Hi Tops Restaurant Sign Looking for Foster Home

The famed and iconic Hi Tops Chinese Restaurant sign is looking for a new temporary home following the closure of Hot Belly Mama’s back in March announced in a Facebook post on Tuesday.

Hi Tops has been in business from 1908-2012 by the late Edwin Hum. Photo Courtesy of Bill Kimball.

Bill Kimball, the sign’s owner, made the post seeking a new storage spot for the sign with several suggestions from the community since it must be removed within the week. The sign does not have to be on display for fostering its storage.

The long-term goal is to have the sign restored but needs to be kept in a safe place in the meantime according to Kimball. During its storage, plans and funding for the restoration will be made.

Improvements include installing the neon, replacing any missing parts and a paint job. Fortunately, nearly all of the neon has been saved and will be reused once the sign has been restored. Kimball has had several offers from neon lighting experts to help restore the sign.

“It’s an exciting thing to view and quite pleasurable to look at it,” remarked Kimball. “It’s a work of art. I’m so impressed by the craftsmanship and artistry.”

While Kimball was asking for community suggestions, the Peterborough Museum & Archives was an option. After speaking with them, the sign would be displayed in its original state.

Several offers have been made to store the sign but a location has not yet been determined according to Kimball.

“I’m quite thrilled by the overall response and encouragement,” he exclaimed. “A solution for the immediate need for storage will come out of this. I’ve already had enough offers for space.”

Kimball is looking for a way to transport the sign once a storage location has been established. The iconic piece of lighting is in two pieces measuring roughly eight to nine feet long each.

Kimball volunteered to take the sign during the deconstruction of Hi Tops. He serves as the Public Energy Performing Arts executive director. Photo Courtesy of Bill Kimball.

Although concrete plans for funding the sign have not yet been made, now could be the time to begin its restoration process Kimbell tells PTBOCanada. A GoFundMe is a possibility that he would highly consider as a starting point.

Hi Tops closed in 2012 and is currently occupied by Real Thai Cuisine. The sign made its home at The Spill until 2017 followed by Hot Belly Mama’s.

“I consider it quite a commercial work of art,” remarked Kimball. That’s what it is and you know, the last remaining remnants of the heyday of neon signs.”

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50 Years Ago This Month The Old Mustang Drive-In Opened, This Is A Woman's Story Of Her Father Managing It

Amanda Ford reached out to us, saying she was inspired to write an article long in the making about the Mustang Drive-In after seeing a series of photos taken by Jay Callaghan published here on PTBOCanada in May 2014.

“The erie pictures of the now abandoned drive-in made my heart sink,” Ford says. “When my parents moved out of the drive-in and I moved out of town in 1982, I never did go back. I was happy to know that someone took it over and it was still running but I didn’t realize that in September 2012, the Mustang Drive-In closed its doors, never to open them again.”

Photo by Jay Callaghan of old projector room at Mustang Drive-In

“I promised myself that I would showcase the Mustang Drive-In Peterborough as it was when it first opened,” Ford adds. “I dug through the family archives to find pictures and articles about the Mustang Drive-In Peterborough when it was brand new and viewed as the shining star of entertainment that it was back in 1968.”

Read her memories of its opening below…

——————-

MY MUSTANG DRIVE-IN MEMORIES

Fifty years ago this month in September 1968, the Mustang Drive-In Peterborough opened as one of the biggest drive-ins in Canada.

I was eight years old and my dad, Alan D. Ford, was given the honour of being Manager of the Mustang Drive-In Peterborough. Born in 1920, he began his theatre career back in the 1940s after serving as a Flight Instructor with the RCAF during WWII. He worked in many types of theatres across Ontario and at other indoor movie theatres in Ontario. His dedication and experience earned him the position of Manager, Mustang Drive-In Peterborough. My dad was was the manager there from 1968 until his retirement from the theatre business in 1986.

Amanda’s father Alan Ford

The Mustang Drive-In was to be the flagship Drive-In for GTI Drive-In Services Limited. It boasted a 775 car capacity and was one of the largest screens in Canada.

The Peterborough Examiner wrote about the venture in a 1968 article..

Peterborough Examiner article from September 18th, 1968

Teaser ads began appearing in the Peterborough Examiner starting in August and September 1968 about the opening…

All dressed up for the Grand Opening: The snack bar (pictured below) was originally set up with two sides serving the same item, with a cashier for both lines. This would help move the line along during the busy peak times.

Unknown photographer: From Ford’s Personal Collection

Standard uniform for the girls working in the snack bar: Don’t forget your cowboy hats ladies! Manager Al Ford (aka my dad) only had one rule: Always change into your street clothes when your shift was over. “I don’t want to see girls in uniform climbing in the back of cars with boys!” he would say.

Unknown photographer: From Ford’s personal family collection

Fast Forward to August 1977. Smokey and The Bandit, starring Burt Reynolds and Sally Field, played for an amazing eight weeks that summer at the Drive-In! It was the longest playing movie in the history of the Mustang Drive-In Peterborough. (Note: Mustang Drive-In by now is owned and operated by Premier Operating Company)

By this time, I was 17 and working in the kitchen. “Queen of the Fryer” was my unofficial title. It was definitely a family affair. My dad was Manager, my mom (Donna) was the cashier and in charge of the snack bar staff, my sister (Debbie) worked out front serving popcorn and drinks, while my brother (Bob)—the self-appointed “social director”—was busy turning his ushering duties into a game of, “Let’s see how many of my friends I can let in before my Dad finds out!”

When we weren’t busy with work duties, my brother and I would sit upstairs in our family apartment above the snack bar, and watch Smokey and The Bandit without the internal speaker on. (My family lived onsite above the snack bar and beside the projection room, and dad had them wire a speaker that sat behind his chair in our living room so whenever we wanted to watch the movie we could just turn the speaker on to hear the movie.) After eight weeks, we had the dialogue to Smokey down pretty good and would act out the scenes ourselves!

Peterborough Examiner article from August 20th, 1977

My father passed away in January 1991, and my mother Donna still lives in Peterborough. I live in Courtice now, and my sister Debbie lives in Bowmanville and my brother Bob in Omeeme. 

The Mustang Drive-In Peterborough was sold in the late ‘80s to an independent business owner. I believe it changed hands one or two more times until the last owner was forced to close when the cost of switching to digital projection was too much.

—guest post by Amanda Ford

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Vintage Peterborough, Lindsay and the Kawartha Region Facebook Page Is Treasure Trove Of Historical Pictures

We're huge fans of the Facebook page "Vintage Peterbroough, Lindsay and the Kawartha Region". It's an amazing treasure trove for historical pictures of the area, and has nearly 10,000 Facebook fans since starting in 2013.

Here are some recent gems they have shared on the page, which has hundreds of photos to peruse....

George Street, Peterborough, summer ca. 1908

Entering Hastings circa 1905

Canada Cement Plant in Lakefield ca.1938

Peterborough Lift Lock ca.1965

George St. north from Charloltte, Peterborough 1931

Pratt's marina, Chemong Lake ca.1966

Otonabee Motel aerial, Lansdowne St.E., ca.1960

Rice Lake, 1950 ~ Archives Canada.

Hydro dam and power plant, Peterborough 1930c

Make sure to give their Facebook page a Like to not miss any of the awesome memorabilia they share of the region there. Your nostalgia will be on overload.

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Here Are Pictures From The 1980s At The Peterborough Zoo

Did you visit the zoo during the '80s? Then feel the nostalgia as you slide into these pics provided to us by our friends at Riverview Park & Zoo...

PTBOCanada Co-Founder Evan Holt at the zoo in 1983

[Related: 1970s Pictures At Zoo]

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