COURTENAY, B.C. – The old Rialto Theatre sign was very briefly available for purchase on the online market, according to Landmark Cinemas’ vice president of marketing.
“It was put into the great sign graveyard,” Jack Gardner said, in a phone interview with the MyComoxValleyNow.com newsroom. “So it’s no longer with us. We have a company that takes down the sign and they do with it as they please more or less. So it’s no longer around.”
He added, “It was apparently on Kijiji and we asked them to take it off Kijiji.”
According to archives from the Courtenay Museum, the Rialto Theatre opened its doors on Dec. 5, 1997.
New ‘Landmark Cinemas’ signage went up at the theatre on Nov. 18.
Photo by Troy Landreville/98.9 The Goat/Vista Radio
Pattison Sign Group handled both the new Landmark sign installation and the removal of the Rialto sign.
Gardner said while Landmark wants to preserve all of its cinemas’ heritage, and though there may be some sentimental attachment to the old Rialto sign, “there was nothing remarkable about its design.”
Nov. 2 was a landmark day for the theatre, when it introduced leather seats that recline electronically, with the push of a button.
Construction started on Oct. 19, and the “Premium Recliner Seating” and have been in place in all four of the theatre’s auditoriums since Nov. 19.
With the new seats came a change in signage.
“We have our new signs all rendered and mocked up to go onto the building, so we’ll be able to put a new sign up on the building and it will go to a Landmark Cinemas-branded site, just like most of our other locations,” Landmark Cinemas chief executive officer Bill Walker said on Nov. 2.
Meanwhile, Gardner said with the “Premium Recliner Seating” and the new investments in the theatre it was time to give the theatre a “fresh new look, to mimic and support the work that we’ve done in the theatre.”
“It was a fresh beginning on many aspects,” Gardner said.
