RIO DISTRICT- theatre, hotel, apartments and shops located where Fort Washington Ave meets Broadway at W. 159th Street
The elegantly
curved Rio Vista Hotel on lower Fort Washington Avenue has been reclaimed from
its status as an abandoned, boarded up building and will now provide apartments
for 100 homeless and low-income people.
Once a
boarded up eyesore in the neighborhood, the Rio’s handsome façade of yellow
brick, stone and terra cotta ornamentation have been scrubbed clean, causing it
to stand out in a neighborhood of graffitied apartment buildings. Inside,
the gutted building has been transformed into a bright and cheerful environment
of apartments, community rooms, support services and even a penthouse. The 82 units in the building cost
approximately $37,000 each to build, according to Harriette Epstein, a
spokesperson for the CSS (Community Service Society). The Rio, a 4-floor building located where
Fort Washington Avenue curves to join Broadway at W. 159th Street, was built in 1920 by Loew’s movie company
which built and owned many movie palaces before the 1950s.
Behind the
hotel on Broadway was the Loew’s RIO THEATRE (W. 160th), a 2600 seat
vaudeville and silent movie palace. Many vaudeville performers would stay in
the hotel Rio Vista, just behind the Rio Theatre for convenience. When talking
pictures came in, the Rio Theatre installed
sound equipment in 1930 but gradually it’s business fell off because of
other theatres opening in the Heights area. 
The theatre
closed in March 1957 and the hotel closed soon after. The theatre was gutted
and became a supermarket and other retail stores for 50 years. It is currently being renovated for a new supermarket in the theatre space and the upstairs offices and dressing rooms
have been renovated and are available for rent. I went by yesterday and even
the old brick façade is being covered to give it a more “modern” appearance. This little corner of Broadway/Fort Washington between W. 159 &
W. 160th was known as the Rio. One can only imagine vaudevillians
who performed at the Rio, dashing back to the hotel between shows for a quick
break while the movies were playing.
Across from
the former hotel’s front entrance are two apartment buildings in a charming cul-de-sac a la Paris, built on
the elegant “Curve” where 33-block long Fort Washington Avenue branches off of
Broadway as a separate boulevard. The style of all the buildings is very much
the same…1920’s Spanish renaissance…one apartment building has the name “Rio
Vista” and the other has the name “Rio Grande.” Both have recently been bought
and renovated….one is now a co-op apartment building. They are located next to
the Paradise Baptist Church on the “Curve.”
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