The Hollywood Bowl has rediscovered its muse. The massive art deco"Muse of Music"sculpture and fountain outside the Bowl emerged glistening this week after an extensive restoration.

Decades of wear and neglect had left the 200-foot-long, 22-foot-high sculpture in disrepair and overgrown with vegetation.

Commissioned in 1937 as a Depression-era federal Works Progress Administration art project, it was designed by sculptor George Stanley and completed in 1940 at a cost of more than $100,000.

Its major feature is a kneeling figure playing a small harp. Two other figures depict dance and drama.

The restoration, said Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, is"symbolic of the renaissance of arts and culture in Los Angeles. It takes us back to another time but points us to the future."

The Hollywood Bowl amphitheater is a venue for concerts and other performances.

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