Hill-Top Drive-In

1800 Maple Road,
Joliet, IL 60432

623 cars

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Showing 19 comments

edison
edison on August 26, 2022 at 3:45 pm

For a couple of years I had been meeting with Saul Ornelas, one of the current owners of the Hill-Top, about updating the projector to digital and re-opening the drive-in. Part of the motivation was sparked by the completion of a nearby highway extension (I355) that even offered easy access with a new exit. We had a very workable business model planned, including the crowdfunding of the new projection system, for which I secured a quote. There was still a lot to deal with from the business being inactive for so long. It was literally off the electric grid and needed a full rehab just to get up to code.

Sadly, during the summer of 2020 a serious storm with high straight-line winds took down most of the screen, it being a shallow cinder block structure. What’s left of it is likely not repairable.

MichaelKilgore
MichaelKilgore on October 11, 2021 at 9:53 pm

Motion Picture Herald, Jan. 27, 1951: “The H & E Balaban circuit purchased two drive-ins, the 600 car Hilltop at Joliet and the 750 car Robbins at Rockford.”

MichaelKilgore
MichaelKilgore on August 25, 2021 at 11:55 pm

Irwin Joseph passed away in 1964. His widow briefly retained the Hilltop, then sold it before the 1965 season to something called “Joliet View Corp., headed by G. J. Shimbach” (per Boxoffice). L&M Theatres, or L&M Management, acquired the Hilltop in April 1967.

The Motion Picture Almanac listed the L&M Management circuit, with the Hilltop as one of its holdings, through the 1986 edition. The MPA’s drive-in list kept the Hilltop one more year, but it dropped out in the 1988 edition. This is a strong indication that the drive-in was closed for a few years before Saul Ornelas and Adrian and Arturo Contreras bought it in 1995 (per edison’s post above).

A letter to the editor of the local Herald News, published July 15, 2001, said, “On July 1, when there was no sign of a movie starting by the customary 8:30-8:45 p.m. time, several cars began to honk their horns. A bit annoying, yes, but pretty normal behavior for a drive-in theater. One of the employees of the Hilltop stepped out of the projection room and loudly yelled a string of profanities at the crowd … If this is the way that the Hilltop is going to be managed, with a total lack of professionalism and customer courtesy, it is sure to be nothing more then a memory in the very near future!” That author was right.

Trolleyguy
Trolleyguy on August 13, 2020 at 4:55 pm

The tornado of August 10 demolished the screen completely. Story here. https://patch.com/illinois/joliet/joliets-hill-top-drive-theater-toppled-storm

MichaelKilgore
MichaelKilgore on June 15, 2020 at 3:46 pm

Motion Picture Exhibitor, July 4, 1962: “Hilltop Drive-In, Joliet, Ill., reopened this spring after installing a new fence and completely renovating all installations.”

Trolleyguy
Trolleyguy on February 28, 2020 at 2:49 pm

Whenever I inquire about vacant commercial properties, I usually contact local real estate agencies.

MichaelKilgore
MichaelKilgore on July 14, 2019 at 8:51 pm

The Aug. 20, 1949 issue of Showmen’s Trade Review reported, “Rube Levin’s 700-car Hilltop Drive-In near Joliet has opened with Richard Kamens as manager.”

According to Chuck’s Photo Spot, David Friedman and Irwin Joseph bought the Hill-Top in the late summer of 1959.

Friedman’s book about the Hill-Top and much more, A Youth In Babylon, is currently available at the Internet Archive.

MichaelKilgore
MichaelKilgore on June 18, 2019 at 1:40 am

The Star of Tinley Park wrote on Aug. 22, 1963 that the “Hilltop” was celebrating its birthday Aug. 23-25. “Five years ago the theatre was transferred from the impersonal step-child operation of a large absentee theatre chain to the family style management of a neighbor.”

Owner manager Irwin S. Joseph said he was building a beach and showing the movie Beach Party that weekend.

On July 15, 2001, apparently not long before the abrupt closure, The Star returned to the “Hill-Top” with an affectionate look at one of the few remaining drive-ins. It was open Fridays through Sundays and often filled to its 500-car capacity on Saturday nights.

dallasmovietheaters
dallasmovietheaters on May 10, 2019 at 1:28 am

Edward J. Nelson of the Ballantyne Co. architectural sketch in photos

MichaelKilgore
MichaelKilgore on March 1, 2019 at 10:33 pm

Based on its absence in the Theatre Catalog the year before, there’s a decent chance that this drive-in opened in 1949. The “Hilltop” debuted in the 1949-50 Theatre Catalog, exec: Rube Levine. By the 1952 edition, the name had changed to two words and the exec had changed to H. and E. Balaban Ct.

In its first drive-in list, for the 1950-51 edition, the Motion Picture Almanac listed three drive-ins in Joliet: the Belair (capacity 1000); the Hamilton, capacity “500-600”, owner Hiltop(sic?) Drive-In Theatre, Inc.; and the Hill Top, no owner or capacity mentioned.

Both the Hamilton and Hill Top (capacity 500) were listed in the 1952-53 edition’s drive-in list as owned by H. & E. Balaban Circuit. But the theatre circuit listing for Balaban, H. & E. Corp. showed the “Hilltop” as its only drive-in. I wonder what confused the MPA into thinking there had been a Hamilton Drive-In, and based on the Theatre Catalog listings, I doubt that the Hamilton ever existed.

edison
edison on January 31, 2015 at 9:43 pm

UPDATE: Jan 31 2015:

.. I have spoken at length with Saul Ornelas, one of 3 owners of the Hill-Top. Saul was very forthcoming about his history with the property and its current status. evidently he used to work there back in the day, mainly the ticket booth but he said he learned quite a bit on how the place operated. He and his partners bought the Hill-Top in 1995 and ran it for a few years until leasing it to an acquaintance who mismanaged it badly, it ultimately had to close in 2001.

.. Not long after that someone from the county govt. demanded he bulldoze the place due to being in such disrepair. Saul had the electricity shut off and even had a wrecking crew scheduled when another person from the same office called imploring him to SAVE the Hill-Top(!) All of this transpired over the course of a couple of years. once the order to demolish was rescinded that left him free to reopen it, but now ComEd won’t restore power because nothing is up to code.

.. Saul says the concession building is in really bad shape. vandals have broken in over the years and have trashed the place, ripped out fixtures, any chances of getting a license to prepare and sell cooked food would require a lot of renovation, all new equipment, and a ton of hoop jumping with the county for approval. Saul considered the idea of minimizing the concession stand if not eliminating it altogether. He claims that while it’s a big revenue maker it also has its complications (i.e. code inspections, equipment to maintain, etc.) and requires 3 to 4 employees to run. He claims if concession food was eliminated it would cut operation staff in half. He also claims so many people bring their own food and drinks anyway, that it would be a small sacrifice. I’d love it if they could at least sell food like hot dogs, nachos, popcorn, pizza (from frozen), candy, etc. no grille. keep it simple.

.. We only briefly discussed the necessity of upgrading the projection system to digital as well as the sound to short broadcast. Another big expense to deal with but definitely worth doing.

.. All that said, Saul still loves the idea of the Hill-Top reopening someday. He still lives and works in the area and he sees people all the time who ask him about it. Clearly they have fond memories too and want to see it happen. He seemed intrigued by my mention of the 355 exit at Maple Rd to the east and was convinced that the easy access could be a game changer with attendance, especially with the advent of social media.

Frank S Joseph
Frank S Joseph on February 7, 2014 at 10:38 pm

Correction: Thanks to IMdB.com, I now remember the full correct title was “The Adventures of Lucky Pierre.” From the IMdB entry: “A man imagines that everybody he sees is naked. He goes to see a psychiatrist to see if he can be cured.” The movie starred a baggy-pants burlesque comic named Billy Falbo and was directed by Herschell Gordon Lewis, later to make a big name as a direct-mail guru. I’m something of a DM guru myself, as it happens. Some years ago I was in Florida and looked Herschell up. He was then a very old man, but still writing copy for clients. He didn’t remember me, of course (I was a teen-ager), and didn’t actually have a lot to say about my dad or Dave Friedman either; he’d moved on and made a new life in direct marketing.

Frank Joseph, Mister DM™ Chevy Chase MD

Frank S Joseph
Frank S Joseph on February 7, 2014 at 10:15 pm

My father Irwin Joseph owned and operated the Hilltop until his death in 1957. Judging by HilltopKen’s post, the theater must have been sold to L&M Management after my dad died (I have no personal knowledge of to whom it was sold, and my mom Marjorie-Lee Joseph is no longer around to tell me, sadly). My dad also was a movie distributor in the mid ‘50s, specializing in “exploitation” films including “She Shoulda Said No” (a/k/a “Wild Weed”), “Ecstasy” (Hedy Lamar’s first film, in which she appears nude) and four birth-of-a-baby movies (“Mom and Dad”, “Bob and Sally”, “Street Corner” and “Because of Eve”). Between the third and the fourth reel, a lecturer, the “noted expert on sexual hygiene Mr. Alexander Leeds” and other fictitiously named individuals — all ex-carnival barkers — would give a 20-minute talk that was actually a pitch for a sex-hygiene manual. Each movie had its own pair of manuals, one for women and one for men. My mom wrote at least one of those pairs. I remember as a teen-ager, tromping around the Hilltop lot carrying stacks of books, approaching each car with our standard pitch: “One of each?” It usually worked. We charged a buck each and the books cost a dime each to print. Another reminiscence: David F. Friedman, my dad’s “vice president in charge of vice,” filmed an early soft-porn film called “Lucky Pierre” on the Hilltop lot over a long weekend. I wasn’t notified until well after the deed was done, darn it — I’d certainly have made a point to be on hand. Cinephiles and students of exploitation and nudie films will recognize Dave’s name — he went on to become a leading impresario of the form and headed the Adult Film Assn. of America for a time.

Frank S. Joseph Chevy Chase MD

P.S. If you check out the CinemaTreasures entry for the old States Theatre at 3507 S. State St., Chicago, you’ll see my post there too. My grandpa Nathan Joseph owned and operated the States all his adult life. My novel TO LOVE MERCY (ISBN 0-9744785-3-9) is set in part in the “Calumet Theatre,” the stand-in for the States. Finally, my uncle Richard Salkin managed the old Jackson Park Theater at 67th and Stony Island Ave. The Jackson Park is famous in movie-industry lore for giving its name to a Supreme Court case that ultimately forced the major film companies to divest the movie theaters they owned.

Mike Rogers
Mike Rogers on May 23, 2010 at 3:01 am

SiliconSam,Great video of the Hilltop.

DavidZornig
DavidZornig on November 1, 2008 at 3:59 am

Wow, this place is haunting. Great location for a film’s climax of some sort.

Does anyone know if the nearby town of Lemont had any movie theatres of it’s own?
I know the old drug store on the main drag near the I&M Canal is still there. Budds or whatever it is.
Along with a few landmark taverns & restaurants.

HilltopKen
HilltopKen on November 1, 2008 at 1:30 am

I worked as a security guard at the Hilltop 1970 – 1972 back when L&M Management Co ran it and the Rialto and either the Princess or Mode theater. The screen had 4 or five floors of storage space accessible with stairs and ladders. Mostly junk up there back then.

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on May 10, 2008 at 10:22 pm

Here is a photo from waymarking.com:
http://tinyurl.com/6nxkg7

TRAINPHOTOS
TRAINPHOTOS on May 18, 2005 at 4:35 am

To see great photos of this place as it existed in 2002, go to the following website http://www.geocities.com/chucksphotospot Then click on “Urban Exploration”, and then “Hilltop Drive-In. This guy has great pictures of urban ruins!