Gilmore Stadium Los Angeles Boxing Ring Vintage Photograph Sports Arena RARE For Sale

I'm Jim Camp, the guy behind the synaesthesia press. I'm a letterpress printer, a publisher of limited-edition books and broadsides, and a lifelong book collector. I've been at this for close to 40 years, and most of what I'm offering here has lived on my shelves for decades. Now it's time for these books to move on to new homes. When one finds its way to your shelf, it'll arrive quickly, securely packed, and with no extra fees for shipping or handling. Oh, and don't be afraid to make an offer!Offering: Boxing Ring Being Erected at Gilmore Field, Los Angeles. Ca. 1940s–1950s. Original vintage black-and-white photograph, approximately 10 × 8 inches (25.4 × 20.3 cm), with Los Angeles Public Library Audio Visual Service collection stamps on verso.Very Good. Original vintage black-and-white glossy photograph, approximately 10 × 8 inches (25.4 × 20.3 cm). Light handling wear, scattered surface marks and creasing, with minor edge and corner wear. Period pencil notation “Sports – Boxing” at upper margin. Multiple Los Angeles Public Library Audio Visual Service collection stamps on verso. Strong image with good contrast and detail.A terrific behind-the-scenes photograph of Los Angeles boxing history: workers erecting an outdoor boxing ring directly on the playing surface at Gilmore Field, the Hollywood Stars' Pacific Coast League ballpark near Beverly Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue. The empty grandstands, scoreboard, temporary ring platform, ladders and enormous banks of overhead lights transform what would ordinarily be the spectacle into something much better—the mechanics of building the spectacle. Gilmore Field opened in 1939 and remained home to the Hollywood Stars through 1957, occupying the celebrated Gilmore/Farmers Market entertainment district alongside Gilmore Stadium and the Pan-Pacific Auditorium.Boxing was part of that landscape as well. Gilmore hosted major outdoor fights during an era when Los Angeles was one of America's great boxing cities; Henry Armstrong fought Ceferino Garcia there for the world middleweight championship in 1940, and later cards included fighters such as Art Aragon. Rather than showing the fighters, this photograph catches the ephemeral architecture that made those nights possible—the ring, lights and equipment going up in an otherwise empty ballpark. Today Gilmore Field itself is gone, demolished as the surrounding property gave way to the expansion of CBS Television City.

A great Los Angeles sports photograph precisely because the fight hasn't started yet—the forgotten work of turning a baseball field into a boxing arena.

My best pieces never sit around for long, so click the heart on my store page to save me as a seller. I'm also the publisher behind thesynaesthesia press, known for its limited-edition books and broadsides, so when you buy here you're buying from a collector and letterpress printer who's been at this longer than I'd like to admit.
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