Gilmore Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. It was opened in May 1934 and demolished in 1952, when the land was used to build

CBS Television City Television City, alternatively CBS Television City, is an American television studio complex located in the Fairfax District of Los Angeles at 7800 Beverly Boulevard, at the corner of Fairfax Avenue. Designed by architect William Pereira and Ch ...

. The stadium held 18,000. It was located next to Gilmore Field. The stadium was located west of Curson Avenue, surrounded by Beverly Boulevard, Fairfax Avenue and Third Street. The Stadium was used in a 3 Stooges 1934 short Three Little Pigskins. The stadium was built by Earl Gilmore, son of Arthur F. Gilmore and president of A. F. Gilmore Oil, a California-based petroleum company which was developed after Arthur struck oil on the family property. The area was rich in petroleum, which was the source of the "tar" in the nearby

La Brea Tar Pits La Brea Tar Pits is an active paleontological research site in urban Los Angeles. Hancock Park was formed around a group of tar pits where natural asphalt (also called asphaltum, bitumen, or pitch; ''brea'' in Spanish) has seeped up from the gr ...

Uses

Opening

The first event staged at the Stadium was a series of shows featuring prominent Hollywood actors of the day, led by

Screen Actors Guild The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) was an American labor union which represented over 100,000 film and television principal and background performers worldwide. On March 30, 2012, the union leadership announced that the SAG membership voted to me ...

president

Eddie Cantor Eddie Cantor (born Isidore Itzkowitz; January 31, 1892 – October 10, 1964) was an American comedian, actor, dancer, singer, songwriter, film producer, screenwriter and author. Familiar to Broadway, radio, movie, and early television audiences ...

, on the weekend of May 18-19-20, 1934. This "Film Stars Frolic" sought to raise money for less fortunate Hollywood actors such as extras. os Angeles ''Daily News'', May 19, 1934, p.12

Football venue

The Stadium was used for

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

games at both the professional and collegiate level. It was the home of the Los Angeles Bulldogs, the first professional football team in Los Angeles.The history of Farmer's Market
Retrieved June 22, 2007 The Bulldogs competed as an independent team before joining the second American Football League in 1937 and winning its championship with a perfect 8–0–0 record, the first professional football team to win its championship with an unblemished record.Bob Carroll, Michael Gershman, David Neft, and John Thorn, ''Total Football II: The Official Encyclopedia of the National Football League'' (HarperCollins 1999) After the collapse of the league, the Bulldogs returned to being an independent team before joining the

American Professional Football Association The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the majo ...

in 1939. The Bulldogs then became charter members of the

Pacific Coast Professional Football League The Pacific Coast Professional Football League (PCPFL), also known as the Pacific Coast Football League (PCFL) and Pacific Coast League (PCL) was a professional American football minor league based in California. It operated from 1940 through 194 ...

in 1940 and played in Gilmore Stadium until 1948, when the team moved to

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...

, for its (and the league's) final season. The Stadium was also home to the

Los Angeles Mustangs LOS, or Los, or LoS may refer to: Science and technology * Length of stay, the duration of a single episode of hospitalisation * Level of service, a measure used by traffic engineers * Level of significance, a measure of statistical significan ...

of the Pacific Coast Professional Football League. Several teams in the Pacific Coast Professional Football League labeled as "Hollywood" also used the Stadium as their home during the early 1940s: The Stars, the Bears and the Wolves. The Stadium was home to the collegiate Loyola Marymount Lions football team and Pepperdine Waves football team. Gilmore Stadium was the site of two 1940

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the majo ...

(NFL)

Pro Bowl The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (starting in 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's star players. The format has changed thro ...

1940 NFL All-Star Game (1939 season)

On January 14, 1940, the 1939 NFL champion

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. It is the t ...

met an All-Star team consisting of players from the nine other NFL clubs in the second NFL All-Star game in history. The Packers won 16–7.

1940 NFL All-Star Game (1940 season)

Extra seating was added to accommodate 21,000 fans for the Pro Bowl for the 1940 NFL season. The crowd set a record as the largest to view a Los Angeles pro game. The event was held on December 29, 1940. The game pitted the 1940 NFL Champion

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine ...

against an All-Star team from the other NFL clubs in the third NFL All-Star game. The Bears won 28–14.

Baseball venue

The

Hollywood Stars The Hollywood Stars were a Minor League Baseball team that played in the Pacific Coast League during the early- and mid-20th century. They were the arch-rivals of the other Los Angeles-based PCL team, the Los Angeles Angels. Hollywood Stars (192 ...

of the

Pacific Coast League The Pacific Coast League (PCL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Western United States. Along with the International League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A level, which is one grade below Major League Ba ...

played here early in the 1939 season, while awaiting completion of Gilmore Field's construction. The diamond was situated in the southwest "corner" of the stadium, with right field so close that baseballs hit over the fence in that area were ground-rule doubles.

Midget car venue

While the first modern-day

midget car racing Midget cars, also speedcars in Australia, is a class of racing cars. The cars are very small with a very high power-to-weight ratio and typically use four cylinder engines. They originated in the United States in the 1930s and are raced on mos ...

program took place at Hughes Stadium in Sacramento, California in June 1933, and Loyola Stadium became the starting point in Southern California in August 1933, Gilmore Stadium is often billed as the first track purposely built for the new style of racing. The track hosted midget car racing from the track's debut in May 1934 until 1950.THE GILMORE OIL COMPANY
, Reprinted from ''Old Car Illustrated'', Retrieved June 22, 2007 The 1939

Turkey Night Grand Prix The Automotive Racing Products Turkey Night Grand Prix is an annual race of midget cars. It is the third oldest race in the United States behind the Indianapolis 500 and the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. It has been held on Thanksgiving nig ...

was held at the track.

Rodger Ward Rodger M. Ward (January 10, 1921 – July 5, 2004) was a World War II P-38 aviator in the United States Army Air Forces, and an American race driver with 26 victories in top echelon open-wheel racing in North America, two Indianapolis 500 v ...

drove

Vic Edelbrock Otis Victor Edelbrock, Sr. (August 16, 1913 – November 11, 1962) was an American automotive aftermarket performance parts engineer, racer and is considered one of the founders of the American hot rod movement Victor, known as "Vic", establis ...

midget car Midget cars, also speedcars in Australia, is a class of racing cars. The cars are very small with a very high power-to-weight ratio and typically use four cylinder engines. They originated in the United States in the 1930s and are raced on mo ...

in a famous August 10, 1950 event at Gilmore Stadium. Ward shocked the racing world by breaking

Offenhauser The Offenhauser Racing Engine, or Offy, is a racing engine design that dominated American open wheel racing for more than 50 years and is still popular among vintage sprint and midget car racers. History The Offenhauser engine, familiarly ...

engine's winning streak by sweeping the events at Gilmore Stadium that night. Notable drivers that raced at the track include

Bill Betteridge Bill(s) may refer to: Common meanings * Banknote, paper cash (especially in the United States) * Bill (law), a proposed law put before a legislature * Invoice, commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer * Bill, a bird or animal's beak Pla ...

, Fred Friday,

Walt Faulkner Walt Faulkner (February 16, 1918 – April 22, 1956) was an American racing driver from Tell, Texas. He moved to Milledgeville, Georgia at the age of two-and-a-half, and to Lake Wales, Florida at the age of eight. He then moved to San Diego, Cal ...

Perry Grimm Perry Grimm (February 19, 1914 – September 11, 1971) was an American racecar driver who raced midget cars in California and Australia. Midget car Grimm drove midget cars for the Edelbrock dirt track racing team. He raced on the West Coa ...

, Sam Hanks, Curly Mills, Danny Oakes,

Roy Russing Roy is a masculine given name and a family surname with varied origin. In Anglo-Norman England, the name derived from the Norman ''roy'', meaning "king", while its Old French cognate, ''rey'' or ''roy'' (modern ''roi''), likewise gave rise t ...

, Bob Swanson,

Bill Vukovich William John Vukovich Sr. (; December 13, 1918 – May 30, 1955) was an American automobile racing driver of Serbian descent. He won the 1953 and 1954 Indianapolis 500, plus two more American Automobile Association National Championship races, a ...

, and Karl Young. Drivers that were killed at the track include Ed Haddad, Swede Lindskog, Speedy Lockwood, Frankie Lyons, and Chet Mortemore. In the sixteen years of the stadium's existence, over 5 million fans attended races at the track. The stadium drew crowds over 18,000 people each race. Attendance dropped to below 9,000 at normal weekly races by the late 1940s. The attendance drop and increased demand for property in West Hollywood led to the track's sale in 1950. It was torn down in 1951. Some of its grandstand was installed at Saugus Speedway.

Other uses

It also hosted donkey baseball, dog shows,

rodeo Rodeo () is a competitive equestrian sport that arose out of the working practices of cattle herding in Spain and Mexico, expanding throughout the Americas and to other nations. It was originally based on the skills required of the working vaq ...

s, and at least one

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by st ...

match.

Esther Williams Esther Jane Williams (August 8, 1921 – June 6, 2013) was an American competitive swimmer and actress. She set regional and national records in her late teens on the Los Angeles Athletic Club swim team. Unable to compete in the 1940 Summer Ol ...

performed in a diving and water ballet performance. A temporary above ground pool was constructed for the event. Several professional boxing title matches were held in the stadium. U.S. President Harry S. Truman delivered his "stiff upper lip" speech in the stadium. Gilmore Stadium was featured in a 1934

Three Stooges The Three Stooges were an American vaudeville and comedy team active from 1922 until 1970, best remembered for their 190 short subject films by Columbia Pictures. Their hallmark styles were physical farce and slapstick. Six Stooges appeare ...

short featuring a football game, and fittingly titled ''

Three Little Pigskins ''Three Little Pigskins'' is a 1934 short subject directed by Raymond McCarey and starring American slapstick comedy team The Three Stooges (Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Jerry Howard). It is the fourth entry in the series released by Columbia Pict ...

''. The scoreboard, with the name of the stadium, appears prominently in several shots, as does a billboard advertising Gilmore products. A sign for the nearby Fairfax Theater, across Beverly Boulevard at the north (open) end of the stadium, is also visible in the background a couple of times. On May 19, 1947, Gilmore Stadium was packed with people waiting to hear a speech by Progressive Party candidate for President

Henry A. Wallace Henry Agard Wallace (October 7, 1888 – November 18, 1965) was an American politician, journalist, farmer, and businessman who served as the 33rd vice president of the United States, the 11th U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, and the 10th U.S. ...

. Wallace served as vice president under FDR and was also the

Secretary of Agriculture The United States secretary of agriculture is the head of the United States Department of Agriculture. The position carries similar responsibilities to those of agriculture ministers in other governments. The department includes several organi ...

(his specialty) and

Secretary of Commerce The United States secretary of commerce (SecCom) is the head of the United States Department of Commerce. The secretary serves as the principal advisor to the president of the United States on all matters relating to commerce. The secretary rep ...

. Also speaking at the event was actress

Katharine Hepburn Katharine Houghton Hepburn (May 12, 1907 – June 29, 2003) was an American actress in film, stage, and television. Her career as a Hollywood leading lady spanned over 60 years. She was known for her headstrong independence, spirited perso ...

, whose speech stole the show. It was there on September 23, 1948, that

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

introduced President Harry S. Truman at a campaign rally, the first time that Reagan personally met a U.S President. Truman reelecton rally losangeles

References

External links

Colorized postcard of Gilmore Stadium, Gilmore Field, Pan Pacific Auditorium and Farmers Market

{{Authority control Multi-purpose stadiums in the United States American football venues in Los Angeles American Football League (1936) venues Baseball venues in Los Angeles Cricket grounds in the United States Defunct college football venues Hollywood Stars Loyola Lions football National Football League venues in Los Angeles Pepperdine Waves football Rodeo venues in the United States Fairfax, Los Angeles Demolished buildings and structures in Los Angeles Demolished sports venues in California 1934 establishments in California 1952 disestablishments in California Sports venues completed in 1934 Sports venues demolished in 1952