Rialto Theatre
1023 Fair Oaks Avenue,
South Pasadena,
CA
91030
1023 Fair Oaks Avenue,
South Pasadena,
CA
91030
37 people
favorited this theater
Showing 51 - 75 of 247 comments
The Rocky Horror Cast, Dark Refrain started
again showing the Rocky Horror Picture Show
on the 3rd Saturday of every month.
8:30 PM
What time is this happening I’d like to go
Hey everybody, local South Pas kid and amateur filmmaker, R.D.Hall, will be premiering him Noir Horror/Gangster movie at the Rialto on May 8th, 2009. The One-Sheet was created by another South Pas kid, local art legend, Jimi(not the tattoo artist)Martinez. Admission is free, as is the popcorn and refreshments. Whoa! Friday night at the movies!!! Lets all go support indie filmmaking…Rialto rocks!!!
From all indications, the owner still refuses to sell or play ball with the city of South Pasadena about the redevelopment and putting this theater right and restoring it back to a state that befits it’s place and history. Everyday this theater decays a little more. It breaks my heart to see this theater crumble away bit by bit and the owners really don’t seem to care. The paint is chipping and badly faded and the original marquee blade looks like it’s only held together by rust. Glass has been broken and not replaced and the ajoining space which used to house a resturant and card shop is also looking very decrepit. With some interest and TLC this theater could be restored into a multi-use theater similar to what was done with the Alex Theater in Glendale, the Orpheum on Broadway in Los Angeles, and the Warner Grand in San Pedro. The owners and the city of South Pasadena should be ashamed and a pox on both their heads!
I know it’s a bit of a pipe-dream, but is there any indication the owners are still actively trying to rent the place?
I moved to LA a mere three months after it closed and in my recent search for a place in So. Pas., a little piece of me has died every time I drive by and see the unlit marquee…
Guess I’ll have to endure Rocky one of these days to see the inside.
This is a 1983 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/ctmrvx
It is indeed. Thanks for posting. A branch of the Pacific Electric Railway (Red Cars) once ran up Fair Oaks and in front of the Rialto. The tracks can be seen in this photo
I found this photo circa 1945 in the LAPL database. For some reason it doesn’t show up when you enter Rialto as a search term. I think this is the Rialto in South Pasadena.
http://jpg1.lapl.org/00078/00078486.jpg
Those are excellent, detailed photos. Great job!
Hello All
I attended a Vampire: The Requiem LARP game at the Rialto on June, 7 2008. Intead of working on my character’s Influences I took way too many pictures of the interior and exterior with you guys in mind.
View link
A few months later I was at home watching a rerun of the “Cold Case” episode that featured Barry Bostwick with RHPS as its theme. It took me a few scenes but soon I was pointing at the screen and loudly informing my boyfriend “Hey I was in that theater!”. Indeed, since my visit Ive spotted the Rialto in a Disney Channel short feature (about a young girl that likes to sing as a hobby-shes on the Rialto stage, the cut away shots of her parents are at a newer facility) and a music video in heavy play on VH1 (it featured Perez Hilton, songs chorus was “if we wanna rock we rock, if we wanna roll we roll”). In the music video the same locksmith and restaurant were still in the storefronts.
Looks like the old girl has a friend in the movie location business.
Rocky Horror every 3rd Saturday!
http://www.adarkrefrain.com/index.shtml
The Rialto is available for rent, and last Saturday a “no-low budget movie” (probably direct-to-DVD) titled “Killer Tumbleweeds” did just that for its “west coast premiere”:
www.killertumbleweeds.com/Premiere_Planned.html
But the reason for this post is this: on the movie’s website are several publicity photos taken outside the theater the day prior. They show what the The Rialto’s exterior and marquee are looking like nowadays:
www.killertumbleweeds.com/Rialto_Photos.html
The screening was free to the general public. It would’ve been nice to have gone, more just to be able to go inside and check out the theater’s current condition and its projection quality than really to watch this movie.
Here’s a link to a site detailing the Rialto’s haunted past and legends thereof:
View link
So, Prop SP did pass in South Pasadena which greenlights the planned redevelopment of downtown South Pasadena. What, then, are the plans for the restoration and preservation of the Rialto Theater being as their claim that a yes on Prop SP would save the Rialto?
Vote no on Prop “SP” on November 4th. Don’t be duped by the propaganda – voting yes will not save the Rialto.
When I was last there, not only was it sweltering and unbreathable, especially in the back of the theater, but I could feel the floor sag and creak under me with every step down the aisle, and that was the orchestra level, not the balcony, which is probably worse. In some places it felt like my foot might go right through. I’m not sure that old floor could take the weight of a packed house nowadays. It desperately needs major renovation and repairs. Trying to lease it or keep it open as-is just isn’t going to work very well when even theater buffs are wary of going inside.
My 2¢ regarding the Jul 22, 2008 posting by Dublinboyo:
At least the Rialto’s owners haven’t yet:
1. demolished the building, which was the unhappy fate of the National Theatre (RIP) in Westwood village earlier this year, or
2. completely gutted the building to go retail, which is the unhappy ongoing fate of the NuWilshire Theatre in Santa Monica.
So looking for a silver lining, perhaps this ongoing stand-off is a good thing for a while: the city wants to buy or take it to redevelop and the owners “would never sell it under any circumstances regardless”, but at least nothing unhappy is happening.
(BTW, my guess is that the City of South Pasadena is too wealthy & conservative for a huge eminent domain action to be politically feasible at this point).
This current situation is maybe the best that can be hoped for near term.
Here is a link to a Polaroid diptych of the Rialto, taken July 27, 2008:
View link
Excert from the “South Pasadena Neighbors” newsletter about the Rilato’s role in the planned redevelopent and facelift of downtown South Pasadena:
The Rialto Building
“Revitalization of commercial districts must capitalize on the assets that make them unique, such as distinctive buildings and human scale that give people a sense of belonging. These local assets must serve as the foundation for all aspects of the revitalization program. In South Pasadena, our most recogizable asset is the Rialto Theater.
At the onset of the CRC’s work, we included the Rilato in the area of the project, in the hope that the theater could be redeveloped along with all the other properties in the southern two blocks of the project area. However, owners of the Rialto, along with a few other property owners, have declined to sell their property to the CRA, or to otherwise partiscipate in the project. Both the city and the developer have negotiated with the owner and the operator of the Rialto, but none of the offers have yet to be accepted. Without resorting to eminent domain, there is no means available to obtain control of the theater. As a result, the Rialto is not included in this project at present. That does not preclude the Rialto from becoming the next project of the CRA, using tax increment funds from this project as the funding base."
So, there you have it – the owners of the Rialto won’t sell to the city. Of course the city, should they suceed in buying the building, may plex the Rialto to make it more profitable as part of their grandiose downtown redevelopment plan. I had heard that the family which owns the Rialto building would never sell it under any circumstances regardless. I find the hint of eminent domain in the article ominous. Quite a few long time businesses in South Pasadena are holding out in opposition to the proposed redevelopemnt
With the way it was being run they’re missing a grand auditorium with peeling paint, rickety seats, tinny sound, curtains that don’t move, a pitiful sagging screen, and no air conditioning. Closed balcony too.
This blogger prefers the term “elegant entropy” as opposed to “crumbling before our eyes”:
http://tinyurl.com/69u63c
With all of this talk in South Pasadena of a major redevelopment plan and, with a grass roots drive by long time city residents to keep that developement in South Pasadena small and in porportion to the character of the city, what then are the plans for the Rialto? Next month will mark the 1 year anniversary since Landmark gave up and stopped full time screenings in the theater. Since then, with the rare exception of independent and private screenings, the theater has been used, for the most part, for filming, private birthday and anniversary parties and renting out the use of their marquee to wish “Becky a Happy Sixteenth Birthday!” The theater is literally crumbling before our eyes and is looking sadder and sadder by the week. If the signs on the south and east sides of the building that house the theater are to be belived, the theater has been up for sale for some time now. Anybody know anything about the fate of this theater one year after the fact?
So many of you may be of, or personally know members of, the film industry. What about a national fundraising program for the preservation of theaters? Or, persons of all ages could spend vacation time working on buildings. Rather like HABITAT FOR HUMANITY, film enthusiasts could have working vacations where they meet new friends with similar interests. Perhaps members of SAG and/or AFTRA could attend/participate. At the end of the day, put the hammers down, take a shower, then watch the pre-scheduled film and discuss it. Imagine fans of CASABLANCA, SPIDERMAN, REAR WINDOW, or THE GODFATHER getting together for productive fun. Heck, sign me up!
Does anyone know how I could contact someone about holding an event at the Rialto?
Email addresses or phone numbers would be a big help.
Thanks
Oh, and SPMS still held Thoroughly Modern Millie in their Auditorium. I’m guessing the Rialto just put it up there to support the local schools.