Hollywood Bowl installs artificial turf at marquee

HOLLYWOOD, LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- With the ongoing California drought, you don't see many green lawns anymore, but you will see more artificial turf. It's being installed at the marquee at the iconic Hollywood Bowl.

"This is the front door of the Hollywood Bowl. We want everybody to get excited when they come up here, they see how well the area is maintained," said Hollywood Bowl Director of Operations Ed Tom.

The synthetic turf business is booming. The company installing turf at the Hollywood Bowl is called DuraTurf, and they foresee explosive growth in the next five years.

"In the last year we've more than doubled our sales. Next year we see the same type of growth," said Tim Dennis, DuraTurf. "It's amazing. We couldn't be happier. We're on track to probably see at least 600-percent growth in five years."

But it's all down to how good it looks when it's installed. Dennis says the new grass looks so real it's hard to tell the difference until you reach down to touch it. And of course it will save a lot of water.

"The average households see 50- to 60-percent savings in water usage," said Dennis.

The Hollywood Bowl already saved millions of gallons of water each year after installing waterless urinals. With this new "grass," it is proud to be doing even more.

"To be able to minimize and reduce water because of the landscaped area here while maintaining its beauty is something that we're all striving for," Tom said.

This could be one of the last lawns you'll ever need. Once installed it should last about 20 to 25 years.