Upland's gazebo

By David Allen on January 29, 2009 2:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (6) |

Here's what's left of Upland's gazebo, as a city rehab project has taken the structure down to the frame. There will be more on this in Friday's column. I saw this scene on Tuesday after lunch at Caffe Allegro, shot the photo and went to City Hall to find out what's going on.

The gazebo went up in 1967 and stands in a roundabout at Ninth Street and Second Avenue, in the heart of downtown. It's used as a bandstand during the Thursday Night Market, the Lemon Festival and other events.

I liked the I Remember When sign in the foreground and included it in the photo. Feel free to remember when by leaving a comment.

6 Comments

Linda Biscardi said:

I grew up on Olive Street just down the road from the downtown area...we actually called it "uptown." I remember when they put the "kiosk" up when I was about 12. The downtown area and the world in general have changed during that time but the kiosk stayed the same. It will be strange to see it with the top half missing.

January 29, 2009 3:03 PM

Monty Seay said:

I was at the grand opening of the gazebo in 1967. I remember as a 8-year-old boy the excitement of the live drawing for a green 1967 Ford Mustang, donated by Skycrest Ford. An older lady that lived around Third Ave and 11th St won that car and she drove that car for a very long time. Great memories of downtown Upland! Monty Seay

January 29, 2009 3:25 PM

Warren said:

I also remember the grand opening of the gezebo. I was a junior in high school. I had watched all the work from the ground up and was pleasently surprised at the final look.

The gazebo was the finishing touch to the redesign of the streets and parking. I still remember seeing people driving cars around the loop the wrong way and on one occasion a driver decided to make a U turn in the middle of the block on Second Avenue before 9th. He almost made it. I think he forgot about the change in parking.

I can't remember, but I think there were one or two tickets drawn for the car (the winner had to be present) and the woman who won the car had had some tough times -- she really needed the car. Monty, are you any relation to Howard Seay?

January 30, 2009 1:18 PM

Monty Seay said:

Warren: My father was Howard "Doc" Seay, Police Captain of the Upland Police Dept. He passed away in 1989. Thanks, Monty.

January 30, 2009 2:10 PM

Kristin McConnell said:

I'm just glad the city plans to put it back up. I, too, love that bandstand.

January 30, 2009 7:30 PM

Charles Bentley said:

GREETINGS:
Sorry for a tardy reply, but I wanted to check my facts before leaving a comment. My father put the original roof on the kiosk in downtown Upland. In fact, he also did the roofs for several other smaller versions throughout the downtown area.

Locals may remember that the downtown renovation also included several smaller kiosks that featured pay phones -- for younger generations reading this, pay phones were the primary option for public communications away from home and office prior to the advent of portable, personal phones.

Anyway, the smaller kiosks were eliminated years later, possibly due to continued phone vandalism. And my father believes the original roof on the central kiosk was removed in the late '80s.

I asked him what he remembers about the project. He said it was a small but difficult job because of the smaller kiosks, each requiring individual crafting of the roofing material.

February 2, 2009 9:28 AM