Rialto Theatre

as the second shopping precinct in West End, after Boundary Street, in the late 1890s. Shops were built to provide goods and services to residence sin the nearby streets, as the Boundary Street shops would have been too far away for these people. The growth of Hardgrave Road was consolidated by improvements in transport. The tramways system was electrified in 1897, and the tramline in West End was extended. The earlier terminus at the intersection of Boundary and Vulture Streets was replaced. The line was extended westwards along Vulture Street, and then south along Hardgrave Road to Ganges Street, by 1901. This increase in potential custom provided an impetus for growth. Business premises developed along Hardgrave Road in the early part of the twentieth century, with grocers, butchers, fruiterers and the like in evidence. Apart from these establishments providing basic commodities, other premises were built which enhanced the quality of suburban living. Places of civic amenity providing recreational and leisure activities were constructed as the suburb consolidated. One such place of civic amenity was the picture theatre. The Lyric Picture Palace in Boundary Street was built in 1914, and in 1926, the Rialto Picture Theatre was built.

The arrival of television in the 1950s and its immense popularity in the 1960s had a great impact on the motion picture industry. The decline in patronage due to television meant the closure of many cinemas in cities around Australia, but particularly those in the suburbs. The Lyric Picture Palace in Boundary Street did not survive these lean years but the Rialto did. The 1960s saw the growth of “ethnic” cinemas. Suburban cinemas that might have been forced to close due to television were often located in areas of high migrant populations. These theatres were taken over by Greeks or Italians and used to screen films of their home country. As West End had a significance migrant population at the times the Rialto was ideally situated to take advantage of this move. The Rialto screened at Greek films at various times in the 1960s. The Greek Society bought the theatre in the early 1970s and used it to exclusively screen Greek films.