Here you’ll find a bit of this and that about the Rialto Theatre, an icon in South Pasadena, California. The exterior is a bit of an eyesore at the moment, and the theater is open only for the occasional Rocky Horror Picture Show, student movie premiere or birthday party. Once in a while, when the marquee does light up, it teases passers by with a whiff of what could be.

The Rialto Theatre in South Pasadena is one of the many picture palaces built in the craze of the Jazz Age, and 85 years later, one of a few remaining - largely intact. The interior is unadulterated, though the balcony is closed and the organ is gone. Both stage and screen are silent now, but over they years they’ve seen vaudevillians and cinema, concerts and lectures, silent films and “talkies”, classics and cult films.

One day, with vision, investment, and a little luck, the Rialto Theatre will open again, preserved and polished. Meanwhile this site presents the public with photos and research, in an attempt to paint the picture of what The Rialto has been, and what it might yet be.