Rialto Theater
812 South Broadway,
Los Angeles,
CA
812 South Broadway,
Los Angeles,
CA
24 people
favorited this theater
Built in 1917 as Quinn’s Rialto, a nickelodeon, the Rialto was purchased by Sid Grauman in 1919 and it quickly became part of his growing empire.
The Rialto continued to show first run films for decades and eventually switched to Spanish-language films to suit the changing neighborhood.
Sadly, like many of the area’s theaters, its lobby is now home to small retail shops. Its auditorium sits quietly waiting, perhaps in vain, to reopen. And its large marquee remains blank.
Contributed by
Ross Melnick
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Recent comments (view all 69 comments)
Here is a 1983 night photo that shows the Tower, Rialto and Orpheum:
http://tinyurl.com/qp2c7r
Life’s too short: Probably asbestos abatement is why the ceiling is missing.
aarfeld: The Thriller video shows the Palace Theater, not this one.
A few years ago you could still make out the name of Esther Williams in those black plastic letters on the marquee of the Rialto. I have a photo somewhere.
Who is in charge of this venue, and is there a lease on it?
I finally got around to uploading my photos of the interior.
View link
Here is a small photo from 1980:
http://tinyurl.com/y4p4b4e
SiliconSam: the building was being demoed when activists stopped them; that’s why it looks the way it does.
Penway: the Esther Williams on the marquee was left over from when they shot The Mambo Kings next door at the Tower.
Ken: that’s one marquee that I’d love to see repaired and lit up again!
Yes Michael Jackson’s Thriller video does show the Palace theater but it was the Rialto theater’s interior that was used for the movie scene at the begining and Palace was used for the exterior.
Some of the issues about the drop ceiling that posters have asked is that this theatre. Went through a earthquake retrofit that many older buildings had to do. The two theatres on Broadway that had to do the retrofit were Rialto and Cameo. On Hollywood Blvd. Mann’s Hollywood and Mann’s Fox Theatres were done. During Rialto’s retrofit they added the dropped ceiling and redid the seating and carpets. The theatre looked really nice after the job.
Rialto marquee is shown running at night in the Eddie Murphy movie 48 Hours.