Rialto Cinemas

The North Rialto Shopping Center opened theatre-less on December 4, 1958. The Center would add a cinema in 1972 when Ed Roed became the latest franchisee of the automated chain of mini-theaters, the Jerry Lewis Cinema. His single-screen 350-seat theatre launched July 21, 1972 with a double-feature Disney program of “Bedknobs and Broomsticks” and “In Search of the Castaways”. It was reportedly the first Jerry Lewis Cinema location to open in Southern California.

But like the Jerry Lewis Cinema Circuit which would declare bankruptcy soon thereafter and go out of business, the Jerry Lewis Cinema nameplate was removed in just four months and a new owner took over the operation. Arrowhead Cinema of Riverside changed it to the North Rialto Cinema I on November 29, 1972 removing the Jerry Lewis signage. Their reasoning behind the name change to “Cinema I” was that they would soon begin building a second 350-seat theatre adjoining the complex.

On May 25, 1973, the second screen launched and the theatre’s name became the North Rialto Cinema I & II. In 1974, the name was tweaked to the Rialto Twin Cinemas. The Twin closed in 1976 re-emerging with new operators as an ultra-low price 99-cent, sub-run discount house in 1977. Under yet new operators in November of 1979, the theatre switched to double-features.

In 1986, the theatre faced challenges in the video age and with a new breed of multiplexes. Operator Jim Coyne changed names to the Rialto Cinemas in what would become the venue’s final year of operation. Coyne shuttered the theatre with a double-feature of “Armed and Dangerous” and “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” in Cinema I and “Crawl Space” and “Radioactive Dreams” in Cinema II on October 9, 1986. The space was converted for a fabric retailer.

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