Grove Theatre
618 Lighthouse Avenue,
Pacific Grove,
CA
93950
618 Lighthouse Avenue,
Pacific Grove,
CA
93950
2 people
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Additional Info
Previously operated by: T & D Jr. Enterprises
Architects: Alexander Aimwell Cantin, Alexander Mackenzie Cantin, Marc T. Jorgensen
Firms: Cantin and Cantin
Functions: Beauty Salon, Sauna
Styles: Spanish Renaissance
Nearby Theaters
This was a small Spanish style theatre designed by San Francisco architect Mark T. Jorgensen. The Grove Theatre opened by T & D Jr. Enterprises on August 1925 and had a 2 manual 4 rank style B Wurlitzer. The organ was removed in 1950 to an Oakland church, where it remains. The theatre suffered a major fire on June 21, 1951 that left only the outside walls and former rear wall of the stage.
A modern cinema was built into this shell, designed by architectural firm Cantin & Cantin. It was again called the Grove Theatre and opened in summer of 1953 with Betty Grable in “The Farmer Takes a Wife”.
The Grove Theatre ceased as a theatre in the early-1970’s when it became a paint store. Though the floor was levelled, the 1950’s auditorium was largely intact. In the 1990’s, the former auditorium was gutted and a second floor installed in the auditorium space with new windows cut into the original 1925 walls.
There is virtually nothing left to indicate that this building was ever the Grove Theatre of 1925 or 1951. This is not to be confused with another building façade on Lighthouse Avenue that also has "The Grove". This was the building housing the former newspaper and no relation to the late Grove Theatre. The former Grove Theatre was converted into office space, and by 2011 was in use as a spa & beauty salon.
The original Grove Theatre was part of the Monterey Peninsula theatre chain that also included the Monterey State Theatre, Strand Theatre, and Monterey Theatre.
Contributed by
Tom DeLay
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Recent comments (view all 7 comments)
The architect for the Grove Theatre of 1925 was Mark T. Jorgensen of San Francisco, not the SF firm of Reid Bros. The theatre originally seated 1000: 700 on the main floor, 150 in the loges and another 150 in the upper balcony. A sole surviving architect’s drawing of the auditorium shows a magnificent auditorium with mural-backed side coves, smaller side wall coves at audience level, canopied side boxes where a pipe organ would normally be installed (the Grove’s Wurlitzer was installed above the center of the proscenium arch). Two scrolled pillars flanked the proscenium opening with each being topped by a plaster California state bear.“”
Last night I got to see two original pencil-on-vellum drawings of the Grove Theatre which have been owned by a friend of mine for nearly ten years, but were stored-away, inaccessible until recently. One drawing is a full sheet Longitudinal Section of the whole building, and the other has elevations of the ticket lobby and main lobby, plus a full size (!) outline drawing for an ornamental floral plaster insert panel to be used as part of the lobby decoration. The drawings reveal what a beautiful little theatre this once was, and further confirm the look shown in the rendering which Tom DeLay mentions, and which I have also seen, including the plaster bears. The drawing also confirms the structure and location of the organ chamber located above the stage, which spoke through a tone chute over the proscenium. Also shown, and thusly labeled, is a wooden ladder which climbed straight up the rear wall of the stage to access the organ chamber.
Numbered streets don’t match up with the addresses on cross streets in Pacific Grove. The Grove Theatre was at the corner of Lighthouse Avenue and 17th Street. The current occupant of the former theater building appears to be a salon and day spa called Canty & Marquez, the address of which is 618 Lighthouse Avenue. Google Maps gets the pin spot on with that address.
Any chance of a scan and post of the artist’s renderings of the Grove?
The vellum architectural drawings of the Grove from Jorgensen’s office are very large. There is a possibility of my acquiring them as part of a business transaction, but it’s not definite. If so, I will photograph them and will be happy to post photos. Scanning them directly on a flatbed would be very expensive, due to the size.
Joe Vogel: You are correct. The building housing Canty and Marquez is the former Grove Theatre. The central bay on the ground floor is where the original theatre entrance was.
This item is from the September 5, 1925 issue of Motion Picture News: