Rialto Theatre

This is the first movie theatre I remember going to. I guess I was about 6 years old (around 1956) and I went with my older brother. I remember seeing Gung Ho with randolph scott and movies with the east side kids. I also remember seeing Love Me Tender with Elvis, which back in those days was a big deal. This theatre was always called the itch by the locals The unusual location, it was in the middle of a residential block, I suppose added to its demise..I'm not sure when it closed but it must have been around 1957 or 1958.When the rialto closed the building was purchased by a Jewish congregation an became Temple Hillel. In 1966 it was purchased by the dwarf giraffe athletic league who still own and run it today. The theater floor was gutted and the room converted into a gymnasium and basketball court.If you pass the building today it does not look like it was ever a theatre.

Well... I took a drive by the former Rialto's highly unlikely location the other day and snapped these photos. As jff posted, it's smack in the middle of the most residential of Queens' blocks (15th Road, no less, not even Street or Avenue!) very close to where the busy 150th Street crosses over the Cross Island Parkway, but well out of the way for anyone except those who lived on the adjoining blocks to have known much about! Looking at the building now and knowing it used to be a theater, one can sort of recognize a familiar profile... But it is only really when looking at the rear of the structure (see the last photo below) with its walls angling back to where the screen was that the past is revealed to trained eyes.

First up - here's a shot looking down the block from 150th Street (the theater is on the left side of the street from this view): http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b110/GuanoReturns/Queens%20Movie%20Theaters%202005/IMG_1015.jpg
I imagine the trees on the block were younger and not as full as they are now, but even so, can you imagine walking along and peering down this street to see a movie theater marquee jutting out from between the row of houses?

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b110/GuanoReturns/Queens%20Movie%20Theaters%202005/IMG_1009.jpg
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b110/GuanoReturns/Queens%20Movie%20Theaters%202005/IMG_1010.jpg
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b110/GuanoReturns/Queens%20Movie%20Theaters%202005/IMG_1011.jpg

This last shot of the building's rear is taken from the sidewalk of the next block down (15th Drive):
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b110/GuanoReturns/Queens%20Movie%20Theaters%202005/IMG_1013.jpg

Great photos Ed, thanks for posting them. In February of 1958, NYC lists this address as a Temple which means this theater was closed by 1958. In September of 1966 it is listed as a "Boys Club". Today it is a youth organization called the Dwarf-Giraffe Boys League. I assume that is what the "D G" stands for on the front of the building.

I'm sure most of the gutting and refurbishing of the interior occured in the '60's after Dwarf-Giraffe took over. I imagine that none of whatever (probably modest) ornamentation might have existed is left. Perhaps one day I'll walk in and see if I can peek around the gym and basketball court - not that I expect to see anything like the remnants of the old Brooklyn Paramount in the LIU gym!

The photos I posted above are located here now that I've reorganized my photobucket account. The old links no longer work.

There's a rare B&W photo from 1946 of the Rialto's marquee and entrance in Jason Antos's "Whitestone," recently published by Arcadia as a $20 paperback. Most chain bookstores in the Greater New York area have browsing copies available in their travel sections.

I was on the block earlier today and pulled over to see if the place was open. While the doors were locked and the lights turned off, I could look through the small square porthole windows on the front doors and note that there seems to be a small vestibule leading to a set of doors leading into the large gym space. The vestibule floor seems to retain the original upwards slope towards the inner doors and I suspect that this may have been the original outer vestibule under the theatre's canopy. Next time I'm in a Barnes & Noble, I'll have to look for the "Whitestone" book Warren posted about above and check out the 1946 image of the Rialto for comparison.

Those inner doors were open when I visited today, by the way, and I could make out that the space beyond is one big open room right back to the rear wall of the building. It was too dark to make out any details. I wonder if any elements remain at all - perhaps on the ceiling?

A recent photo of the building as the home of the Dwarf Giraffe Athletic League can be seen in the new article about Whitestone at www.forgotten-ny.com

I have very fond memories of The Rialto. JJF is right--we called it the itch--probably because it was pretty funky and your feet stuck to the floor. I went to the Saturday double features--generally movies that had long seen their day in theaters. I loved the horror and sci fi movies. For instance, I saw the double feature of the original "Frankenstein" and "Dracula" there. I think the doors opened at 1:00 on Saturday afternoon. I would bring 51 cents: 26 cents(?)for the ticket and 25 cents to spend in the snack machines (there was no candy counter) which dispensed soda, popcorn and ice cream. I think the owner would sell the tickets and then go upstairs and run the projector. There was a matron who would prowl the aisles with the flashloight and intimidate the kids. I went to PS 79 which was a block away and rememmber when they gutted it either 1957 or 1958.

Here is a 1946 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/ylzd4ef