Ace Drive-In For Sale, Faces Uncertain Future In Joliet

JOLIET, IL - Ace Drive-In, one of Joliet's favorite warm-weather restaurants, is now on the real estate market. Brothers Rich and Tom Pierson, the long-time owners of the popular business along Route 30 and Ingalls Avenue, recently put their Plainfield Road property up for sale. While most of Joliet would love to see Ace Drive-In remain a fixture for root beer, black cows, hoagies, steak burgers and more, the city's real estate market will ultimately dictate Ace's fate. Ace closed for the winter in mid-September. The property is adjacent to the Tezak Funeral Home.

During an interview this past week with The Joliet Herald-News reporter Bob Okon, Rich Pierson told the newspaper he and his brother are looking to retire. "If we don't sell this year, we'll still be in it next year," Pierson told The Joliet Herald-News. "We thought this might be a one to three-year process."

Ace Drive-In's website provides a great window into this Joliet institution's proud history.

• Harold and Irene Voitek opened Ace in 1949 and ran it until 1963.
• Bill and Ardie Youngren ran it for the next 20 years.
• Rich and Tom Pierson have been the owners and operators over the past 34 years.

"Today, the ACE is one of the oldest continually operating restaurants in the area," its website boasts. "It's proud of the fact that many generations have grown up loving the ACE. Bet you didn't know that the ACE was open for business before the place with the arches was even selling french fries!"

Photos via Joliet Patch Editor John Ferak