Earl's Service Station

The Gilmore Oil Company was an independent oil company in California which was founded by Arthur Fremont Gilmore after he struck oil on his dairy farm in the Fairfax district of Los Angeles around 1903. In the ensuing forty plus years at the height of the companies operation they had over 3,000 gas stations.
The Fairfax property was originally a dairy and when Arthur went to drill a well for water he instead struck oil and that was the beginning of what became Gilmore Oil. Arthur Gilmore passed away in 1918 and his son Earl took over the family oil company. His methods included energetic advertising and promotion. He created the branding for Red Lion gasoline with the slogan "Roar with Gilmore" and sponsored daredevils like Roscoe Turner, who flew with Gilmore, the flying lion, and John Cobb who drove the Railton Red Lion to set a land speed record of 369.7 miles per hour The property over the ensuing years became many things including a race track, Farmers Market and Baseball Stadium that was the home of the baseball team, the Hollywood Stars. In the 1940’s 75% of the shares in the oil company were acquired by the Socony-Vacuum Oil Company and that pretty much was the end of Gilmore Gas. The Farmers market still remains today at the corner of Fairfax and Third Street along with a more recent development called the Grove. This area in the Fairfax district has a rich history of Los Angeles as it was from the turn of the 20th century to the present day.

Archival photographic print with a single white matte.