What’s in downtown Hill Valley and is there time to think about it?
Given everything going on, do we have time to think about downtown Hill Valley before and after Marty McFly’s heroic journey from 1985 to 1955?
Yes, J.C. Penney is there in 1985 and will always be there. But that’s at the mall just outside of downtown. We all understand malls and J.C. Penneys are an ineffable part of American life.
Can we spare a moment to consider downtown Hill Valley in all its fragile beauty?
At the opening of the movie, in the year 1985, (just give me a second to explain this) Marty is skateboarding through town and we see “Re-elect Mayor Goldie Wilson” messages pasted everywhere.
We see a place called “Elmo’s.” Nothing suggests it’s related to Sesame Street.
Cupid’s Adult Bookstore is there. The XXX-rated movie “Orgy American Style” is on the marquee of a movie theater.
We have Lou’s Aerobics Fitness Center. Loans, a pawn shop, a Texaco station, a florist, “Hog Heaven Motorcycles,” a Toyota dealer. Hold on a minute.
Another more stately movie theater is now a church and the marquee reads “Jesus Saves.”
Social activists are crawling all over downtown. One of them rudely interrupts Marty’s passionate kiss with his girlfriend Jennifer. And what does the activist want? She wants them to donate to save the clock tower which is on top of the courthouse and hasn’t worked for years. Marty gives her a quarter. That oughta do it!
If you even have time to think about this, downtown Hill Valley in 1985 is run down and not too nice. The high school looks dirty. Trash is blowing around in the street. A man driving a jeep with the top down is kind of grumpy when he realizes Marty has been hanging onto his bumper for a while. (Remember, Marty is skateboarding and this little trick will come in handy later.) Anybody who’s grumpy about a kid hanging on a bumper must be, deep down, simply upset about living in a mediocre town. The guy is wearing a Mountain Dew hat, by the way. Which is neither here nor there. Sorry.
Burger King and Toys R Us are just outside of town. That’s not really that important. You don’t have time to think about that.
The “Lyon Estates” sign at the entrance of Marty’s subdivision is riddled with graffiti.
Inside Marty’s ranch-style home is an ugly wooden ship mounted on the living room wall. There’s a tacky afghan on a brown couch. In the kitchen resides a junky green fridge. A black and white TV is positioned (gasp!) right next to the dinner table.
Marty’s brother works at Burger King (he’s wearing the company polo and visor), his mom is a drunk, his uncle is in jail. And his dad is a wimpy weird guy. I don’t think his sister is very popular in school.
Here in 2026 (the present year), election day is right around the corner. Kind of a big deal. And I don’t know if you have time to think about this, but when Marty goes back in time to 1955, you guessed it. He’s still right there in Hill Valley. And is “Orgy American Style” playing downtown in 1955? No, it is not. It probably hasn’t even been filmed yet. And there’s no adult bookstore.
There is a Ronald Reagan movie playing at the stately movie house. Everything is clean. The Texaco is there, but at this Texaco, guys run out and service your car for you right when you drive up. Wow!
The mayor, unlike the 1985 mayor Goldie Wilson, is white. His name, if you have time to think about it, is Red Thomas and he is running on the platform of “lower taxes.” Holy cow!
The Hill Valley Stationery Store is there. That sounds wholesome. Hal’s Barber Shop, Elite Barber Shop (people got haircuts back then!), a record shop called Roy’s Records with a picture of Nat King Cole in the window. Bank of America (?), a coffee shop called Lou’s Cafe (you’ll recall later Lou turned it into an aerobics studio). And a place called “Realty.” That’s where you buy your real estate.
1955 was rather lit, if you ask me. Did I mention they got haircuts back then? The high school and the courthouse even looked clean and the clock tower was still working.
If you’re still with me at this point, and who could blame you if you had to skedaddle off to more important affairs, but I’ll just say that Marty goes back in time to 1955 and does a bunch of (kind of) good deeds and makes his dad a better person with higher self-confidence. And then because of those brave actions, 1985 is going to look a little bit different when Marty goes back.
If you don’t know how he goes back and forth between 1985 and 1955, then you are just going to have to rent the movie “Back to the Future” and find out. But he returns to 1985 at the end. And what do we find?
The stately movie theater still houses a church. Marty did not save movies.
Elmo’s is there. Still not a nod to Sesame Street.
A homeless man is there! Marty did not solve all social problems.
The park bench says “California Raisins.” The cartoon characters are not pictured. The bench used to say “Zale’s Jewelers” in the other 1985.
Statler Toyota is still there. Phew.
Bank of America, Texaco, Hog Heaven Motorcycles, J.C. Penney of course.
So the town is still pretty much the same! Even “Orgy American Style” is still playing.
But if you have time or bandwidth for it, let’s venture into Marty’s house. Same ranch home in Lyon Estates. He has a beige couch with striped pillows, abstract art on the wall, gold-plated light fixtures, an indoor plant (!), a white grand piano, and his siblings are dressed up very preppy and reading the paper at the table. His parents are well-dressed, just in from tennis, and let’s just say they’re rich now!
Because confident people become rich. Do we want to debate this or shall we move on and let you go about your day?
In summary, the little good deeds you do in the cute little past that you wander into aren’t going to do jack squat for humankind, but you just might make yourself and your family a little better off. Individualist much?
There’s no talk of going back to kill (young adult, just turned 18) Hitler, there’s no talk of stopping the JFK assassination or Lincoln’s for that matter.
But you know, let’s fix our family.
Oh, you already clicked away. Don’t forget to ex out the tab. Gotta keep those tabs tidy, you know. See ya.
We probably didn’t have too much time to think about downtown Hill Valley after all, with everything going on.
