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From the Pasadena Star News:
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SOUTH PASADENA - After more than 80 years of screening movies, The Rialto Theatre, one of the San Gabriel Valley's last-remaining "movie palaces" from the early 20th century, is slated to go dark forever.
Parent company Landmark Theatres, which operates classic movie houses across the country, announced its plans to close the iconic theater for good on Aug. 20.
Famous for its cavernous auditorium and gargoyle statues - but also widely known for its chipping paint and springy seats - The Railto's aging baroque-style building needs more than $1 million in renovations, said Bill Banowsky, CEO of Landmark Theatres.
Even with major work, however, the single-screen movie house likely could not sustain itself financially showing just one film at a time, he said.
"Like many aging single-screen theaters, The Rialto has become uneconomical to operate as a movie theater," Banowsky said Thursday. "If we can develop an economically viable plan to restore the theater, that is our preference.
"If we are unable to do so, we will
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make the space available for other uses that are compatible with the neighborhood," he added.
The theater had been expected to become the focal point of a pending revitalization of South Pasadena's downtown area. DECOMA, the developer selected for the project, had even set aside about $200,000 to give The Rialto's facade a face-lift.
But while The Rialto's future as a movie house is uncertain, the structure itself will not disappear from South Pasadena's landscape, vowed Glen Duncan, president of the Pasadena Preservation Society and a member of the South Pasadena Cultural Heritage Commission.
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