Gilmore Field was a

minor league baseball Minor League Baseball (MiLB) is a professional baseball organization below Major League Baseball (MLB), constituted of teams affiliated with MLB clubs. It was founded on September 5, 1901, in response to the growing dominance of the National Le ...

park in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, that served as home to 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 ( ...

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 (baseball), Triple-A level, which is one grade bel ...

from 1939–1957 when they, along with their intra-city rivals, the

Los Angeles Angels The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Greater Los Angeles, Greater Los Angeles area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, ...

, were displaced by the transplanted

Brooklyn Dodgers The Brooklyn Dodgers were a Major League Baseball team founded in 1883 as the Brooklyn Grays. In 1884, it became a member of the American Association as the Brooklyn Atlantics before joining the National League in 1890. They remained in Brook ...

of the

National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...

History

Gilmore Field opened on May 2, 1939 and was the home of the Hollywood Stars of the Pacific Coast League until September 5, 1957. The stadium had a

seating capacity Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that ...

of 12,987 people.

Location

The ballpark was located on the south side of

Beverly Boulevard Beverly Boulevard is one of the main east–west thoroughfares in Los Angeles, in the U.S. state of California. It begins off Santa Monica Boulevard in Beverly Hills, California, Beverly Hills and ends on the Lucas Avenue overpass near downtow ...

between Genesee Avenue and The Grove Drive, just east of where

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

Television City is currently located. A couple hundred meters to the west was

Gilmore Stadium Gilmore Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium in Los Angeles, California. It was opened in May 1934 and demolished in 1952, when the land was used to build CBS Television City. The stadium held 18,000. It was located next to Gilmore Field. The st ...

, an oval-shaped venue built several years earlier, which was used for football games and midget auto racing. To the east was the famous

Pan-Pacific Auditorium The Pan-Pacific Auditorium was a landmark structure in the Fairfax District, Los Angeles, California, Fairfax District of Los Angeles, California. It once stood near the site of Gilmore Field, an early Los Angeles baseball venue predating Dodger ...

. Both facilities were 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 comprise an active Paleontological site, paleontological research site in urban Los Angeles. Hancock Park was formed around a group of tar pits where natural Bitumen, asphalt (also called asphaltum, bitumen, or pitch; ''brea'' ...

. Later, the Gilmore Drive-In Theater was built, just south of the ballpark and east of the

Farmers Market A farmers' market (or farmers market according to the AP stylebook, also farmer's market in the Cambridge Dictionary) is a physical retail marketplace intended to sell foods directly by farmers to consumers. Farmers' markets may be indoors or ...

Field

The field had intimate quarters from the spectator standpoint – first and third bases were from the first row of seats. Home plate was from the stands. The outfield gave the pitchers more of a break with foul lines long, power alleys about , and to center field. The power alleys were thus deeper than in the cross-town counterpart,

Wrigley Field Wrigley Field is a ballpark on the North Side, Chicago, North Side of Chicago, Illinois. It is the home ballpark of Major League Baseball's Chicago Cubs, one of the city's two MLB franchises. It first opened in 1914 as Weeghman Park for Charl ...

. The diamond was situated in the northwest corner of the field. At the time of filming of the final scenes for '' The Stratton Story'', the distance markers, visible in some shots, were: foul lines , power alleys , and the pair of center field corners either side of the batters background .

Baseball

Hollywood Stars

In 1938 Herbert Fleishaker, owner of the Mission Reds moved his team to Los Angeles, and took the name of the

after the city's previous PCL franchise. After but one season, the team was sold to new owners, among them Bob Cobb of

Brown Derby Brown Derby was a chain of restaurants in Los Angeles, California. The first and best known was shaped like a derby hat, an iconic image that became synonymous with the Golden Age of Hollywood. It was opened by Wilson Mizner in 1926. The chai ...

Restaurant fame and the inventor of the California Cobb Salad. In their salad days, as it were, the Stars attracted glamorous actors and other celebrities or anyone else who wanted to be "seen", much as

Dodger Stadium Dodger Stadium is a ballpark in the Elysian Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States. It is the home of the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball (MLB). Opened in 1962, it was constructed in less than three years at a ...

would later. One of the L.A. Angels players,

Chuck Connors Kevin Joseph "Chuck" Connors (April 10, 1921 – November 10, 1992) was an American actor and professional basketball and baseball player. He is one of only 13 athletes in the history of American professional sports to have played in both Majo ...

, made a successful move from one side of the box seat railing to the other, becoming the star in ''

The Rifleman ''The Rifleman'' is an American Western television series starring Chuck Connors as rancher Lucas McCain and Johnny Crawford as his son Mark McCain. It was set in the 1880s in the fictional town of North Fork, New Mexico Territory. The show ...

'', a popular 1950s TV show. The Stars would play at Gilmore Field through the 1957 season.

Pittsburgh Pirates

In 1948, Gilmore Field was used as the spring training location for the

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central ...

Movies

Although L.A.'s Wrigley Field seemed to get the majority of Hollywood screen time, Gilmore Field also had its moments on celluloid. It was featured in a 1949 movie called '' The Stratton Story'', starring

James Stewart James Maitland Stewart (May 20, 1908 – July 2, 1997) was an American actor and military aviator. Known for his distinctive drawl and everyman screen persona, Stewart's film career spanned 80 films from 1935 to 1991. With the strong morali ...

and

June Allyson June Allyson (born Eleanor Geisman; October 7, 1917 – July 8, 2006) was an American stage, film, and television actress. Allyson began her career in 1937 as a dancer in short subject films and on Broadway in 1938. She signed with MGM in 1943 ...

, the true story of a promising pitcher ( Monty Stratton) whose career was curtailed due to a hunting accident that left him with an artificial leg. Stratton's

major league baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

career was over, but he made a comeback at the minor league level. The scenes at the end of the movie were set elsewhere but were filmed at Gilmore Field. The layout of the outfield, including the exceptionally high left and right field corners, help to identify it. Also, some billboards on the outfield wall advertised Los Angeles-based businesses, such as Gilfillan Radio. In ''

The Atomic City ''The Atomic City'' is a 1952 American film noir thriller film directed by Jerry Hopper and starring Gene Barry and Lydia Clarke. The story takes place at Los Alamos, New Mexico, where a nuclear physicist (Barry) lives and works. Terrorists ki ...

'' (1952), Gilmore Field plays the site of a "Communist spy drop" during a game, with the still-new televising of the game providing the FBI agents with close-ups. Gilmore Field was also seen in the movie ''

711 Ocean Drive ''711 Ocean Drive'' is a 1950 American crime film noir directed by Joseph M. Newman and starring Edmond O'Brien, Joanne Dru and Otto Kruger. Plot Telephone technician Mal Granger, with knowledge of telephones and electronics, is hired by gang ...

'' (1950). Half of the

neon Neon is a chemical element; it has symbol Ne and atomic number 10. It is the second noble gas in the periodic table. Neon is a colorless, odorless, inert monatomic gas under standard conditions, with approximately two-thirds the density of ...

art deco Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...

"Hollywood Stars" sign, above the stadium entrance, is clearly visible.

Demolition

The ballpark site was abandoned after 1957. Gilmore Field was razed in 1958, beginning soon after an announcement in the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' of January 17. Much of the site is now occupied by a parking lot at

CBS Television City Television City, alternatively CBS Television City, is a television studio complex located in the Fairfax District, Los Angeles, Fairfax District of Los Angeles, California, United States. The facilities are located at 7800 Beverly Boulevard, at ...

, near the

. In September 1997, the Pacific Coast League Historical Society, CBS, and the A.F. Gilmore Company dedicated a bronze plaque in commemoration of Gilmore Field on a wall outside CBS Studio 46. "The Ferris Wheel", one of the episodes of ''

Rescue 8 ''Rescue 8'' is a syndicated American action adventure drama series about Los Angeles County Fire Department (LACFD) Rescue Squad 8. It premiered in 1958 and originally ran for two seasons with syndicated reruns continuing for almost a deca ...

'', a syndicated United States television series broadcast in September 1958, was filmed at the demolition of Gilmore Field and includes many views of the stadium as it was being razed.

References

External links

* *
Views of Farmers Market, some of which show Gilmore facilities in background
{{Pittsburgh Pirates Hollywood Stars Defunct baseball venues in the United States Defunct minor league baseball venues Pittsburgh Pirates spring training venues Baseball venues in Los Angeles 1939 establishments in California Sports venues completed in 1939 1957 disestablishments in California Sports venues demolished in 1957 Demolished sports venues in California