Rialto Theatre

April 2nd, 1921 grand opening ad in the photo section.

The statue was actually on your right went you went out into the mall. sorry for the error!

The Rialto Theater was built on the site of an earlier theater that had burned down around 1916. That theater was named the Lyceum. The facade of the Rialto building that you see today is what was left after a remodeling. Originally the entrance building was a rather fanciful structure with a beautiful 1920’s marquee and I believe a large vertical sign that ran up the center front of the building. There was a rather disastrous fire in the Rialto office/lobby building, that I don’t think affected the auditorium structure too much, around October of 1957 (I think) during which the assistant fire chief of the City of Allentown fell through the lobby floor and was killed. I think the facade that remains today was what it was remodeled to after the fire. If I remember corrctly, the theater wasn’t really “gutted” after it closed, it just had the chairs removed and was used for storage, as is. I believe that the auditorium structure was razed during the summer of 1985 and it was at that time that a modern structure with some parking facilities was built on the site. The Lobby/office building was just remodeled and continued to be used as part of the larger building.

I remember going to this theater in the 1960’s- especially to se BAMBI. It still was impressively elegant, at least to a child, but I recall that the beautiful marble railings were absolutely sticky with grime, and the bathroom was FOUL.

Aloha, I live in Hawaii and wes recently reading an old article in Reminisce Magazine from July/August 2001 about a fly problem in Allentown that was so bad the Rialto Theater was giving free admission to any children who came to the theater with 100 dead flies. The date given in the article was the summer of 1928, but I can’t seem to find any other articles on it. Would anyone have any insite? I know it was long ago, but I would love to write a more detailed article for some of the magazines in Hawaii.

Mahalo,
Brian

This building was taken over by PP&L (Pennsylvania Power & Light) and used for office space, although not sure if they own or lease the space. I worked as a computer contract employee for them in the late 1990’s and was not able to see anything indicating the building was once the Rialto. Hondo59 indicated the auditorium was razed, but from talking with old-timers at PP&L, they said the building was totally gutted to the walls and re-worked into office space. The auditorium area now has multiple floors of office space.
It’s possible that some of the lobby remains since only the first floor entrance was used as a bill payment center (now closed) by PP&L. I was never able to get into the second floor space above the bill payment area, so not sure what it looks like.
The Allentown Boyd was located on 9th Street directly behind the PP&L tower building. It was razed in the late 1960’s and replaced with a large PP&L office building referred to as the North building. I added the Allentown Boyd here months ago, but for some reason it never appeared. The Allentown Boyd was part of the Boyd chain of theaters also in Bethlehem and Philadelphia, it was quite popular because of its location across the street from Hess’s department store which was also razed in 2000.

Especially if you look at photos number 4, 5, and 21. You can look down through the opening in the mezzanine and see the main floor of the theatre is covered with stuff being stored. Photo number 21 is on the main floor and you can see it cluttered with junk.

I’d like to think that the interior survives, but if you read the data page it states: “1980 – total interior conversion to storage space” . This is a nice way of stating that the place was gutted.
My guess is that the pictures are from a long time ago.

Thanks TC I will. The Boyd was on a side street, I’m not sure which one, across from Hess Brothers department store. I went to see “Funny Girl” there for the second time (in the summer of ‘69). It was demolished for a parking garage..what a shame! The Eric was a brand new theater further down Hamilton St. I went there also in the summer of '69 to see “Midnight Cowboy”. The trailer for “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” was shown before the movie. When I went to Allentown in '89 I think the Eric was a 5 plex. They added on to the parking lot. The Capri was on Hamilton St. near the Colonial and I remember seeing the Doris Day movie there “Caprice”. At the Colonial which I believe was the largest theatre in Allentown, I saw “Rosemary’s Baby” in the summer of '68. At the Plaza at Whitehall, I saw “Summer of 42” in 1971 which left a lasting impression on me. Whenever I went to visit, I tried to see as many movies as possible so there might be some I have forgotten. I do remember seeing “Hawaii” in '67 at the Rialto. I think I saw “El Cid” at the Rialto as well in '62.

I forgot the 19th St theatre!! My cousin took me there in 1967 to see “You Only Live Twice”. He lived in NJ too, in Millburn but he came home to Allentown to visit when I was there. I have a lot of memories there.

Thanks TC, it worked beautifully. I have fond memories of attending the Rialto when visiting my aunt in the 60s. She lived on Walnut St just south of Hamilton St and the Rialto was the closest theatre to her house. I always loved the architecture of the lobby and the huge auditorium. I also saw films at the Boyd, Colonial, Capri, Eric and Plaza at Whitehall Mall. To bad they couldn’t have turned the Rialto or Boyd or Colonial in to some kind of concert hall as other cities have. It’s a shame to lose all of that great architecture. They don’t build them like they used to.

Where on the Library of Congress website? I went to look and there are so many listings, I couldn’t imagine where they would have photos of the Rialto theater of Allentown.