Hill-Top Drive-In
1800 Maple Road,
Joliet,
IL
60432
1800 Maple Road,
Joliet,
IL
60432
4 people
favorited this theater
Additional Info
Previously operated by: Balaban, H & E
Architects: Edward J. Nelson
Nearby Theaters
News About This Theater
- Apr 16, 2007 — Hilltop Drive-In reopens
Operating since August 1949, this popular 1950’s-vintage drive-in, with a large, single screen, and capacity for 623 cars, closed suddenly in the middle of the 2001 season and has remained abandoned since, falling victim to vandals and disrepair.
As plans were being made in 2018 to eventually reopen the Hill-Top Drive-In, the screen was badly damaged by a wind storm in summer of 2020.
Contributed by
Bryan Krefft
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Recent comments (view all 19 comments)
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.
Edward J. Nelson of the Ballantyne Co. architectural sketch in photos
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.
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.
Whenever I inquire about vacant commercial properties, I usually contact local real estate agencies.
Motion Picture Exhibitor, July 4, 1962: “Hilltop Drive-In, Joliet, Ill., reopened this spring after installing a new fence and completely renovating all installations.”
The tornado of August 10 demolished the screen completely. Story here. https://patch.com/illinois/joliet/joliets-hill-top-drive-theater-toppled-storm
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.
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.”
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.