When CBS broke ground for an 80,000-square-foot...
When CBS broke ground for an 80,000-square-foot addition to its Television City complex in 1991, excavators unearthed the broken sections of an old baseball dugout at the Fairfax district site.
The dugout once sat in Gilmore Field, the field of dreams for the triple-A Hollywood Stars, and was part of a sports complex that included Gilmore Stadium and the Pan Pacific Auditorium.
The stadiums and auditorium were built on what was once 287 unincorporated acres known as Gilmore Island, and the fortune that led to their construction had origins similar to a television sitcom plot.
Arthur Fremont Gilmore brought his family to Los Angeles from Illinois in 1874, started a dairy business and eventually made enough money to buy part of Rancho La Brea, roughly bounded by Beverly Boulevard, 3rd Street, Fairfax and La Brea avenues.
While drilling a water well in 1903, Gilmore struck oil, launching the Gilmore oil empire. Before gas stations became common, Gilmore’s son, Earl, used to take gasoline from the family refinery, load it in five-gallon cans and drive a buckboard down Wilshire Boulevard to sell it to an occasional motorist.
When Earl’s father died in 1918, he owned 24 oil wells producing about 8,000 barrels a day. Earl founded the Gilmore Petroleum Co., later the Gilmore Oil Co., and went on to established Red Lion gasoline stations up and down the West Coast. His company’s logo became a familiar part of the Los Angeles landscape in the 1930s and 1940s.
In 1934, Earl Gilmore built the Farmers Market at 3rd and Fairfax to help 18 Depression-era farmers sell their produce. Over the years, it has expanded to accommodate gift shops, more produce stalls and restaurants.
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That same year, Gilmore put up $134,000 to build Gilmore Stadium at the southeast corner of Fairfax and Beverly. An aviation and sports enthusiast, Gilmore had planned to build the stadium for midget car racing, with grandstands on two sides. But Tom Lieb, head football coach at Loyola University, talked Gilmore into building stands on three sides and promised to have his team play there.
The old stadium also hosted other teams, including the Los Angeles Bulldogs and Hollywood Bears professional football teams, Los Angeles City College, Pepperdine University and some high schools. In 1936, the 18,500-seat stadium was overflowing with 19,300 fans who came to see the Detroit Lions play the Green Bay Packers.
Gilmore sold the stadium to CBS in 1950, and that year’s Thanksgiving Night Grand Prix was the last race run on its track. Two years later, CBS built Television City on the site.
Gilmore Field was built in 1939, when the oil magnate paid $200,000 to put up the Stars’ home park. An overflow crowd of 12,500 turned out on opening day to watch the Stars battle the Seattle Rainiers.
Bing Crosby, Jack Benny and Al Jolson were there. Rudy Vallee brought his 16-millimeter home-movie camera. And Dia Gable, recently divorced from Clark, sat behind home plate. George Burns and Gracie Allen had box seats along the third base line.
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In 1947, after turning down city offers for many years, Gilmore agreed to annexation, making Gilmore Island part of Los Angeles. And the sports palaces he built continued to flourish.
At the ballpark, bets were made just outside the gate, stands were about 15 feet from the base lines and no alcohol was sold. In 1958, the park was torn down with little fanfare.
More than 10 million sports fans saw events from baseball to broncobusting at Gilmore’s two sports arenas. Thousands more saw attractions ranging from the Harlem Globetrotters to Elvis Presley at the Pan Pacific, which burned in 1989 and was recently razed.
All that remains of the Gilmores’ 287-acre island now is 31 acres at 3rd and Fairfax, where a 19th-Century adobe building sits. It is the birthplace of Earl Gilmore, and is the headquarters of the A.F. Gilmore Co., which manages the Farmers Market.
