The venue that was originally the Ford Theatre came to be because of a woman named Christine Wetherell Stevenson, who, according to the Los Angeles Times, was the heiress to the Pittsburgh Paint fortune. She was also a theater-lover and an aspiring playwright who penned ‘The Pilgrimage Play,' about the biblical story of Jesus. "In 1920, Stevenson choose 29 acres across the Cahuenga Pass from the Hollywood Bowl and helped carry stones from the nearby hills to build the open-air Pilgrimage Theater."

Stevenson died two years later in 1923. According to the Times, "her admirers memorialized her by planting the cross on the hill above the theater." The cross would go on to withstand a fire, vandals, and a windstorm. It still glows today.

In October 1929, a brush fire destroyed the original wooden theatre. It took crews four years to build a new amphitheater on the same site.

Made of cast concrete, the new venue resembled the ancient architecture of the gates of Jerusalem, the setting for Stevenson's play.

The Pilgrimage Play was performed every summer from 1920 to 1941. During WWII, the theater was deeded to the Los Angeles County and converted into dormitories for servicemen. After the war, the play ran until 1964. Because public funds were being used to put on the play, the courts ordered it closed due to its religious content.

The theatre was renamed the John Anson Ford Theatre after John Anson Ford, who, according to the theatre's website, was instrumental in the construction of the Music Center and the county's acquisition of Descanso Gardens. Laura Zucker, executive director of the Los Angeles County Arts Commission, told KPCC the venue would go on to host Shakespeare plays and jazz concerts. "It was also leased to a rock and roll promoter who kind of trashed the place," she said.