. If approved timelines go as planned, concerts will begin in 2026. (A slight setback from the mayor’s projection of this fall).
What is the Long Beach Bowl?
“This facility will become a centerpiece for live performances with 10,000 to 12,000 seats. It will offer unforgettable experiences for residents and visitors. And it will support our local small restaurants. Our shops. Our businesses. All these entities will benefit from increased foot traffic before and after major concerts.”
These are the words of Mayor Rex Richardson at his State of the City address earlier this year. And he wasn’t necessarily just promoting: the City Council approved a $16.5M plan for the construction and operation of the Bowl this week. It’s officially becoming a reality.
This includes $1.5M for ASM Global, which will operate the venue annually for $300K for the first five years. (That’s a five-year contract they can renew; the temporary venue is being stamped with a proposed 10-year lifespan. ASM Global is also the operator at Convention Center, overseeing everything from its catering contract to its operations of the Arena.) Acquired by Legends in 2023 and finalized in 2024—making it one of the largest sports and entertainment venue operators in the world—the Long Beach Bowl will join ASM’s roughly 400 existing venue clients across the country. The venue’s operating profits would be paid out to the city, along with a percentage of revenue from concessions, catering orders, private suites or lounges and potentially the sale of naming rights or sponsorships at the amphitheater.
The City is projecting an $8M revenue (with a nearly $1M gross profit) its first year. That is projected to grow toward $12.2M by year five (with a projected $2.9M gross profit for the City).
The need for more live music in Long Beach is a real one.
The Long Beach Bowl proposal is serendipitous. And that is because SoCal’s live outdoor music scene has been experiencing massive shakeups over the past few years. One startling example is the political battle in Irvine in 2023. The city council ultimately shut down Live Nation’s proposal to build a massive arena in Grand Park. This was after four hours of public comment that derided the proposal due to potential noise impacts in the neighborhood.
This follows San Pedro’s pie-in-the-sky proposal to build a Hollywood Bowl-style amphitheater at its massive West Harbor project. It remains a far-off dream, considering the project’s base has been continually hindered, having just finished its first building. Even more, after Goldenvoice essentially vacated the Queen Mary area after a slew of stellar festivals pre-pandemic, there is a deep need for more live music venues. (And that is despite Insomniac coming in to take their place.)
There’s the sad tale of The Vault. The space at 350 Pine Ave. hosted acts ranging from the B-52s to Flogging Molly to Ghostface Killah between 2004 and 2008. After being sold for $3.5M and promoted by former property owner Millworks as a “hit it out the park” future music venue, it was sold to a church instead. Yes, it was sold to a church instead.
The Long Beach Bowl is a welcomed addition. It is outright awesome. But let’s be honest: no one attending the Bowl will explore DTLB.
But the benefits of the Long Beach Bowl don’t really extend to ‘foot traffic.’
The mayor is touting increased foot traffic for the Downtown with the Bowl and, in all frankness, it is a point that needs to be left aside. This is especially true for a project that has such an array of other benefits. Tax revenue. Cultural capital for the city and Queen Mary. Long Beach residents haveing access to a quality music venue that doesn’t require heavy travel.
The venue comes with its many pluses; foot traffic is not one of them.
Insomniac, the EDM giant that has overseen everything from house to trance festivals at The Queen Mary, has brought tens of thousands of people. None of them traveled across the bridge, let alone Ocean Boulevard, to explore Downtown—and rightfully so: Their tickets are costly, and, should they be staying in Long Beach, their room is just as pricey. Exploration outside the festival/concert grounds is outright rare. They are there for the festival. And that is okay.
It doesn’t mean a total lack of opportunity. The City should be connecting festivals with small businesses like Altar Society—which hosts a space that fits hundreds for after-parties and special events—that can capitalize on these large events with their tangential, smaller, hosted events.
It’s nice to see the city move fast on something. Usually big ideas have big timelines. Heck, even small ideas have exhaustingly long timelines. How long have we been waiting for a bike lane on Pacific Ave? Long enough that the grant funding is not enough or pulled back entirely. So, I’m happy to see that the city can actually do big things, and quickly. I just hope they can use the revenue to do more big things and quickly.
Considering that the City continues to raise taxes due to a lack of funding, where are they getting the money to build this?
It sounds like a great idea but $300k to run it? That’s not nearly enough to operate a venue of that size. What am I missing?
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Not mentioned here was the once thriving live music scene downtown in the late 80s and 90s with clubs like System M, Blue Cafe, Birdland West and Fenders Ballroom. And on the Eastside with Bogarts. LB locals as well need to support the live music community.