I was involved in the reopening of the Rio in around 1974. It was somewhat vandalized but all the equipment was intact; it even had the gear to run 3-D movies. I helped the guys get going but it wasn’t viable as a movie house so they started using it as a music venue.
My family owned/ran the place in the late sixties to early seventies. It was built in 1947 by Dave Williams and was operated by Dave and his wife Beverly for years. The seating at that time was 743 and remarkably, Guerneville had two theaters for about 20 years, the other, called the Grove was destroyed by fire.
I was involved in the reopening of the Rio in around 1974. It was somewhat vandalized but all the equipment was intact; it even had the gear to run 3-D movies. I helped the guys get going but it wasn’t viable as a movie house so they started using it as a music venue.
My family owned/ran the place in the late sixties to early seventies. It was built in 1947 by Dave Williams and was operated by Dave and his wife Beverly for years. The seating at that time was 743 and remarkably, Guerneville had two theaters for about 20 years, the other, called the Grove was destroyed by fire.