Rialto Theatre

406 Oak Street,
Hood River, OR 97031

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Additional Info

Architects: Henderson Ryan

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Rialto Theatre

Opened in 1921, the Rialto Theatre was situated in a group of buildings that appear to have been on a main road through Hood River. By the late-1940’s the vertical sign had been removed and the familiar design of an inverted V shaped marquee had been installed with RIALTO lettering on either side of the V.

Contributed by Don Lewis / Billy Holcomb / Billy Smith

Recent comments (view all 1 comments)

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on August 22, 2014 at 6:40 pm

The Rialto was located at 406 Oak Street, and has been demolished. Its site is now a parking lot.

Here is the PSTOS page for the Rialto Theatre in Hood River. The Rialto’s Wurlitzer organ, installed in 1921, was moved to the Egyptian Theatre in Coos Bay in 1956, but it has recently been returned to Hood River where it is installed in The History Museum of Hood River County and undergoing restoration.

The History Museum has two photos on this page. One is a close view of the theater entrance during a renovation sometime around 1930, and the other shows the Wurlitzer organ being played by Vera Kolstad, wife of the theater’s first owner, Arthur Kolstad.

As we know the name of the theater’s owner, it must have been the Rialto that was the subject of an item in the April 9, 1921, issue of Building & Engineering News which said that architect Henderson Ryan was preparing plans for a two-story theater to be built at Hood River, Oregon, for A. S. Kolstad. The Wurlitzer was installed in 1921, so the theater must have been completed and opened before the end of that year.

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