Gindling Hilltop Camp

Gindling Hilltop Camp is a Jewish summer sleep-away camp administered by Wilshire Boulevard Temple in Malibu, California in Little Sycamore Canyon between the Santa Monica Mountains and the Pacific Ocean on a coastal ridge, 750 feet above sea level. The camp serves approximately 120 campers, ages 7–15, and has a staff of about 40. Gindling Hilltop has been described as "the prototype for the American Jewish youth camping movement".[1]

Gindling Hilltop Camp
Camp
Nickname(s): 
Hilltop, GHC
Websitewww.wbtcamps.org

Hilltop and its sister camp, Camp Hess Kramer, are run by Wilshire Boulevard Temple Camps, an organization associated with the Union for Reform Judaism. The director of WBTC supervises both camps, but Hilltop is run on a day-to-day basis by a residential director. The camp's staff is made up of camp counselors, activity specialists, religious educators, supervisors (for programming, counselors, and counselors-in-training), and health personnel.

History

Gindling Hilltop Camp was opened 1968 as a sister camp to Camp Hess Kramer because enrollment at Hess Kramer had become too high. The camp is named after Albert Gindling who worked on several of the Hess Kramer facilities.[2] Camp Hess Kramer was the site of the Chicano Youth Leadership Conference (CYLC). The conference was founded in 1963 by Sal Castro, a teacher at Lincoln High School> The annual three-day event was designed to inspire and motivate Chicano students in LAUSD high schools.[3]

Actors Zachary Gordon and Alden Ehrenreich are among the camp's alumni.[4] Another notable alumni is singer-songwriter Alec Benjamin.[5] The camp was destroyed on November 9, 2018 by the Woolsey Fire; as of early 2019, they were still in the process of rebuilding the camp.[6][7] In the summer of 2019, the Wilshire Boulevard Temple Camps temporarily relocated to California State University Channel Islands.[8]

A picture of Buckhorn campgrounds campfire and cabin area
Buckhorn campground

In 2020, the camp's summer was spent on zoom, free of charge.[9] In 2021, and until rebuilding in Malibu is complete, the camp will be spent at Buckhorn Camp, located in Idyllwild, California[10]

References
  1. Oliver, Myrna (August 02, 2004). "Alfred Wolf, 88; Noted Rabbi Started Jewish Youth Camps". Los Angeles Times.
  2. Jaffe-Gill, Ellen (2002-05-23). "Hess Kramer Turns 50". The Jewish Journal.
  3. Haro, Carlos M. "Commentary: CYLC Location Damaged by Woolsey Fire". UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center. Retrieved 2021-01-17.
  4. "7 of Hollywood's Favorite Summer Camps". The Hollywood Reporter. 4 August 2018. Retrieved 2019-04-22.
  5. "Alec Benjamin Alumni". Gindling Hilltop Camps. Gindling Hilltop Camps.
  6. Moche, Erin (12 November 2018). "Jewish Summer Camps Destroyed By Woolsey Fire". Jewish Journal. Retrieved 2 February 2019.
  7. Stuart, Gwynedd (2019-04-17). "Will a Pair of Beloved Jewish Summer Camps Rise from the Ashes of the Woolsey Fire?". Los Angeles Magazine. Retrieved 2019-04-22.
  8. Seth, Tobeyes. "The location for summer 2019 is..." Youtube. WBT Camps. Retrieved 2022-04-07.
  9. "WBT Camps Virtual Program". wbtcamps. WBT Camps. Retrieved 2022-04-07.
  10. WBT Camps. "Camp@Buckhorn". wbtcamps. WBT Camps. Retrieved 2022-04-07.

34.059895°N 118.964225°W / 34.059895; -118.964225

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