Residents share memories of Hill-Top theater in Joliet

In an Aug. 10 Herald-News story, Angel Contreras said he started working at the Hill-Top drive-in theater in the 1990s.

Contreras, 10 at the time, sold tickets and concessions. His father Arturo Contreras owns the Joliet theater along with Adrian Contreras and Saul Ornelas.

Many other Joliet area natives also have fond memories of Hill-Top. A dozen people recently shared some of those memories.

Candi Vicich Thuringer of Crest Hill: “I remember meeting a couple of my aunts, uncles and cousins there. I was the oldest of four and we had a station wagon with luggage “rails.” My mom would make large bowls of popcorn and take some drinks. They would lay a blanket on the top of the station wagon, between the luggage rails, so we could sit or lay and watch the movie. My aunts, uncles and cousins would be in the cars next to us. It was a lot of fun as a kid.”

Nick Reed of Indiana: I have very, very fond memories of Hill-Top....my parents would take us, and we would sit in the back of the truck. As I got older, then we would sneak people in in the truck of the car or under blankets....but the memories are some of my most precious memories I have…It’s when everything was so different; family and friends were everything. Nowadays, it is not like that. Joliet was [a ] different place then, too. Just not the same place I knew as a kid growing up there for 30-plus years.

Mike Hrpcha of Missouri: I ushered at the Hill-Top in the summer of ’73 and ’74…It was fun employment for area people. They used to do the fireworks on the Fourth of July and people would park on the side of Route 6 to watch. We were friends with most [of] the employees. We would prank the girls in the box office. The concession stand is where people would go and talk. We would catch people sneaking in the exit or their car trunk. Those people had the best stories.

Bernice Vargas of Crest Hill: In 1975 I had my first date there. Watched “Shampoo” with Warren Beatty and “Open Season” with Peter Fonda. It turned out that I married the guy five months later and was still married almost 45 years when my husband died…from COVID. At least I still have my memories.

Susan Koch Neidick: When I was a teen, The Hill-Top used to have a weeknight when you paid one price for a carload of people. We jammed as many in the as we could and the rest in the trunk. It was so much fun, and I will never forget it. Last show I saw there was “Lawrence of Arabia.”

Robert Griffin Sr. of California: My uncle [Charles Rogers] worked there for many years. Used to help clean up on weekends…I had the best of times working with my uncle as young boy at the Hill-Top. Saw many movies there also. Miss it…In this time it would be a good venue now.

Susan Hare of Joliet: I remember going to see the movie “Exodus.” Our friends next door, the Martinez family, invited me to go to the Hill-Top. It was a beautiful night; we rode in the back of their yellow pickup and sat in the back of that truck with a blanket and snacks. I love the theme song to this day. So pretty under the stars.

Rose Mutchler of Florida: My momma and Pops took us to see “Mash” there in the 1970s, and that was when streaking was popular. A man ran in front of us with nothing but his boots on!

Claudia Anderson Munoz of Crest Hill: The Hill-Top was an outdoor drive-in movie theater near the old Silver Cross Hospital. I don’t remember a lot, but I do remember that my parents would put my pj’s on me because I usually fell asleep before it was over.

Helene J Eisen of Florida: Had a date and we saw “Psycho”!

Glenda Sue Luna-Purkart of Joliet: I worked in the concession stand when I was 16. We had so much fun back then.

Patti Gura of Crest Hill: Their playground was better than the Bel-Air’s. Loved going there as a kid, in pj’s of course, plus my parents getting that green spiral thing that you would burn to keep the mosquitos away. Then when I got to high school, I remember going with friends, always loved Hill-Top.

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Joliet photographer returns to Hill-Top drive-in after 2020 derecho In August 2020, Joliet photographer Lisa Scarcelli returned to the old Hill-Top drive-in to take photos of this iconic theater after it fell during the Will County derecho. (Lisa Scarcelli/Photo provided)