Rialto Theater
114 West Sinton Street,
Sinton,
TX
78387
114 West Sinton Street,
Sinton,
TX
78387
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This theater dates back to at least 1950. A Rialto Theater is listed for Sinton, Texas prior to 1950, but the seating given for that Rialto Theater is less than half of the seating given for this theater. I don’t know if the earlier Rialto Theater is the same theater as the one listed here.
The Rialto Theater was still operating into the 1970’s. After closing the building was used as a video store. The building is currently vacant.
Contributed by
Lost Memory
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1975 Photo
1984 Photo
Here is another photo:
http://tinyurl.com/lt49pu
This is another photo.
The Rialto was rebuilt in 1945. The November 24 issue of Boxoffice said that “Henry Hall reopened his Rialto Theatre in Sinton on November 16. The house which was recently damaged by fire has been completely rebuilt.”
The August 11 issue of Boxoffice had said that the old Rialto had been almost completely razed by the fire, and that the new theater was being decorated by the King-Lewis Studios of Dallas. The walls were to be painted with murals depicting the evolution of navigation from the canoe to the Queen Mary. The front of the building would feature glass brick, neon, and indirect lighting. The Rialto was operated by the Hall circuit, headquartered in Beeville, Texas.
The Rialto at Sinton dates back to at least the 1920s. The September 22, 1928, issue of Motion Picture Times ran an item about the Hall Brothers, mentioning that they operated theaters called the Rialto in the Texas towns of Sinton, Taft, Three Rivers, Kenedy, and Beeville. The Beeville Rialto was the circuit’s first, and by then had been operated by the Halls for six years.
Another mystery is solved. Before the fire, the Rialto is listed with 375 seats. Apparently the rebuilt theater was alot larger.
Here is a photo from 2008.
August 2009 photo of the Rialto:
View link
Does anyone have information about The Sinton drive-in. I have the location from Google Earth historical imagery on Hwy 77 just south of the town. I don’t know when it opened or who operated it.