Rialto Theater
310 S. 9th Street,
Tacoma,
WA
98402
310 S. 9th Street,
Tacoma,
WA
98402
4 people
favorited this theater
The Rialto Theater opened September 7, 1918. The original architect was Roland Borhek. When the Rialto Theater opened it had a Wurlizer 3/15 Style 35 Special installed. The organ was sold and removed in 1945.
Around 1990 a nonprofit organization with funding from the City of Tacoma and its City Council, bought the theater and remodeled it. The organization is called the Broadway Center for the Performing Arts. The Rialto Theater is now used for live performances.
Contributed by
Charles Van Bibber & Lost Memory
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Recent comments (view all 21 comments)
I wish there were some good shots of the interior out there.
Beautiful photo by Rob Bender of exterior, 8-29-07 here:
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This is an undated interior photo.
An August 2008 photo can be seen here.
This is a recent interior photo.
1982 Photo
1983 Photo
1985 Photo
When it was last a cinema prior to the restoration it had a slightly curved scope screen in front of the proscenium. It extended i believe to just about where the purple lights are on either side of the stage in the recent interior photo 2 posts up. The Rialto once played “Empire Strikes Back” in 70mm either as 2nd run or a rerelease around 1981 or so. Not sure of any other past 70mm engagements, although the larger Temple Theatre up the hill had many.
Little history on the theatre and history on the organ courtesy PSTOS.
http://pstos.org/instruments/wa/tacoma/rialto.htm
According to a brief biography of Tacoma architect Roland Borhek, the Rialto was the second theater he designed in the city. In 1914, he had designed the Colonial Theatre, though that house went through a couple of significant remodeling projects before finally being demolished.
I noticed that the PSTOS page Chuck linked above to misspells Borhek’s first name (it should be Roland, with only one “l”) which is probably where the misspelling currently in the theater description on this page came from.
2010 photos of the Rialto Theatre. Click to enlarge.
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