‘The Rialto belongs to Raleigh’: New owner has big plans for the city’s oldest theater

Chantal Allam
·2 min read

The curtains will rise once again at Raleigh’s beloved Rialto Theatre.

Nine months after the landmark theater on Glenwood Avenue shuttered, it’s set to reopen under new ownership this summer.

SportsChannel8 lead anchor and reporter Hayes Permar has confirmed he and a team of local investors recently purchased the 90-year-old building, one of the Triangle’s-longest running independent movie theatres, for an undisclosed sum.

Its previous owner, Bill Peebles, who ran the Five Points theatre for 32 years, announced his retirement last August, temporarily closing its doors.

“When I heard it was available, my roots in Raleigh spoke to me,” Permar, speaking to The N&O by phone on Tuesday, shortly after closing the deal. “I grew up walking to the Rialto with my parents, and I live in the Five Points neighborhood now.”

The A&P grocery store located at 1620 Glenwood Avenue just after its grand opening, June 26, 1938. The location later became the Colony Theater, and then the Rialto Theater.
The A&P grocery store located at 1620 Glenwood Avenue just after its grand opening, June 26, 1938. The location later became the Colony Theater, and then the Rialto Theater.

A combination of whimsical thinking, balanced with a “heavy dose of reality,” propelled him to push ahead with his vision. He wouldn’t give too much away about the investors but said “it’s several folks.”

“With one exception, everyone lives in the 27608 or 27609 ZIP code. It’s people, like me, who knew what this theater meant to the neighborhood, and the city, and had a vested interest in keeping it that way. The Rialto belongs to Raleigh.”

Moviegoers line up outside the Colony Theater, now the Rialto Theater, to see The Lawton Story of the Prince of Peace, January 1950.
Moviegoers line up outside the Colony Theater, now the Rialto Theater, to see The Lawton Story of the Prince of Peace, January 1950.

The Rialto’s resurrection

In a nod to its past, Permar installed the Rialto’s first marquee himself this week and made it a tribute to its former owner. In bold, black caps, it reads: “Thank You Bill.”

“I hung them too low because he hasn’t taught me how to do it properly yet!” he joked on his Facebook page on Monday night.

Movie screenings will still be a major part of Rialto’s main lineup. Plans also include inviting back “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” which was attended for years by different generations.

But Permar also hopes to bring back live music, recalling the Rialto’s former glory days as a music venue in the 1980s and ‘90s.

“I mean, Jane’s Addiction, Tori Amos, Widespread Panic — all these bands [played here]. I plan to experiment, and I think this community is receptive to that.”

He’s already looking to book his first big act. On Monday night, as he was closing up around 9:30pm, Carlos Miguel Prieto, the director of the North Carolina Symphony, headquartered just a few blocks down the street, strolled past to get a peek inside.

“We just had this great moment,” recalled Permar, who ended up unlocking the theatre doors to take Prieto on a personal tour. “I told him, ‘I want to get your symphony up here.’”