Hearst Greek Theatre - An Ancient Stage in the Hills

Photo: Sanfranman59, CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)

A stop on UC Berkeley Campus Walk, a free self-guided tour.

Tucked into a eucalyptus-ringed hollow, this open-air amphitheater was modeled on the ancient Greek theater at Epidaurus. Students had already been using the natural bowl for shows before newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst paid to build a proper theater. John Galen Howard designed it, with Julia Morgan assisting, and it opened in 1903.

Its first big event came before it was even finished: President Theodore Roosevelt gave the commencement address here in May 1903. Since then the theater, which holds about 8,500 people, has hosted graduations, speakers such as the Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu, and decades of concerts. The Grateful Dead played here dozens of times between 1967 and 1989.

It is also the home of the Bonfire Rally, held before the Big Game against Stanford each year.

The theater is often closed outside events, so if the gates are locked, peek through to see the tiers of stone seats curving around the stage.

Getting here: Walk east about 200 meters from Gilman Hall to Gayley Road and the theater entrance.

Did you know?: Before the theater was built, the bowl was known as Ben Weed's Amphitheater and had been used for student shows since 1894.

Photo op: From the top rows or the gate, frame the curved tiers of seats leading down to the columned stage.

More on Wikipedia: Hearst Greek Theatre · William Randolph Hearst · Theodore Roosevelt

Hearst Greek Theatre - An Ancient Stage in the Hills

Stops on this tour