History
Earl Gilmore, whose family's oil company owned the land at Beverly and Fairfax, opened the stadium in 1934. A dirt oval for midget race cars surrounded the football field, and the racing doubled as advertising for Gilmore Oil. The stadium is often described as the first built specifically for midget racing.
It was also a busy football venue. Loyola played home games there, the Los Angeles Bulldogs were the main professional tenant in the 1940s, and two NFL Pro Bowls were played there in 1940. In 1939 the Hollywood Stars briefly used it while Gilmore Field was being finished next door.
Attendance fell in the late 1940s, and the stadium closed around 1950 and was sold. It was demolished in about 1951, and CBS Television City now covers the site.
Why it matters: It was a landmark of early midget car racing and an important stage for pro football in Los Angeles before the NFL arrived permanently.
Timeline
- 1934
Earl Gilmore opened the stadium, with a dirt oval for midget car racing around the field.
- May 1934Screen Actors Guild benefit[1]
Eddie Cantor led benefit shows on May 18-20, 1934.
- January 14, 1940
The Green Bay Packers beat a team of NFL All-Stars 16-7.
- December 29, 1940
The Chicago Bears beat the All-Stars 28-14 before a record Los Angeles pro crowd of 21,000.
- 1948
The stadium hosted rallies, including Henry Wallace's Progressive campaign.
- 1950
Midget racing ended and the stadium closed after a late-1940s decline.
- 1951
The stadium was razed to make way for CBS Television City.
The site today
| Physical status | Site redeveloped[1,2,3] |
|---|---|
| Current use | CBS Television City[1,2] |
| Surviving remnants | Part of the grandstand was reportedly reinstalled at Saugus Speedway (Wikipedia)[1] |
| Mapped location | Former venue site |
Street View near the former site · Satellite view (external, current imagery)
Teams & events
| Loyola Lions | College football |
|---|---|
| Los Angeles Bulldogs | Pacific Coast Professional Football League · 1940–1947 |
| Hollywood Stars | Pacific Coast League · 1939 · tenant |
Listed here are organizations that used this physical venue. A franchise's history and a venue's history are tracked separately.
Venue facts
| Other names | Gilmore Midget Racing Car Track |
|---|---|
| Location | Southwest corner of Beverly Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue, Fairfax District, Los Angeles, California[2,3] |
| Venue type | Stadium |
| Sports | Motorsports, Baseball, Football, Boxing & wrestling |
| Level | NFL Pro Bowl, Pacific Coast Professional Football League, NCAA |
| Opened | 1934[1,2,3] |
| Last used for sports | 1950[1,2] |
| Demolished | 1951–1952[1,2,3] |
| Physical status | Site redeveloped |
| Original capacity | 18,000[1,2,3] |
| Capacity notes | About 18,000 (Wikipedia, Clio, PCAD). A record Los Angeles pro football crowd of 21,000 attended the December 1940 Pro Bowl. |
| Surface | Dirt track around a football field |
| Owner / operator | Earl Gilmore / Gilmore Oil Company (sold 1950) |
| Closure | Declining attendance in the late 1940s; the property was sold and redeveloped as CBS Television City. |
Documented details
Connected venues
Sources
- Gilmore Stadium, Wikipedia. Accessed 2026-10-19Supports: capacity, closed, coordinates, current land use, demolished, opened, remnants, teams
- Gilmore Stadium, Clio. Accessed 2026-10-19Supports: address, capacity, closed, current land use, demolished, opened
- Gilmore Midget Racing Car Track (Gilmore Stadium), Pacific Coast Architecture Database, University of Washington. Accessed 2026-10-19Supports: address, capacity, demolished, opened
Research confidence
Key facts on this page (opening, closing, status and location) are each supported by sources, with key dates corroborated by at least two independent sources. Last reviewed 2026-10-19.
Where sources disagree (3)
- Demolition: 1951 (Wikipedia text, Clio, PCAD c. 1951) vs 1952 (Wikipedia infobox). Recorded as a 1951/1952 range.
- Bulldogs tenancy: 1940-1947 (Wikipedia tenant list) vs until 1948 (Wikipedia text).
- Clio describes NFL All-Star Games in '1939 and 1940'; Wikipedia and PCAD date both games to 1940 (Jan 14 and Dec 29).
See something wrong or missing? Suggest a correction or submit a source.