Like
a faint memory struggling to the surface, a faded Sunkist logo
reappeared during demolition of a century-old packing house in Upland.
The packing house is coming down to make way for 42 single-family
homes. When a wooden exterior wall was torn down on Monday, an older
brick wall was exposed. ¡°Sunkist¡± is written in large letters outlined
in orange.
It was a surprise to all, especially as the building had been studied, walked and documented.
¡°It looks like the sign was originally on the exterior of the
building but was covered over with a later addition,¡± Jeff Zwack,
Upland¡¯s development services director, wrote in an email after an
inquiry from Councilman Gino Filippi.
¡°There¡¯s a lot of interest in the community about it,¡± Filippi told me.
Upland Heritage, a preservation nonprofit, was looking into photographing the wall and possibly moving it, Filippi said.
I visited the wall Monday. The packing house is on the south side of
East 19th Street within view of a Kohl¡¯s and a Bed Bath and Beyond, both
part of the Colonies Crossroads shopping center. The packing house
abuts the street and the Sunkist logo faces westbound motorists like a
billboard, albeit for something that hasn¡¯t existed for decades.
This was my second sight of such a sign in Upland. On Foothill
Boulevard a dozen years ago, remodeling exposed a painted logo for the
old Shopping Bag market, defunct for decades. Instant nostalgia.
Yet Sunkist is different. Upland was founded on citrus, not grocery
stores. Many of the homes in this neighborhood were built on former
groves. This sign was like an apparition, the Ghost of Citrus Past.
Some motorists Monday slowed at the sight of the quaint logo and the
in-progress demolition, experiencing a moment of wonder as history
unfolded.
Some stopped in the construction driveway for a longer look.
¡°I saw ¡®Sunkist¡¯ and pulled over to take pictures,¡± said Robin Baker.
Baker¡¯s husband, Doug, was taking his own pictures. They were both sorry the packing house was being demolished.
¡°I hate to see it go,¡± Doug said. ¡°I¡¯m nostalgic for old Upland and orchards.¡±
The Bakers live in a 1911 home on Euclid Avenue once owned by the
Scheu family, which made orchard heaters that attempted to keep fruit
from freezing on winter nights.
They would have liked to see the packing house converted into artist lofts, shops or restaurants.
¡°Oh well,¡± Robin said. ¡°Progress.¡±
Upland has four remaining packing houses, all clustered downtown.
This northern packing house, where oranges were brought, sorted and
packed, was built in 1914 by the Upland Citrus Association along a spur
of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe railroad.
The spur ¡°terminated along the southern elevation of the packing
house, allowing the packed citrus to be shipped across the nation,¡±
according to a cultural resources assessment of the property done last
year at City Hall¡¯s behest.
Citrus Association founders Earl Paul and George Harrison were local
ranchers. (No, not that George Harrison.) Six years later they founded
Old Baldy Citrus Association and made the packing house its
headquarters.
By the time of a 1937 photo, the packing house had seven loading
docks and a Sunkist logo. It became Cucamonga Mesa Growers in 1952 and
seems to have ceased operations by the late 1970s, if not earlier.
Weeks Roses used the site in the 1980s as a nursery and added a greenhouse. The property was sold in 2006 and has sat vacant.
Homes to the north of the packing house were developed in 1999.
¡°We were told the packing house would be down two years after we
moved in,¡± Mike Rhodes, one of the original homeowners, told me in his
driveway Monday.
At one point 98 townhomes were proposed, alarming neighbors. Rhodes
welcomes the pending development, especially in its scaled-down form, as
the packing house was continually broken into.
¡°It got graffitied, it was vandalized, people were living in there,¡±
Rhodes said. ¡°It was just sitting there idle for year after year after
Weeks moved out.¡±
A Meritage Homes executive didn¡¯t get back to me before deadline
Tuesday, but the company¡¯s plan is for 42 single-family homes of one or
two stories in Craftsman, Spanish and Santa Barbara architectural styles
on the fan-shaped, 10-acre lot.
¡°They revised the plans multiple times to get to that plan, which is
the lowest density,¡± said Vincent Acuna, an assistant city planner.
For a small park at the rear of the property, arbors and trellises will be built from wood salvaged from the packing house.
¡°All the names of the streets derive from the packing house to reflect the history of what was there,¡± Acuna said.
In the meantime, the Sunkist wall, a closer reflection of that
history, was still standing Tuesday morning, and it appeared the
demolition crew was working around it.
Drive by for a look at old Upland, maybe on your way to Target or Panera, only a short hop away in new Upland.
David Allen chronicles a dying age Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Contact david.allen@... or 909-483-9339, visit , like on Facebook and follow on Twitter.
