Hill Valley

From Sierra Nevada rails to a lightning-struck clock tower: four eras, one evolving square.

Hill Valley is a fictional town in California serving as the setting for the Back to the Future trilogy and its animated spin-off. The films depict this location across four distinct time periods: 1885, 1955, 1985, and 2015, alongside a dystopian alternate 1985. While the name "Hill Valley" functions as an oxymoron in-joke within the script, an early draft revealed it was named after founder William "Bill" Hill. The production team utilized Universal Studios' Courthouse Square set to maintain control over the different eras, avoiding the expense of altering real cities like Petaluma.

Quick Facts

Creator

Robert Zemeckis; Bob Gale

Genre

Science-fiction

People

Marty McFly
Emmett Brown
Biff Tannen

Lore & Background

The town's fictional history begins with settlement in 1850 and incorporation in 1865. By the 1880s, it connected to San Francisco via railroad, with the county courthouse under construction in 1885 featuring a new clock dedication. The Shonash Ravine Bridge was completed in summer 1886, leading to a name change honoring Clara Clayton after she fell into the chasm; however, in the revised timeline where Doc saved her, it became Eastwood Ravine. By 1955, the town square hosted the Essex and Town movie theaters, a Texaco station, and a Studebaker dealership.

A pivotal event occurred on November 12, 1955, at 10:04 p.m. PST when lightning struck the clock tower, freezing it permanently. By 1985, downtown had declined: new businesses included a second-hand shop, a yoga studio and an adult book store, and the grassy park outside the courthouse had been converted into a parking lot; by 2015 the courthouse had been converted into the Courthouse Mall.

Reader's Guide

Hill Valley's geography can be traced through real-world filming sites in California and Utah. The 1955 Lyon Estates field lies between Chino and Corona, while the high school scenes were shot at Whittier High School. John F. Kennedy Drive in the films corresponds to Victory Boulevard in Burbank, and the River Road Tunnel is actually the Observatory Tunnel at Griffith Park. The Pohatchee Drive-In Theater was constructed full-scale in Monument Valley, Utah, and torn down after that portion of filming was completed.

The town's location is specified as Northern California in the Sierra Nevada based on an 1885 Central Pacific Railroad map, with dialogue placing it in "Hill County." A specific detail from a 2015 printout reveals the zip code 95420, corresponding to Caspar, California. Signs welcoming visitors display changing club logos: the 1955 sign features YMCA and Future Farmers of America, while the 2015 version includes Neighborhood Crime Watch.

Did You Know?

On November 6, 1990, an arson fire on the Universal Studios Hollywood backlot destroyed much of Courthouse Square, the set on which the time periods other than 1885 were filmed.
The zip code 95420 visible in 2015 corresponds to Caspar, an unincorporated community in Mendocino County.
The "Welcome to Hill Valley" sign in the alternate 1985 was spray-painted to read "HELL VALLEY."