Rialto Theater

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.

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.

This is a recent interior photo.

This is an undated interior photo.

I wish there were some good shots of the interior out there.

My image of the RIALTO.

www.flickr.com/photos/lastpictureshow/406473881

Here are a couple photos of the Rialto Theatre, including the box office.
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If you go to http://search.tpl.lib.wa.us/images/ and type Rialto into the search line, you can find lots of historic photos of the theater, including some beautiful interior shots. There are none there from the renovation, though. Just from the 1920’s to 1950’s.

Saw a double feature of “Raiders of the Los Ark” and “Airplane!” here for $1 three weekends in a row when I was a kid. A company called Galaxy Theatres ran it and several other old single screeners around Tacoma until they went under in 1984. Then a company called Star Cinemas ran it until the late 1980’s.

I remember in the mid 80’s,the place had been closed for a while and it reopened.It was a sad sight,but still it was alive.The balcony was used for storage.You could look up and see the old seats and other crap up there.I’d still love to hear what opened to the Temple facility up the street.