Hollywood Legion Stadium

Random eBay items...

Boxing was such a pervasive sport that heiress and socialite Dorothy di Frasso once chose it as a theme for one of her extravagant parties. The photograph is from a recent eBay auction.

From https://www.realtor.com/.../beverly-hills-mansion-with.../: "Built in 1926, the six-bedroom Spanish Revival might make a buyer wish the walls could talk. In the 1930s, heiress and socialite Countess Dorothy di Frasso bought the place and threw extravagant and wild parties that attracted the famous and infamous alike. One such attendee was Benjamin 'Bugsy' Siegel, the gangster who helped start the Las Vegas Strip. Di Frasso met Siegel during a party that began with a fake fight starting in the entrance and ending with boxing matches in the property's backyard."

From "Film Museum Berlin," Newsletter #55, August 20, 2004, https://marlene.com/newsletter/News66.pdf: "Her parties were memorable. At one time in her Beverly Hills home she had a prize ring erected in her garden under floodlights. Professional boxers staged a bout, with Clark Gable and Frederic March serving as seconds. I saw her in New York when I was there six weeks ago, and I thought how young she looked and how attractive."

Countess di Frasso and several friends also launched a weekend from Legion Stadium (http://triggertomblog.blogspot.com/.../tomtyler-and...): "In May 1935, Marlene and Tom, along with Dorothy, Clark Gable and his wife Maria Langham, and Brian Ahearne, left the Hollywood Stadium after viewing the boxing matches and headed to the northern part of California for the weekend."

(The image is from the book "Poor Little Rich Girl: The Life and Legend of Barbara Hutton.")

From Hollywood's Garden of Allah novels, by Martin Turnbull, possibly from 1981.

Although "When's Your Birthday?" (1937) wasn't shot at Hollywood Legion Stadium (the boxing scenes appear to be a studio set), Joe E. Brown was a popular figure at the Stadium over the years. In this photo, he's posed with boxer Gene Tunney and holding a "Champion" belt, which appears to be genuine rather than a prop.

As seen on eBay: a 1922 black-and-white photograph (reprint) of Hollywood Legion Stadium after the roof install but before solid walls enclosed the boxing arena. This was prior to the property being excavated in order to drop the boxing ring into a deeper pit, which improved viewing angles and provided patrons with improved seating options.

Frank Crowley was the matchmaker in 1921. Also pictured are boxers Mike O'Leary, Joe "Awful" Coffee, Alex McDonald, Young Carmen, Ted (one "d") "Teddy" Silva, and Eddie "Spec" Ramies.

A 1923 paperboard/cardboard advertising poster for Hollywood Legion Stadium, Hollywood, California. The Sailor Ashmore - Bud Soules matchup was held on El Centro Boulevard on Friday night, March 23, 1923.

Do you have anything in your collection related to the Hollywood Legion Stadium? or Hollywood Legion Lanes? Or "The Cauliflower Club"? Or Hollywood Legion Post 43?

Over the past 105+ years, the Hollywood American Legion has lost a lot of the published materials and items. We moved our clubhouse from El Centro to Hollywood Boulevard in 1929. Legion Stadium closed in 1959. The Post has undergone several cleanouts over the years. With each movement, items became stolen, lost, misplaced, or were simply thrown away.

The expense of gathering any related items now is beyond the Post's ability--we are still trying to recover from the $6M renovation project of the 1929 Clubhouse--but we would welcome any digital scans and photographs, along with whatever stories you have to go with them!

Feel free to message us via this page with images, and let us know if you'd like to share these items that you have, either publicly or privately. We'd be more than happy to post them here, and share your name/business in addition to whatever images or stories you've got! If you would like to help out fill in the missing pieces of our digital collection but want to stay private, we will respect your wishes.

"The Los Angeles Times," December 29, 1922 - "ALL SET TO GREET HEAD OF LEGION - National Leader Arrives Tomorrow, Shown City"

"Plans for the entertainment of Alvin M. Owsley, national commander of the American Legion, who arrives tomorrow at 9:30 p.m., were announced yesterday... at 2:30 p.m., Commander Owlsey will be welcomed formally to the city by Mayor Cryer, at a mass meeting in the American Legion stadium in Hollywood, under direction of Harold G. Ferguson, past commander of Hollywood Post. The commander will respond.

"A concert by the Hollywood American Legion Band is one of the features of the program..."

This is a Friday, January 26, 1923 boxing poster (cardboard/heavy paper stock) advertising the upcoming bouts between Bert Colmina vs. Sailor Ritter, as well as Young Dick Hoppe vs. Joe Kane, with a "special event" between Ray Newman and Leo Matlock.

Worth noting is the "stadium comfortably heated" remark, as Legion Stadium began as an outdoor venue in 1921, then developed into a fully-enclosed wooden structure over the next few years.