Rialto Theatre

Would the congregation object to anyone taking pictures of the interior?

It was great having four theaters within walking distance of my house. I remember seeing Bridge at Remagen and Kelly’s Heroes there. Sure miss the good ole days.

In two months, this building will be 99 years old.

i worked at the rialto thearter in the early 70’s. I remember we had the Sting sold out every weekend had ticket holder lines. also american graffiti. had over 2,000 seats.

My dad worked for Century Theatre throughout the late 1950s and 1960s, and I spent many happy hours in the dark throughout my childhood and teen years. He managed the Rialto from the early 1960s for several years (I was in high school at Erasmus, and we lived on the corner of Ocean and Caton). Around 1961 they tried running old movies at a discounted price (the only one I remember is “Meet Me in St Louis”), but this was years before the ever-growing interest in old films, and no one came, so they gave up this policy very quickly. I used to bring my friends or my “dates” on a Saturday night for free movies, and often afterwards we would head back down Flatbush Avenue to Jahn’s ice cream parlor (or into Garfield’s, to laugh at the “old” people hanging out all night, sipping a cup of coffee). Glad to see that the theatre is still standing…

I remember my father taking us to see “Thunderball” at the Rialto after the original theater we went to, the Kingsway, was sold out. The excitement surrounding the release of this 4th Bond film was incredible: far more excitement than the mania surrounding the release of “Batman” in 1989 or “The Dark Knight” 2 years ago.
The Rialto got a lot of United Artists films. I remember seeing “The Russians are Coming, The Russians are Coming” and the Beatles in “Let It Be” there. It was a nice theater but I do not remember anything distinctive about it, unlike the beautiful Loews Kings which was about 2 blocks away. I also preferred the Albemarle which was about 3 blocks away.
I remember once eating at Henrys Ice Cream parlor,which was across the street, before seeing something at the Rialto. This nice little restaurant which used to put stuffed animals in its windows to celebrate the seasons, holidays, etc. held out a very long time as a nice middle-class neighborhood deteriorated into a dangerous area with hoodlums hanging out on the street, day or night. My express bus used to pass down Flatbush Avenue on the way to Manhattan. I marvelled at how long Henrys held out. Then about 15 years ago, they threw in the towel and Henrys was gone. The last time I passed that way, it had been converted into a Jamaican restaurant. Henrys joined the Rialto, Loews Kings,Albemarle, the Astor and the Kenmore as remnants of a better time on Flatbush Avenue.

I visited the Rialto many times during the sixties. I remember seeing West Side Story at night. With my mom. Who worked across the street at Henry’s ice cream parlor. I must have been around 8 0r 9 at the time. It was a very big deal. I remember her saying the parlor would get real busy when the show let out. Regarding the battle of the bands site. that would be at the Midwood @Flatbush and Glenwood Rd. I saw many battles there. the place was called the Midwood Terrace. It usually featured 4 or 5 bands set up around the floor with the top band set up on the main stage. It really wasn’t so much a battle, more like a talent show. I know they had some pretty big acts like the Vagrants featuring Leslie West, Constant Changes which morphed into Alive & Kicking It was a great place to view the local talent.

Photos above show new circa 1947-48 marquees on Rialto and Albermarle Theaters.

Here is a vintage postcard view from the early 1930’s:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kencta/204748759/

As you can see, the marquee has been damaged by a passing truck (or something?) at some time. The building is still in use as a church as can be seen on the sign on the right-hand side over the alley entrance on the second photo

In Sidney Lumet’s “Bye Bye Braverman” (1968, I think) there’s a scene where the the main characters, who’ve been driving frantically around New York looking for a funeral, stop briefly and run into a Chinese restaurant, emerging, seconds later, with a basket full of egg rolls.
That Chinese restaurant was right next to the Rialto. In between this place and the theater is either a very thin street (too thin to drive a car down) or a service alleyway, I can’t recall which.
In any event, the shots outside the restaurant were angled specifically so that the theater isn’t shown.
That was a great restaurant while it was there. It turned into other businesses afterwards, but their sign remained for years afterwards, I don’t know if it’s still up there.

Warren; I have just compared your Rialto photo above with a fairly recent photo I have of the Rialto, Brooklyn. Looks to me like the same building. Thanks for posting it.