IT'S LOVE UNDER THE STARS AS THE CITY CELEBRATES 75 YEARS OF MAKING MUSIC AND ENJOYING PICNICS AT THE FAMED VENUE IN THE HOLLYWOOD HILLS.

Byline: Lynette Rice Daily News Staff Writer

Joy McCarthy trudged slowly up the middle pathway to her cherished box seat at the Hollywood Bowl - a far cry from the 25-cent bench she sat on in the 1940s.

``My mother and I used to sit in the starlight section, which is now referred to as the nosebleed section,'' the Encino woman recalls. ``I think starlight section sounds much better.''

Today, she's much more comfortable in her box, the same one she and her retired husband, George, have occupied since the '70s.

Since then, the price of their four-seat box for 10 Saturday-night concerts rose tenfold, to $3,400.

Yet the McCarthys don't hesitate to renew their subscription.

``I love it. I cannot really imagine a summer without the Hollywood Bowl,'' Joy McCarthy said.

The Hollywood Bowl, perhaps Los Angeles' best-known musical venue and about to celebrate its 75th season, is a special place for performers as well.

``When I stand on that stage, I just think of all the artists who have been there before,'' said ``Mr. Hollywood Bowl,'' Mel Torme, who will perform this season for his 20th consecutive year.

``It's a feeling of awe, a feeling of honor to be on that stage. I never lose track of that feeling.''

More than just a place to hear music, the Hollywood Bowl is one of Los Angeles' most visible links to the past. Though signs of the '90s now dot the vast property, little has changed since it first opened in 1922. Audiences sit in the same seats that were erected in 1926. Artists perform under the shell erected in 1929.

While theme parks unveil faster, higher new rides, the Bowl relies on its own attractions to lure audiences.

Stars. Nature. Camaraderie.

``When you live in the city of L.A. and you come to the Bowl, you're transported in an oasis,'' said Anne Parsons, who manages the Bowl, which is owned by Los Angeles County and operated by the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

``Those guys 75 years ago were really smart about the location. So we're very location sensitive. We've tried to keep it green,'' she said.

That's as confident as Parsons will allow herself to be. Even after 75 seasons of phenomenal success - including heralded appearances by the Beatles, Elton John, Jimi Hendrix, Van Cliburn and Lily Pons - Parsons said the Bowl won't rest on its laurels.

``We have to work very hard at maintaining our place in the world,'' she said. ``Day to day, we figure out how to be better at what we are, how to be more competitive, how to please our audiences.''

A star-studded lineup remains the Bowl's most ambitious goal. Past appearances have included Luciano Pavarotti, Jessye Norman, Beverly Sills, Joan Anderson, Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Hopalong Cassidy and Gene Kelly.

This season's lineup touts Carol Burnett, John Denver, Quincy Jones, Bernadette Peters, Simon Rattle, Yo-Yo Ma, the Kirov Orchestra, the Manhattan Transfer, Etta James, Victor Borge, Ray Charles and Garrison Keillor.

Some things never change. Beethoven's Fifth Symphony has been played 54 times so far. It will be heard again Aug. 8, with Simon Rattle conducting. Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 also has been played 54 times, and is scheduled to be heard Aug. 2, 3, 4 with pianist Nikolai Lugansky.

And then, there's Torme's tribute to Miles Davis on Sept. 18.

``The No. 1 reason why people come regularly is because it's comfortable,'' Torme said. ``They have their wine and their food. But it's more than just a concert. It's a happening. That's part of the reason why it's so successful. There is a comfort for people, where they are way up in the stratosphere of seats or way down front. The eyeline for the Bowl is absolutely magical. You can see everything. There are no bad seats.''

Though the massive Bowl has been known to scare some performers off, Torme describes the amphitheater as an intimate venue.

``I don't know why, with all these people in this enclosure, even with the ones back up there,'' he said. ``It never feels cavernous. I never feel like, `God, I'm lost in the middle of this enormous crowd.' It's got an ambience of its own. For me, it's remarkable.''

Fond memories are as vital as its ambience to the Bowl's success. Classical music DJ Tom Dixon, who broadcast for 40 years on KFAC-FM before joining KUSC-FM and his current KKGO-FM, remembers trekking up the street that now is Highland Avenue and enjoying his first classical concert at the Bowl with his father.

He was 9.

``My father picked a bench near a pepper tree and told me, `Thomas, you can play in that tree while the music is on, but you better play quietly,' '' Dixon recalls. ``And I did what Papa told me.''

Still, he paid attention to the music - enough of it to know he should come back again.

``Over the years, they'd put that big, beautiful shell on tracks,'' said Dixon. ``When they'd move it off to the side, they'd use the whole hillside behind it. It was once part of the set for `A Midsummer Night's Dream' with Mickey Rooney playing Puck (1934). It was a beautiful thing.''

Such respect for the Bowl's surroundings still exists today, Parsons said. Landscape architects know to save the trees; in one recent case, a new deck was built around an old tree, just to maintain the feeling of the outdoors.

Improvements continue to top the Bowl's agenda. It just spent $25 million in Proposition A funds to build three new restrooms and a new museum that will debut this season. The main-floor gallery will feature a multimedia exhibit that includes photos from the early years, while the upstairs room will host chamber music for the 75th anniversary season.

A book commemorating the anniversary, ``Hollywood Bowl - Tales of Summer Nights,'' will be released in July. The coffeetable book will sell for $49.95.

``As long as people are supporting it and looking out for it, there is no reason the Bowl shouldn't be successful,'' Parsons said. ``It has all these things going for it but it needs protection, it needs looking after.

``That's not just the Philharmonic, the county and the people who come here,'' she continued. ``We all have to be aware that it's a special place. We need to treat it as a special place. As long as we treat it that way, it will reward us.''

Did she love 'em? Yeah, yeah, yeah...

The year was 1965. It was summer. Or was it spring? It doesn't really matter, not to me or, for that matter, to any of the sellout crowd that evening, because the band of bands was going to perform.

The band was the Beatles.

I was 13 - just a teen-age girl - but we who were there will remember how all of us were so in love with at least one, but not all of the Fab 4.

Mine was Ringo. A Bowl staff employee caught me backstage. He let it be known that I'd die for Ringo, or at least faint at the chance of meeting him. After the show, while John, Paul George and Ringo were being rushed to their waiting Limos, Ringo stopped long enough to say hi and kiss my cheek! Thank you, Hollywood Bowl and staff. You gave me a memory of a lifetime.

SOURCE: -J. Roberts, North Hollywood

Did you snuggle up on a moonlit night?

The Hollywood Bowl. Over the last few decades, have you had a chance to go?

If so, a celebration could be in order. Help us tell the history of Los Angeles' most famous amphitheater and we'll get you back to the place where great music is made.

Send us your best memories of the Hollywood Bowl - the older, the better - and you'll be eligible for a drawing for two free bench seat tickets to any classical concert on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday night this summer season, courtesy of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

We'll draw names to determine which 100 people will receive a coupon good for two seats at the box office (subject to availability).

Send all letters to Kevin Ainsfeld, c/o Daily News, P.O. Box 4200, Woodland Hills, Calif. 91365-4200.

THE FACTS Where: Hollywood Bowl, 2301 N. Highland Ave., Hollywood.

When: Season opens Friday and ends Sept. 28.

Tickets: Call [phone]. To check on availability of box seats, call [phone].

Parking: Low-cost shuttle service at many parking locations, embarking from Sherman Oaks to Seal Beach. For information, call [phone].

CAPTION(S):

Drawing, 7 Photos, 2 Boxes

Drawing: (Cover--Color) The HollywoodBowl

Los Angeles celebrates 75 years of music in the great outdoors

Photo: (1) ``I love it. I cannot really imagine a summer without the Hollywood Bowl.''

Joy McCarthy

in her box seat with husband, George

(2) A party atmosphere prevails in the box seats - cubicles with their own little fold-up picnic tables - at the Hollywood Bowl.

(3--4) Above, a tony crowd gathers for the first Hollywood Bowl concert in 1922. Below, the '70s saw an acoustic experiment: sonotubes, which were layered through the shell. They were replaced by the current fiberglass balls.

(5--6) Screaming fans, left, greeted the Beatles, including guitarist George Harrison, above, when they played the Bowl in the '60s.

(7) ``It's a feeling of awe, a feeling of honor to be on that stage. I never lose track of that feeling.''

Mel Torme

Box: (1) Did you snuggle up on a moonlit night? (See Text)

(2) Did she love 'em? Yeah, yeah, yeah... (See Text)