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Historic place

Rialto Theatre

27 W Church St, Orlando, FL

A 450-seat Mission Revival grindhouse with a huge marquee and double features; Cinema Treasures says demolished, a 2011 comment says the building stands.

📅 1926–present🏛️ TheaterClosed
Open on the mapSlide back to 1926

The story

The Rialto Theatre opened on April 19, 1926, with Bebe Daniels in "Lovers in Quarantine." It was a Mission Revival house with one screen and 450 seats, operated by Florida State Theaters and Paramount Pictures. Cinema Treasures calls it a downtown Orlando grindhouse that always played double features, with a very large marquee, a small lobby and a comparatively small auditorium.

The theater closed in the early 1960s. The listing says it was demolished in the early 1970s, but a 2011 comment by a contributor says the Rialto building still stands and only the theater furnishings are gone. Another commenter asked about the current occupant, which appeared to be "Jacko's," and the contributor guessed a sports bar. The sources disagree, so the building's fate is unresolved.

What's There Now

Unclear; a 2011 comment suggests a sports bar occupied the building, but the listing says it was demolished.

Everything that was here

Did you know?

It opened with Bebe Daniels in "Lovers in Quarantine."
It always played double features.
Sources disagree on whether the building was demolished.

Nearby history

King Henry's Feast

15 W Church St · 20 m away
Dinner attraction in the Church Street portion that later relocated to International Drive.

Dickson & Ives

214 S Orange Ave · 69 m away
A grocery that became a department store in 1913, was rebuilt in 1920, and closed on April 11, 1965.

Church Street Station entertainment district

4 Depot Place · 102 m away
Bob Snow's club-hopping complex built around the depot and neighboring Church Street buildings.

McCrory's (Woolworth-McCrory Building)

101 S Orange Ave · 111 m away
A 1942 Art Moderne five-and-dime that kept parts of an 1888 building and was torn down in 2003.

Astor Theatre

37 W Pine St · 131 m away
Renamed after a 1953 sale to the B. S. Moss Theatre Corporation.

Rosie O'Grady's Good Time Emporium

129 W Church St · 183 m away
Bob Snow's sawdust-floored Dixieland saloon opened on July 19, 1974 and became the seed of Church Street Station, one of

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Sourceshttps://cinematreasures.org/theaters/14332