10/19/2026
The Last Dance at Hilltop.
Had this very real initiative been adopted, the AV Inn and Hilltop would have been repurposed into AVs first Town Hall.
Historic places inspire us.
This is one of our fondest stories of HH and perhaps its Last Dance. Filing it in our Legacy tribute album.
It’s 1996 and movies such as Braveheart, Independence Day, Mission Impossible, Apollo 13, Twister, Jerry McGuire and the Usual Suspects are the noted, cinematography efforts of the day.
The owners of the aging Hilltop House and a Brain Trauma Center at the Apple Valley Inn are facing stiff challenges. By 1997, the Brain Trauma Center goes dark following state licensing problems and the eventual loss of the Town’s conditional use permit. Meanwhile, the Town of AV is shopping for a better location for their permanent Town Hall, which is currently leased at the old Post Office and would later be housed at the AV Ranchos Building.
Dan Seagondollar and his group are advancing a concept whereby the Town and key stakeholders might unite in finding a permanent home for Town Administrative offices by the Town acquiring the AV Inn and Hilltop House. Seagondollar is a long time resident of Apple Valley, an architect and, at the time, president of the Apple Valley Community Events Association. During this time frame, the AVCEA coordinated and presented the Chili cook-off, Pow-wow Days and the Children's Christmas Party. The idea is to re-purpose the AV Inn in favor of a Town Hall and revitalize Hilltop House to be once again, the premier banquet-meeting hall in the sky. A plan that would give each of these iconic places back to the community, while preserving and linking a big piece of Apple Valleys’ cultural history.
In September of 1996, Brain Trauma Center general manager Chris Morgan, gifts the Hilltop House venue to Dan and his lovely fiancé’ Gabrielle for their wedding, where they demonstrate that Hilltop House coupled with proper planning could support community events. By all accounts and with 150 guests in attendance, the wedding and reception was a success. At the time, the building is reasonably intact with electricity still available, as the Sheriff’s Department is also renting the basement as a transmitter station.
Over the next few years, Seagondollar organizes presentations to Town Management, Rotary Clubs and gives VIP tours of the facilities to generate awareness and interest. With some 100 acres between them on prime and historic land, the AV Inn and Hilltop House were available for a price of $1.7 million or so.
In 1998, the Seagondollar group organizes a Gala at The AV Inn to further promote their idea to intrigued dignitaries. Randy Andrew, an Apple Valley celebrity (a regular at the Inn who went on to open for Elvis), came back to perform a show for the guests that night. Also included in the evening festivities were tours of Hilltop House and a full dinner served from the Inn’s million dollar, fully functional kitchen.
In the end, the Town chose to pursue a different Civic Center concept. Citing among other things, the age of the AV Inn-Hilltop House, parking and emergency access problems, the Town began moving forward in acquiring the land for new, state of the art Administrative and Recreational amenities now present at Dale Evan Parkway; an awesome undertaking in its own right and a source of community pride.
We don’t know if there were other gatherings or weddings at Hilltop House after these events. What we do know is that the Seagondollar wedding and the formal presentations for re-vitalization, were the last tangible efforts to save and restore Hilltop House. By any measure, an impressive and noteworthy effort; in many ways, the symbolic last dance at Hilltop House.
The AV Inn would go on to be purchased by new ownership, who continue today in a mission to preserve its historic roots and community connection.
On the other hand, by 2000, the Hilltop House property would once again change hands and begin the slow and sad decay into the Ruin it is known as today.
