The Comeback of the Rialto Theater

South Pasadena has held off extending the 710 Freeway to preserve historic neighborhoods. The city of 25,000 has 2500 properties marked for historic protection. The Rialto Theater goes back to Vaudeville in 1925. Its heyday came as single-screen movie house—one of the last in Southern California. But the Rialto’s been shut down for years and it’s now in a state of advanced decay. Lately, public meetings on the sale of the property have been standing-room only.