Neighborhood movie theaters often function like the family room of a community. The best ones have comfy seats, tasty snacks, good company, and quality entertainment whenever you want or need these things. Need takes on added importance during the holidays, when most other places are closed. A trip to the local movie theater on a holiday can brighten spirits for those of us who are single, away from home, and desire an activity for family members of all ages. The experience can serve as an icebreaker to take some of the pressure off of sometimes challenging relationships.
Movie theaters can also provide a soul-satisfying antidote to isolation. They foster a refreshing form of connection that allows viewers a certain degree of privacy while also sharing a communal space. The bubble of privacy may break for hissing at a villain, gasping during surprising moments, cheering on victories, and erupting into applause at the end of a worthy film.
These destinations are becoming treasured rarities. Since the earliest lockdowns of the COVID-19 pandemic, it has been estimated that at least 3,000 movie theaters nationwide permanently closed. Here in the Castro and at the San Francisco Bay Times, we are grateful that the Castro Theatre’s closure is temporary. The theatre is on track for a summer 2025 reopening. For updates, including a Bay Times feature concerning the ongoing renovations, visit: https://bit.ly/3OY6YEy
In this issue, the Bay Times highlights yet another gem of a business in Northern California: Rialto Cinemas. There are three theaters in the small chain: Sebastopol in Sonoma County, the Cerrito in El Cerrito, and the Elmwood in Berkeley. All three have their own distinctive charms and share the thoughtful touches of the visionary behind the scenes, Ky Boyd, who has run Rialto Cinemas since 2000, and for the last decade plus with his husband Michael O’Rand as CFO.
The Elmwood, which Rialto Cinemas has operated since 2007, is a particular favorite of some members of our San Francisco Bay Times team. As for the Castro Theatre, the LGBTQ+ history of the space is palpable. (See if you experience that energy as well at Catch restaurant in the Castro, which originally was a movie theatre long before it became the home of the NAMES Project and then the restaurant.) The site of the Elmwood originally housed The Strand Theatre, which was built in the Art Nouveau style and opened its doors in 1914. Live performances often took place there, with entertainers frequently coming from the LGBTQ+ community.
In October of this year, Rialto Cinemas Elmwood threw a birthday party to celebrate its 110th year as well as the 30th anniversary of its reopening after a fire in 1988 forced the theatre’s closure. Appropriately, the film Cinema Paradiso was shown. This classic from the year of the fire, 1988, centers around a deep love of films, movie theatres, and a passion for filmmaking.
On par with one of Cinema Paradiso’s lead characters, Salvatore Di Vita, we love everything about the Rialto Cinemas. Even the trailers are elegantly presented, with the management team providing a beautiful short video about the Native Americans who once worked the land that we now live on in the Bay Area. This video runs before each movie showing. We often run into Bay Times readers at the theatres, and hopefully will soon see you at them in the new year. Here’s to another 110 years of the Elmwood Theatre and many more years to come for Rialto Cinemas, the Castro Theatre, and all other cherished neighborhood movie theatres.
Rialto Cinemas Preserves the Third Place
Published on December 19, 2024
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