Rialto Theatre
1023 Fair Oaks Avenue,
South Pasadena,
CA
91030
1023 Fair Oaks Avenue,
South Pasadena,
CA
91030
37 people
favorited this theater
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The Rialto has gone with Summer Blockbuster programming with the opening of “The Da Vinci Code” this last Friday. Perhaps it is the only way it can survive with so many Laemmle screens in the area showing art house fare. The Landmark ad announced “New Digital Sound System”. I guess this means that Landmark intends to keep the theatre going…
While the paint on it’s exterior may be peeling, the Rialto Theater remains the jewel of South Pasadena. The lobby is as elegant today as ever, although the auditorium itself could use some work.
The URL for BANDA Recordings is:
http://www.theatreorgans.com/cds/banda.html
Scroll down through the list and you will find recording of GW at the Rialto Wurlitzer.
>I discovered how wonderful “silent” movies and the theater organ >are, at the Rialto in the early 1960’s – first “The Mark of Zorro” >and then “The Eagle”. George Wright was organist.
>posted by RobXV on Jul 5, 2005 at 2:38pm
The organist for the silent films was Gaylord Carter. George Wright rarely, if ever, accompanied feature silent films.
George Wright did play some wonderful concert series at the Rialto over the years. He also recorded a legendary album for DOT records on the Rialto Wurlitzer. Many years after the organ was removed, George released some more recordings made at the Rialto from archival recordings on his own BANDA label. These CDs are still available. If I can find the website URL, I will post it later.
I have fond memories of the Rialto as a kid and teenager. In my early years they had “kid” shows every saturday during the summer where the moms could drop off the kids, or you could walk, the moms would have the afternoon to themselves to either shop or just be alone. The theater would be filled from top to bottom, not an empty seat most times. The big leather Lodge seats on the first floor in the back of the theater were the special prize as well as the Balcony seats. The kid shows had an MC and sometimes a live performance or two on the actual stage before the movie started. The organ always played, especially during the silent films of my parents era. Buck Rogers comes to mind. Then we had cartoon after cartoon after cartoon and a movie. If the projectionist did not start the films on time we started thumping our feet until the whole building was shaking. The same thing happend if the film broke and he took too long to slpice it back together again. Everyone felt safe and there were not many fights back then. At intermission everyone ran to the lobby for candy and the bathroom, better get there early! All and all it was a fantastic experience for anyone growing up in the 50’s and 60’s. It was the best air conditioned place to be on a hot summer day if you were not at the “plunge.” For a while, my uncle opend a pizza business right next to the Rialto and in the early years he had a window that opened right on to the street where you could by pizza by the slice before going into the theater. When new movies came to town, like Alfred Hitchcoks' Psycho or The Birds, the people would line up well in advance of the shows and he did a brisk business for many years. Right before they took the organ out they had one last concert and I went to hear that wonderful old instrument played again. When they took out the stage, the decline started, and continued when they took out the organ. I was glad last time i was visiting that the old theatre is still there.
“Sam’s Son”-1984-Michael Landon uses the Rialto S Pacadena in place of the Westmont Theatre (New Jersey) In the movie you’ll not only see the outside of the Rialto theatre but also the inside especially the balconey where in one seen his father (Eli Wallach) has a heart attack while carrying film’s up to the projection booth. Landon (Gene Ormon) depict’s his youth around the 1950’s in and outside the theatre with car’s from the 40’s and 50’s and when he come’s back in 1984. Anyone who’s a fan of THIS theatre and /or a fan of Michael Landon should get a copy of this movie ( a cheapie on e-bay) Also, check out the Westmont Theatre where in real life Michael Landon’s father was the manager and the actual theatre that the Rialto and story line to “Sam’s Son” depict’s!
Does anyone know the fate of the Rialto? Lately it seems it has been playing an odd mix of films that are veering away from Landmark’s usual art fare (King Kong, Syriana, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory). Is this in response to the city of South Pasadena wanting more mainstream fare at the theatre? Also, how is the Rialto holding up to over-saturation of screens in Pasadena, including both mainstream and art cinemas?
Another photo from the LA Library:
http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics18/00028730.jpg
Good spirit. Bad spelling.
http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics18/00028731.jpg
You can see the exterior of the theatre in a current Chase Bank commercial.
I know this is nitpicky, but, in the interest of accuracy, the Rialto is located on Fair Oaks Avenue (not Boulevard), which was never a part of U.S. 66 (as stated in the intro).
As to the Wurlitzer organ in the Rialto, Ken Roe’s information is almost correct. The remains of the organ were removed by the Villemin Pipe Organ Company of Porterville, CA in 1972. What remained, the entire right chamber, console, and blower were removed and sold as parts. Pipes were not tossed onto the seats as junk, unless it was what remained from the burned-out left chamber. The organ remains were purchased by the late Gary Baumann in San Francisco. Upon his death, the parts were sold to a collector in the Clear Lake region of Northern California, where it all remains.
The fire “only” damaged the left chamber. The grill to this chamber was partially cut out when the fire dept. shot copious amounts of water into the burning chamber. The grill on the right side was intact and remained so for many years. When we were in the Rialto circa 1983, the right grill was absolutely intact.
This organ was installed with the Solo chamber on the left and the Main on the right—the exact opposite of the usual Wurlitzer practices. Of course, it was the Solo Chamber that burned.
The series of concerts George Wright gave at the Rialto during the 1960s and early 1970s were legendary. Gaylord Carter and Bill Thompson also gave programs on this wonderful instrument.
This organ was a Wurlitzer Style 216 which was designed by So. Cal theatre organist Frank Lantermann. later a California politician.
With one exception in Oakland, CA, all style 216 organs were installed in Southern California West Coast Theatres.
The American Theatre Organ Society 50th Annual Convention held a program at the Rialto this summer when a digital electronic organ was hauled in for the event.
The Rialto does not look like it has had a lick of maintenance or repair since the Wurlitzer burned in 1972. The theatre smelled, was filthy, and decaying. Yet, this magnificent theatre is otherwise largely intact and crying to be restored. With some vision, it was easy to see what the Rialto could again become.
We all need to encourage the South Pas city govt. to faithfully restore the Rialto and not let it become cobbled up into retail, dinner theatre, or worse. Looking at the Rialto, it is easy to see it as a community performing arts center.
I saw “Lost in Translation” and “Cidade de Deus” at this theater a few years ago. It’s showing its age but is still a classic.
If you LOVE Real Ghost storeis as much as the next person, check out Haunted Houses of Pasadena and learn about the real ghosts who call the old Rialto Theater Home. You’ll harldly be able to put the book down. The author also offers tours through real haunted sites in Pasadena, South Pasadena, Altadena, Sierra Madre and San Marino too. Find out if the Rialto Theater is on the tour at his funtastic website WWW.ICGHOSTS.COM The book has sold over 4000 copies and is about to enter its 5th printing with new stories from people who’ve been touched at this old marvel of a theater. Too bad someone won’t spend a little money and fix it up a bit!
Psychic-Mike
What’s happening with the fight to preserve/restore the Rialto as a single-screen house?
Hello again. About a year ago, and about 5 years after the baseball glove incident…my son and his crew of pals were walking around South Pasadena one weekend night. Before taking off for the night, I gave each of his pals, my son included, a flashlight. To my son I loaned by big black Mag-Lite, with the admonition that he should bring it back or else. When they got to the Rialto, the y noticed that the side stairway door was ajar, this being 1 hour after the midnight movie had ended. My son’s crew wanted to go exploring, but my son had recently been pinched for filming high school grudge fights, and his girlfriend, whom he had come across that evening,
disuaded from doing so. One friend had damaged his flashlite, so my son loaned him the Mag-Lite. My son went home soon after, but his friends went exploring. They were promptly caught by the night-watchmen, and the South Pasadena Police, arrested them whole bunch. I was called to pick-up some of the kids from the jail. The watchmen was there making a statement. He told me that he probably wouldnt have called the cops except that every night for the past week those kids were breaking in and mocking him by playing catch in the balcony. I told him that wasnt possible since the kids had snuk in only that one night .The od man says'“Baloney!!! Every night they’re up there running around, saying stuff like,"Watch a movie after the game”, and “slide home junior”!!! And the cops kept my Mag-Lite.
Hello again,I know for a fact that the Olympic Auditorium in downtown Los Angeles is haunted. As for the Rialto, let me relate this story concerning my son.The Rialto has two side stairways on the south side of the theatre( Oxley Street). One is a stage access/fire escape, the other, boarded up, was an old access to the space behind the balcony, and once open to the office space on the second floor. This stairway has been boarded-up since the 60s, but one night my son was coming from a party in the Marengo district, and he saw the boarded-up entrance ,ajar. It had beeen raining very hard,( most of the damage in the Rialto is water damage) and the wooden doors had become warped.My son, being an urban explorer like his ol' man, pried the door open enough so he could crawl through. He always carries his little Mag-Lite, so he went exploring this section of the Rialto. There were several holes in the plaster on the second floor, and feeling behind one of the holes, he found and brought up what we later found out to be a game-used 1919 baseball glove. He pounded the glove for a while, thinking it odd that such a thing would be inside a plaster wall, then he sat down in the balcony to rest. After a while, he felt as if were being watched, he felt wind on his back, and then a sound of something sticky peeling off a surface. The hair on the back of his neck stood up and he says he heard “whispers”, one of which he could make out was saying, “Watch the movie after the game”.When looked down at the bottom, near the thr right of the stage, he saw a dark figure , human glide down off the stage and silently make its way acroos the second row of seats. My son was terrified, but transfixed by this strange sight. the dark figure then made its way toward the lobby, and my son says he heard another whisper that said,“ "steal home, get out boy, get out boy..”, so he bolted down the stairs and ran back home. We still have that glove.
Hello, I have lived in South Pasadena since 1984.Around the middle 80s, the Rialto allowed live rock concerts by local San Gabriel Valley rock bands on the weekend nights. I have heard it rumoured that Armored Saint had played a gig there before they became famous. When I first moved there, I heard the bands plying, and I walked in. I had my harmonica so I jammed briefly with one of the bands. I heard that two weeks later some San Marino High School toughs tried to crash the concert and in the ensuing brawl, the very expensive,rare, and original glass doors were broken and THAT was the end of the gigs.I was surprised, because other than this
incident, South Pasadena teens are well behaved.
I discovered how wonderful “silent” movies and the theater organ are, at the Rialto in the early 1960’s – first “The Mark of Zorro” and then “The Eagle”. George Wright was organist.
I went to the Rialto in the 1960s (especially recall the then-new release of Hayley Mills in “THE PARENT TRAP”). In summer, the local ‘plunge’ punched a card each time you paid to swim. When the card was full (after about 10 swims), the Rialto gave us a discount on tickets (I think the regular 50 cents was reduced to 35 cents). They had fabulous Saturday matinees — serials were shown, but they may have been “old” by the 1960s (cannot recall which were shown but we enjoyed them). I think the snack bar was shown in the film THE PLAYER — it was just the same (very small by current standards)! On Friday and Saturday nights we knew the high school kids “owned” the place. We LOVED this theater and knew, even then, that it was in some way special. Mostly, we felt it was OURS.
Does anybody remember a No Smoking Trailer with Bart the Fire Marshall next to his red firetruck? It lasted 90 seconds and played regularly at the Rialto and Nuart before features in the early 1980s. It also ran during the Filmex Film Festival. It was my very first film school project.
posted by DAVEBE
Hello All,
I’m currently working on a local program highlighting the history of the Rialto in part to provide enthusiasm and education for the changes that will occur at the Rialto over the next several years. As Moii indicates, it will be important for residents to educate themselves and communicate with the city on this one. If you have stories, comments, suggestions….or want to know more about the event, and perhaps want to be involved, please e-mail me: I would love to incorporate personal stories into this program, so do please contact me. Event is April 23, 2005, so contact soon.
Thanks
I’d like to hear about it too. When did it take place?
Mc: Please write about the seance at the Rialto as I’m sure it would be an experience few CT members could say they have experienced!
The Rialto is indeed haunted.
Some friends and I did an impromptu seance many years ago on the stage one night, Way after closing. A friend who worked there let us in and participated. This wan an unique experience, and I have not been in the theater since.