Hill-Top Drive-In

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

Video of the closed Hill-Top on You-Tube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjEQQ5yU-3g

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.

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!