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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 stadium was located west of Curson Avenue, surrounded by Beverly Boulevard, Fairfax Avenue and Third Street. The stadium was used in a Three 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.
It was the home of the Los Angeles Bulldogs, the first professional football team in Los Angeles. "Our History". Farmers Market L.A. Retrieved December 19, 2024. 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 in 1939. The Bulldogs then became charter members of the Pacific Coast Professional Football League in 1940 and played in Gilmore Stadium until 1948, when the team moved to Long Beach, California, for its (and the league's) final season.
The Stadium was also home to the Los Angeles Mustangs 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 (NFL) .
The stadium served as the Stars' home for a seven-game series against the Portland Beavers. The Stars won the opener on April 4, by a score of 9–5. The finale came on April 9, with the Beavers winning a doubleheader over the Stars, 8–5 and 12–8. The Stars won four games in the series; the Beavers won three.
Rodger Ward drove Vic Edelbrock's midget car in a famous August 10, 1950, event at Gilmore Stadium. Ward shocked the racing world by breaking Offenhauser engine's winning streak by sweeping the events at Gilmore Stadium that night.
Notable drivers that raced at the track include Bill Betteridge, Fred Friday, Walt Faulkner, Perry Grimm, Sam Hanks, Curly Mills, Danny Oakes, Roy Russing, Bob Swanson, Bill Vukovich, Rodger Ward, 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.
Gilmore Stadium was featured in a 1934 Three Stooges short featuring a football game, and fittingly titled Three Little Pigskins. 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. Wallace served as vice president under FDR and was also the Secretary of Agriculture (his specialty) and Secretary of Commerce. Also speaking at the event was actress Katharine Hepburn, whose speech stole the show.
It was there on September 23, 1948, that Ronald Reagan introduced President Harry S. Truman at a campaign rally, the first time that Reagan personally met a U.S President.
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