Rialto Theater

The Rialto opened in September 1918 as a movie house, with 742 seats. The venue’s history says it was designed in the 1900s movie-house tradition, and explains the name: the Rialto in Venice was a covered bridge lined with shops, and “rialto” came to mean a plaza where ordinary people went for entertainment, as opposed to theatres and operas built for the wealthy.

That is a fair description of how it is used now. The Rialto is the smaller, looser of the Tacoma City Theaters rooms — jazz, comedy, tribute bills and one-night shows that would look lost in the Pantages next door.

Tickets and doors

The Rialto shares the Tacoma City Theaters box office with the Pantages, so the in-person window is Wednesdays, noon to 4pm, at 901 Broadway — a block and a half from the Rialto’s own doors on South 9th. Otherwise buy through the show’s event page.

Doors open for ticketed performances only. There is no daytime lobby to wander into.

Nearby

Museum of Glass and the Chihuly Bridge of Glass are downhill towards the water; Tacoma Art Museum is a few minutes up Pacific. For food and a drink before the show, McMenamins Elks Temple on Broadway is the closest thing to a pre-theatre plan, and King’s Books is on the way.

The Pantages Theater page covers the difference between the two rooms, and our rainy Sunday guide is the daytime version of the same few blocks.