LA Wrigley in the Movies

[Bluesteve32]

If anyone saw The Kid from Left Field starring Dan Dailey, today on one of the movie channels ther eare many good shots of old LA Wrigley, including the tower, walls, the stadium itself.

Many older movies do use Wrigley in game scenes. Also MLB players may appear in cameos or as extras and some PCL umpires were used as umpires (good casting).

IMDB.com would also give some info on baseball related things in movies including technical advisors and crew members.

[Clash City Rocker]

Theres a site http://www.britishpathe.com, you can search for newsreel vids of LA Wrigley (and other ballparks). Pretty cool, even though the free version file compression is pretty gritty.

[Rome Colonel]

Ballpark Tour says the following flms were shot at Wrigley Field:

Pride of the Yankees (1942)
Damn Yankees (1958)
The Stratton Story (1949)
The Kid From Left Field (1953)
Alibi Ike (1935) - This and the next two were Joe E Brown films
Ellmer the Great (1933)
Fireman Save My Child (1932)
It Happens Every Spring (1949)
Rhubarb (1951)
The Winning Team (1952) - Ronald Reagan as Grover Cleveland Alexander
The Pride of St Louis (1952) - Dan Dailey as Dizzy Dean
Whilstling in Brooklyn (1943)

http://www.ballparktour.com/Former_Los_Angeles.html

I believe the rally scene in Capra's "Meet John Doe" (1941) also was shot in Wrigley.

The robbery in "Armored Car Robbery" (1950) takes place outside the ballpark.

[Melottfan]

Even though this site is about Movies shot at Wrigley, don't mind if I add the T V series from the late 50's, Home Run Derby which was filmed there.




Quote: "Dogs have fleas, managers have sportswriters". "Guffy" McGovern
(Paul Douglas) to Janis Paige(Janet Leigh), "Angels in the Outfield", 1952

[ambrizt]

I knew there were people out there who like talking about this stuff as much as I do, but it took me awhile to find them - and now I have! I just joined this site yesterday so if anyone can bring me up to speed on anything I should now, please feel fre to let me know.

Anyway, now on to the good stuff.

I'm an avid Dodgers fan, having grown up in the greater Los Angeles area all of my life, and I'm a fan of their history in Brooklyn, too. My wife and I currently live in West LA (near Culver City) and we both work for the same nonprofit which is right down the street from the former location of the Hollywood Stars' stadium Gilmore Field. For those of you not familiar with the Stars, they were an old Pacific Coast League baseball team.

Now tell me if this is weird: I've actually been on the third or fourth level of the parking structure which is across from the site of the old Gilmore Field, and I've tried to imagine what it must have looked like when the stadium was there. CBS studios now occupies the whole area where the baseball stadium and the football stadium (LA Bulldogs) used to be, but I imagine what it must have been like "back in the day."

I've done the same for the corner of 42nd Place & Avalon in LA (the LA Angels PCL team), the corner of Abbot Kinney & Venice (Venice Tigers PCL team), 8th & Hill in downtown LA (old Washington Park), and I've even done it when I went to Brooklyn (Ebbets Field's old site).

Does this seem weird to anyone? My wife thinks I need to "live in the now, man. Live in the now."

And don't even get me started on my memorbailia collection...

[Clash City Rocker]

I knew there were people out there who like talking about this stuff as much as I do, but it took me awhile to find them - and now I have! I just joined this site yesterday so if anyone can bring me up to speed on anything I should now, please feel fre to let me know.

I've done the same for the corner of 42nd Place & Avalon in LA (the LA Angels PCL team)

Does this seem weird to anyone? My wife thinks I need to "live in the now, man. Live in the now."

And don't even get me started on my memorbailia collection...

:laugh
When I got my license (I'm 23), the first places I drove to was the site of the old POP pacific ocean park pier in Venice......and 42nd and Avalon. All the houses around the park thats there now are the same, so at least I could figure out where the office tower would be.

Its the history involved that first got me into baseball anyway.

[Elvis]

I knew there were people out there who like talking about this stuff as much as I do, but it took me awhile to find them - and now I have! I just joined this site yesterday so if anyone can bring me up to speed on anything I should now, please feel fre to let me know.

Anyway, now on to the good stuff.

I'm an avid Dodgers fan, having grown up in the greater Los Angeles area all of my life, and I'm a fan of their history in Brooklyn, too. My wife and I currently live in West LA (near Culver City) and we both work for the same nonprofit which is right down the street from the former location of the Hollywood Stars' stadium Gilmore Field. For those of you not familiar with the Stars, they were an old Pacific Coast League baseball team.

Now tell me if this is weird: I've actually been on the third or fourth level of the parking structure which is across from the site of the old Gilmore Field, and I've tried to imagine what it must have looked like when the stadium was there. CBS studios now occupies the whole area where the baseball stadium and the football stadium (LA Bulldogs) used to be, but I imagine what it must have been like "back in the day."

I've done the same for the corner of 42nd Place & Avalon in LA (the LA Angels PCL team), the corner of Abbot Kinney & Venice (Venice Tigers PCL team), 8th & Hill in downtown LA (old Washington Park), and I've even done it when I went to Brooklyn (Ebbets Field's old site).

Does this seem weird to anyone? My wife thinks I need to "live in the now, man. Live in the now."

And don't even get me started on my memorbailia collection...

Great post. I don't think you're weird. I wish I could go back in time to see Gilmore Stadium, Gilmore Field, Wrigley Field and all the other old L.A. landmarks that are now gone.

Check out my Special gallery page (http://www.ballparktour.com/Photo_Gallery_Index.html) for some great old photos of those old L.A. ballparks of the past. I think you'll like it if you haven't seen it already.

By the way, did you know that Gillmore Stadium was the first stadium built especially for midget racing in the United States? And that the Stars played there for the first half of the 1939 season there while Gilmore Field was being completed?

[Bluesteve32]

:laugh
When I got my license (I'm 23), the first places I drove to was the site of the old POP pacific ocean park pier in Venice......and 42nd and Avalon. All the houses around the park thats there now are the same, so at least I could figure out where the office tower would be.

Its the history involved that first got me into baseball anyway.

In one of these threads, there are some pics of the Wrigley site taken last summer.

http://baseball-fever.com/showthread.php?t=32556&highlight=wrigley%22

[Nomtoc]

This is some good stuff.

Thanks for sharing!

Closest I've come to this is having gone to where Ebbets was and yes I had those fleeting fantasies of going back in time.

[Clash City Rocker]

In one of these threads, there are some pics of the Wrigley site taken last summer.

http://baseball-fever.com/showthread.php?t=32556&highlight=wrigley%22

Its called wrigley field too? :laugh
Heres something I made to show where it was on the street grid:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v205/bigklu/Art/WrigleyField1961.gif

Its the closest thing to LA Wrigley in color as I'll get probably. :rolleyes:

[64Cards]

Great post. I don't think you're weird. I wish I could go back in time to see Gilmore Stadium, Gilmore Field, Wrigley Field and all the other old L.A. landmarks that are now gone.

By the way, did you know that Gillmore Stadium was the first stadium built especially for midget racing in the United States? And that the Stars played there for the first half of the 1939 season there while Gilmore Field was being completed?
I recently caught a Three Stooges episode [I think it was "3 Little Pigskins"] that the boys were football players and the place they were playing the game at was Gilmore Stadium.

And of course, complete mayhem soon took over, with predictable results.:laugh :laugh :laugh

[Bluesteve32]

Its called wrigley field too? :laugh
Heres something I made to show where it was on the street grid:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v205/bigklu/Art/WrigleyField1961.gif

Its the closest thing to LA Wrigley in color as I'll get probably. :rolleyes:

They ought to put some kind of marker where home plate was like they have done at some of the other former ballparks like Fulton County Stadium, Metropolitan Stadium and other old ballparks have some kind of marker or plaque.

[ambrizt]

They ought to put some kind of marker where home plate was like they have done at some of the other former ballparks like Fulton County Stadium, Metropolitan Stadium and other old ballparks have some kind of marker or plaque.


I agree with you! I've actually told this to anyone who will sit still long enough to listen to me. I'll be attending the PCL Historical Society reunion in Carson, CA this May and I'm going to suggest it to whoever will listen to me.

By the way, GREAT idea placing a color version of where and how the field would have been situated on the lot! My wife and I just drove by 42nd Place & Avalon this past weekend and that's EXACTLY how I imagined Wrigley Field would have sat in that lot. I'm glad to know I was right! Cool!

By the way, CBS studios, which now occupies the area where Gilmoe Stadium (the football stadium) used to sit has a few studios just off to the side where Gilmore Field (the baseball stadium) used to be. The PCL Historical Society in 1997 placed a plaque on one of those studios in the area where the baseball stadium used to be. So at least there is SOME kind of acknowledgement that the stadium used to exist.

I have friends from the east coast and they have so many cool historical sites out their way. I mean, they actually acknowledge the fact that there were historical monuments (sports and otherwise) in certain spots, and they celebrate that. But Los Angeles, on the other hand, does little, if anything, to preserve its history it seems. Especially their sports history. I think that sucks, too. So I've made it my own personal quest to do everything in my power to educate myself on the history of professional sports teams (mainly baseball) that have called the LA area home. So far, I know about the Vernon/Venice/Vernon Tigers, the Los Angeles Angels, and the Hollywood Stars, all teams of the old PCL. If anyone else knows anything they can add to this discussion I'd be happy to read what you have to say.

[ambrizt]

I recently caught a Three Stooges episode [I think it was "3 Little Pigskins"] that the boys were football players and the place they were playing the game at was Gilmore Stadium.

And of course, complete mayhem soon took over, with predictable results.:laugh :laugh :laugh

As a matter of fact, I did know that. But I have to correct you on one minor detail. (And if I'm wrong, feel free to set me straight.) According to a book about the old PCL written by Dick Dobbins (The Grand Minor League), the Hollywood Stars only played in Gilmore Stadium (the football stadium) for one week in 1939. They were waiting for the finishing touches on the brand new Gilmore Field. Then after their brief stay in the football stadium they moved into Gilmore Field for the rest of the 1939 season, and until the end of the 1958 season (when they ceased to exist because of the arrival of the Dodgers in Los Angeles).

[Kessinger#11]

Speaking of markers, I lived in St Louis awhile and they placed a plague on the spot where home plate was in old Sportsmans Park ( home of the St Louis Browns.) Here in Chicago the spot for homeplate in Old Comisky Park is marked in the parking lot of U.S. Cellular Field.

[banko]

Please God, can I see a picture of of the Vernon ballpark before I die?

I'm an old man.

[banko]

Thank God for Google.

I found one.

http://www.sportshollywood.com/vernontigers.html

It ain't much, but it's something.

As an old PCL fan, it was the only league park that I hadn't seen a picture of.

[banko]

"By 1915, a frustrated Maier moved the team and stadium back to Vernon. Venice Park was dismantled and moved in sections back to Vernon at a cost of $7,500."

It's a shame we couldn't do that with Briggs.

[banko]

Pardon me for being 'wordy' here, but posting about the Vernon ballpark 'got me thinking'.

Especially about all these 'whiz-bang' computer model thingies.

I'm going to guess that in a few decades (long after I'm gone), technology will allow for the re-creation of the great ballparks (holographic or otherwise).

I think they may 'live again'.

This gives me great comfort.

[Florida White Sox]

Its called wrigley field too? :laugh
Heres something I made to show where it was on the street grid:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v205/bigklu/Art/WrigleyField1961.gif

Its the closest thing to LA Wrigley in color as I'll get probably. :rolleyes:

http://www.sportshollywood.com/images/minors/wrigleycolor.jpg

[Mario Mendoza...HOF Lock]

Home Run Derby from LA's Wrigley

Home Run Derby Mantle vs Mays Pt 1 (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3984496385733603109&q)

Home Run Derby Mantle vs Mays Pt 2 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFRIQt08mn4&feature=related)

[Cubs1945]

I'm a Cubs fans but this ballpark has a better exterior than the real Wrigley. Was the Exterior Limestone or Red Brick? Wrigley Field today is the lovely marquee and a bunch of ugly chain link fences. The Cubs should copy the LA exterior in their renovations.

[Lpeters199]

Off topic, but since they were mentioned in this thread.....

48492

48493

[Lpeters199]

A great old park.

48494

48495

48496

[Lpeters199]

Damn Yankees cast.

49477

[Commodore Crablegs]

Does anyone know what the color of the seats and the roof of LA Wrigley were? Hand-colored postcards are totally wonky with their lack of consistency.

[EdTarbusz]

Ballpark Tour says the following flms were shot at Wrigley Field:

Pride of the Yankees (1942)
Damn Yankees (1958)
The Stratton Story (1949)
The Kid From Left Field (1953)
Alibi Ike (1935) - This and the next two were Joe E Brown films
Ellmer the Great (1933)
Fireman Save My Child (1932)
It Happens Every Spring (1949)
Rhubarb (1951)
The Winning Team (1952) - Ronald Reagan as Grover Cleveland Alexander
The Pride of St Louis (1952) - Dan Dailey as Dizzy Dean
Whilstling in Brooklyn (1943)

http://www.ballparktour.com/Former_Los_Angeles.html

I believe the rally scene in Capra's "Meet John Doe" (1941) also was shot in Wrigley.

The robbery in "Armored Car Robbery" (1950) takes place outside the ballpark.

The baseball scenes from The Jackie Robinson story looked they were shot at Wrigley Field.

[EdTarbusz]

I recently caught a Three Stooges episode [I think it was "3 Little Pigskins"] that the boys were football players and the place they were playing the game at was Gilmore Stadium.

And of course, complete mayhem soon took over, with predictable results.:laugh :laugh :laugh

Was this where the football scenes from Horsefeathers were shot?

[Rome Colonel]

Was this where the football scenes from Horsefeathers were shot?

The film was made in 1932 but Gilmore Stadium didn't open until 1934. IMDB says scenes were shot at Occidental College, so presumably the football sequences were filmed there.

[soup]

http://tbn0.google.com/hosted/images/c?q=48038f563c625784_large

[jnakamura]

What event is that from? Seats in front of the dugouts?

[soup]

Jehovah's Witnesses attending a convention in 1947

[Lpeters199]

From 1957

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOkEkw04IeI

[jnakamura]

Jehovah's Witnesses attending a convention in 1947

Ah, I see. I wonder if they had to knock on the gate before they came into the ballpark.