- City:
- Carmel, CA
- Site Type:
- Parks and Recreation, Amphitheaters and Bandshells
- New Deal Agencies:
- Work Relief Programs, Works Progress Administration (WPA)
- Started:
- 1939
- Completed:
- 1940
- Quality of Information:
- Very Good
- Marked:
- Yes
- Site Survival:
- Extant
Description
Carmel’s Forest Theater was established in 1910, when Carmel-by-the-Sea was founded as an artists’ colony (and real estate speculation). Since then, it has been a fixture of the Carmel scene and the life of the city.
The was deeded to the town of Carmel in 1937, which soon applied to the Works Progress Administration (WPA) for help in renovating and improving it. The WPA renovation took place in 1939-40 and included a reinforced concrete floor, new seating, a new stage and dressing rooms underneath, and a new surrounding stone wall and entry stairs. There is a WPA plaque on the back of the theater near the dressing rooms.
A 1940 WPA publication reported: “Probably the most noteworthy feature of the institution is the unmarred beauty of the glade in which the performances are given. In the reconstruction work by the Works Projects Administration of Northern California this beauty has been jealously guarded and every shrub and tree preserved.”
The Forest Theater is still very active and appears to have been renovated again recently, with more seating, better lighting and wheelchair access.
Source notes
William R. Lawson. "Achievements, Federal Works Agency. Work Projects Administration, Northern California." (San Francisco, 1940), p. 89.
https://www.foresttheaterguild.org/our-history/
Site originally submitted by Gray Brechin on April 24, 2010.
Additional contributions by Richard Walker, Joan Greer.
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