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Address

276 E 9th Street
Upland, CA 91786

Architect

W. W. Ache

Evaluation

Building
5/8/2007

Current Owner

Norman Gonzales, et al, Miguel Soltero

Current Owner Address

8500 Hatillo ave
Upland, CA 91786

Description

"Post-war Modernew styling characterizes the Grove Theater at the southwest corner of 9th and Third. A tower which juxtaposes the verticality of its height against the horizontal channels which wrap much of its surface is the focal point of the design. Neon letters laid one above the other so as to be easily read from all directions spell the name of the theater on the front and sides of the tower. A parapet, its surface broadly fluted and topped by a shallow canopy pierced by circular openings, abuts the tower. Extending in a triangle over the sidewalk, the marquee is anchored by a vertical element with a bull-nosed corner at the apex of the triangle. An Art Deco inspired molding accents the top of the marquee. The sidewalk below the marquee and the deep vestibule are paved with pink terrazzo inset with green and gold. Centered in the vestibule, the circular ticket booth sits beneath concentric circles in the ceiling.

The Grove Theater was built in 1946-47, according to a notice in the Southwest Builder and Contractor which stated: IIBard Construction Company ... has the contract and work will start soon on the construction of a theater and store building on the southwest corner of 9th St. and Third Ave., Upland, for the Grove Theater. The auditorium will seat 950; reinforced concrete walls, steel trusses, composition roofing, cement floor, terrazzo and tile work, acoustic ceiling, interior plaster, metal fire doors, plate glass, refrigerated air-conditioning. Estimated cost $100,000. W.W. Ache, architect."

Display cases on either side of the vestibule provide space for movie posters. Of reinforced concrete construction, the theater appears to be substantially unaltered on the facade and in good condition.

William Ache was a Los Angeles architect with a mostly local practice, as far as is known. Most of Ache's work that has been documented has been residential in nature and in the various revival styles. His commissions included the D.W. Whittier House (1924, Beverly Hills), a house for the Santa Monica Land and Water Company (1924), the RairdenlKegley house (Santa Monica, 1925), the Percy Rairden house (Santa Monica, 1924) and the Herbert J. Goudge house (Santa Monica 1924). The Grove is Upland's only historic downtown theater. Previously the colonial Theater had been operated at 310 Second Avenue. Although built after the so-called "golden agew of the movie palaces, the Grove still represents a bygone era in cinematic entertainment, when going to the movie theater was an event which was suitably glorified by the scale and design of the building. The relationship of the building to the street is also integral to the experience: the tower and marquee, glamorously embellished with neon, attracted the attention of both the vehicular and pedestrian traffic. With its spacious vestibule and decorative paving and ceiling motif, the theater lobby functioned as an outdoor room, a transition from the real world outside to the fantasies awaiting within. In its use of the most up-to-date style, the theater mimicked the set designs of the movies themselves, which were known to be extremely influential in matters of taste. The Grove falls within this tradition and has been a landmark of downtown Upland for 43 years.