Ramona Bowl
The Ramona Outdoor Play, or Ramona Pageant, has been performed annually at the Ramona Bowl, a natural amphitheater in the foothills above Hemet, since 1923. The play, the love story of Ramona and Alessandro (a “Romeo and Juliet set in the Wild Wild West”), is based on a 1884 book by Helen Hunt Jackson. Garnet Holme wrote the original script, was the original director and chose the site where the play is still presented. The first seats were installed in 1926. The first permanent building was a block of restrooms built in 1936. The facade of the ranch house set was built that same year. The Administration Building, now the Museum and gift shop, followed in 1941. In 1988, major renovations filled in the lower area, allowing the audience to move closer to the hillside where the stage is set. The Ramona Bowl is a California Historical Landmark.
Hemet, Riverside County
Photographer: Jeanne Roberts