Hilltop Drive-In and The Station Wagon

OK, so each time I have sat down and attempted to talk about 2nd grade, something has happened to cause whatever computer I am at to freak out and make me lose my work, so I decided to not talk about it yet, and instead side step and discuss something outside of school but was a major part of my childhood: The Hilltop Drive In Theater.

Long before it became a spot for a hotel and a Chevy's Mexican restaurant, the space in the Hilltop Mall area in Richmond, CA had a huge drive in theater called Hilltop Drive In. It was your a-typical Drive In: huge space for cars to take those tinny one speaker things that you attach to your window, a playground for kids, and a snack bar filled with all sorts of junk food. Plus a creepy bathroom. I will get to the bathroom in a minute.

On weekends, the drive in was used for a huge swap meet, which we attended on a regular basis as a family, but the main draw was the movies themselves. Each week, no matter what was playing, my parents and I would pile up in the station wagon and go catch a flick there, no matter what was playing. Since we had a station wagon, we were able to fold down the back seat to make a long bed which my mom would line with a sheet and comforter so I could lay down and fall asleep if I was tired, or hide my eyes if we were seeing a scary movie.

Ah, The Station Wagon. Remember those pieces of shit?

This one was our, except it was black instead of this cream color. It came in handy for transporting kids around and Christmas trees and the drive in, but I have never seen a car give my family so much trouble like this one. From the engine crapping out to the fake wood paneling peeling, to the inside roof collapsing on top of my little sister one day. It was almost as if the car had leprosy. Creepy.

Anyway, as I was saying we would pile up in this car and go see the double feature playing. Sometimes it was a classic drive in film like "The Blob" or even, believe it or not, "The Ten Commandments" (which was popular for some reason at a drive in). Sometimes it was first run films too, like "The Incredible Melting Man" or "Laserblast" or "Cujo".

Yes, my family took me to see horror films at an early age, and most of them were experienced at the drive in. Actually, it was more my dad who took me. If it were up to my mom, I think I would have constantly stayed home with the babysitter, but after a few years they felt I was up to the task I guess.

Wrong.

even though I look at films like "Cujo" and "The Incredible Melting Man" today and say "What a load of crap", the films scared the living hell out of me. especially at a Drive In in the back of a station wagon whit windows all around so that the monsters can look in on you at night and plot how to get the tasty child behind the glass. Or at least that is what I thought at the time. The scariest movie I saw at the Drive In? "Night of the Living Dead". You can imagine the nightmares THAT film did to a 6 year old child.

Horror films were not the only scares I got from this place though. Remember that bathroom I mentioned? It was scary. It honestly, in my memory, looks like the room from "Saw". It was not that well lit though, which is one of the reasons why it was scary. It also looked like a hiding place for monsters or perverts hungry for the young peen. On top of that, the stalls had NO DOORS. How can one sit and poop when they are exposed in public like that? And who knows what evil is lurking on those seats.

That walk to and from was also not fun. It was dark at this drive in theater, so you had to rely on the lights from the screen to guide you, and also pray the monsters would not attack, drag you away, and devour your soul. Plus, the ground was composed of rocks and dust. My mom usually brought me to the drive in wearing my pajamas and slippers, so I felt EVERY SINGLE DAMN ROCK! Ow.

The most memorable movie experience at the drive in? I have two. The first being "Lady and the Tramp". yep, I first saw this film at a drive in theater. I was excited too, because my mom hyped it up for me. So did my Godmother. They LOVE this film and were so excited that I was goig to see it. Well, needless to say I loved the film too, however, the projectionist was not paying attention, and forgot to change over to the next reel, so the film abruptly stopped during the scene where Lady was fitted with a muzzle. It took a good 5 minutes before the film started back up. Cars were honking, I heard people cursing (which I am sure their children appreciated) and I was left in suspense as to what would happen next to poor Lady. Aww, memories.

The second memorable experience was with "Star Trek The Motion Picture". I will confess I am a Star Trek fan, but my dad was a TREKKER NOT TREKKIE fan. He was DIE HARD! His die hard fandom though would lead to a wonderful friendship over the years with someone really huge with the universe....but that is a story for another time.

Anywho, since my dad was a die hard fan he dragged us both to go see this film at the drive in. The place was PACKED! You would think Jesus announced he was coming back and decided to do it at this drive in theater and wanted all to come watch his floor show or something. We arrived 2 hours before the film and people were already lining up. My dad was not happy because he was afraid we would get a crappy spot. We didn't, but he was freaking out for 2 hours before the opened the gate.

We settled in, got our refreshments (actually dinner) from the refreshment center, and got ready to be BORED TO TEARS BY ONE OF THE MOST B-O-R-I-N-G SCIENCE FICTION MOVIES EVER MADE!!! What made it worse was that the first 15 of the film was dark, so the projection at the drive in was not strong enough for the film. This caused all the horns to go off as angry people were not pleased. Fortunately, the film got lighter after a while, but the film broke twice. The first time people were angry. The second time people were relieved because the film was putting them to sleep.

In 1984, The Drive In shut down. The last double feature played there was "Mortuary" and "The House on Sorority Row". We were there, as well as many others. The next day, it was done. Gone. No more movies. The Drive In concept was declared a dinosaur. In 1986, the lot was finally torn down and turned into a Marriott Inn and Chevy's Restaurant.

And now, The Drive In Theater is a concept of the past. Of nostalgia. Of folklore. A place were you can now only see in films like "Grease". While the picture quality and the sound was not the best, nothing beat the experience of sitting in the back of my family's station wagon, covered in blankets, watching a movie from our car, and then going home. Those are some of my favorite and most cherished memories.

Long live The Drive In Theater.