Theater one was THE place to see a movie in all of Chicago! The greatest sound and biggest screen by far. Every seat was a great one. I can remember so many Friday nights of moving from outside to lobby to down staircase to finally inside the theater. Nothing in Chicago matched it. TV crews always set up outside for every big movie premiere. The audio was incredible. I remember seeing the 1997 Re-release of Empire Strikes back there and you literally had to hold your ears at times. Incredible! I saw all the Star Wars movies, Jurassic Park, Titanic, etc. there. It was a tragic shame when they shut it down in favor of the River East screens. A great Chicago loss.
Two new trailers have been posted on Cinema Treasures for my feature length documentary on the unsuccessful fight to save the Hi Lite 30 drive-in. They are posted under “Hi-Lites Last Gleaming”.
Theater one was THE place to see a movie in all of Chicago! The greatest sound and biggest screen by far. Every seat was a great one. I can remember so many Friday nights of moving from outside to lobby to down staircase to finally inside the theater. Nothing in Chicago matched it. TV crews always set up outside for every big movie premiere. The audio was incredible. I remember seeing the 1997 Re-release of Empire Strikes back there and you literally had to hold your ears at times. Incredible! I saw all the Star Wars movies, Jurassic Park, Titanic, etc. there. It was a tragic shame when they shut it down in favor of the River East screens. A great Chicago loss.
What a very sad story!!
I would love to find the former owner of this drive-in and include them in my documentary about the Hi Lite 30 drive-in in Aurora.
Two new trailers have been posted on Cinema Treasures for my feature length documentary on the unsuccessful fight to save the Hi Lite 30 drive-in. They are posted under “Hi-Lites Last Gleaming”.
The feature length documentary telling the story of the unsuccessful fight to save the oldest drive-in theater in the state of Illinois.