Top-Hi

I finally visited this place recently. The surviving marquee that is pictured in other drive-in sites has been painted over to advertise its present function: a flea market. It appears that the movies were projected from a small cinderblock set into the ground, which is still there with the portholes bricked over. The snack bar and restrooms were near the auto entrance, so that could have been the box office too. Now the snack bar is leveled to the cement floor, and just the restrooms remain.

The marquee sign has been converted to a flea market sign.

This pad looks like it held the snack bar, possibly a projection booth for the second screen, and maybe even a ticket booth. Now only the restrooms are left.

Screen tower remains of the older screen. (On my visit there, I didn’t know it used to be a twin, so I never bothered to look for a second screen.) In front of it are old speaker poles and assorted junk.

Fence remains.

This sunken blockhouse could have been the projection room to the main screen.

On the screen side of the blockhouse I could see two groups of two holes each that have been covered up by newer bricks, a big one and a small one. This is a typical pattern of porthole and viewing hole for projection.

Map of Top-Hi Drive-In Theater, Toppenish; and photo.

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