The wonderful Riviera theater in San Juan

Vanishing Point

2010-08-25T05:50:00.000-07:00

I saw this movie at the Riviera when I was 10 or 11 years old. Its the story of a mysterious car driver who must deliver a Chrysler Imperial form Denver to San Francisco in record time. While doing so he comes across various counterculture types and a DJ which seems to be sending messages of support to him. Even though it's all sort of pretentious, it does show you the hippie movement in the American Southwest in its waning days. One can clearly see it is heading for oblivion.

But let's face it. This is a movie about car chases. Actually the whole film is a car chase. And for a ten year old this was the coolest movie ever. There are some truly spectacular stunts in this movie. And seeing it today, it makes me long for the days when movies had real car chases and not computer generated images.

But seeing it today also makes me realize that it is quite a boring movie. It's the equivalent of a porn movie with 100% sex. After 15 minutes, it does get boring. I found myself stopping the movie and getting food from the fridge. Then watching a bit more and stopping again.

But for an 11 year old kid watching it at the Riviera so many years ago, truly exciting. Will I ever have a car like that? Will I be a cool guy like the one in the movie? Will I meet sexy chicks like the ones in this film? It was a movie that brought out questions about my life as an adult.
But even then, at the end, it was all about the car chase.

The Italian Job at the Riviera

2010-07-15T12:58:00.000-07:00

Another movie I recall seeing at the Riviera was the now classic heist movie "The Italian Job". For an eight year old this was a perfect movie. Especially the famous car chase featuring Mini cars. Prior to seeing this movie again on DVD that's all I vaguely remembered about this movie.

Seeing it again was quite a nice experience since I can understand perfectly why I loved it as a kid. Contrary to many heist movies such as "The Killing" or "Rififfi" that have a dark side, "The Italian Job" is pure fun. In a way, it could easily have been a Disney movie from the period. Come think of it, this movie was a kind of "Love Bug" with better actors and with Minis instead of VW's.

I must have seen this movie in a double feature at the Riviera since the theater only showed double bills back then. I wish I remembered what movie it was. I guess that it wasn't as memorable to an eight year old as "The Italian Job". Very few things could have been.

my first movie at the Riviera

2010-06-02T14:38:00.000-07:00

Finding more information on the Riviera has been kind of difficult. I have tried many times to contact a member of the Armentero family but have not received any answer. So, in the meantime, I will post about movies I distinctly remembered seeing at the Riviera.

The first one I recall was Walt Disney's "Peter Pan". This is one of my earliest moviegoing memories. I saw it with my grandparents. They were both movie fans. They lived very close to the theater and had attended it for many years.

At that time, the only way to see this kind of movie was to see it in a movie theater. Disney had a weekly tv show, but would never show a classic like this on tv. They simply showed snippets of it to whet kid's appetite. So I was really thrilled to see it.

And I recall liking the movie, especially the scenes with Captain Hook (el Capitan Garfio, I think was his name in the Spanish language version). It was such a fun character. And, of course, the character of the alligator always waiting for someone to fall in the water.

After seeing this movie at the Riviera, I remembered having a Peter Pan style toy sword and going around the house pretending I was fighting the bad guys like Peter Pan did.

Anyway, it was a fine way to get to know the Riviera, my wonderful neighborhood theater.

Riviera theater trivia

2010-02-10T11:42:00.000-08:00

In the 1960's MGM Puerto Rico offered the owners of the Riviera a deal: rent the movie theater to them so MGM could show its movies and those by the Walt Disney Company. The owner, Doña Mari, said no because she wanted to keep the theater as a family run operation in honor of her late husband. MGM then rented the Music Hall theater for that purpose.

Ironically, if that deal wold have gone through, maybe the Riviera would have ended up as part of Caribbean Cinemas and would have been saved. This is all conjecture, but it is still a sad thing.

Update

2006-11-13T06:09:00.000-08:00

It's been a long time since I have updated this site. The building where the Riviera used to stand is a few months away from being finished.It ia always sad to see the Riviera gone, but Hopefully it will live on in this site.

Last days

2005-08-21T09:48:00.000-07:00

Two photos of the Riviera in its last days. You can notice the boxoffice boarded up. Also the sidewalk in front of the theater which was different from the rest of the sidewalk.

Riviera ads

2005-08-14T09:50:00.000-07:00

Three ads...two from "El Mundo" 1967 newspaper and one "Armentero" from El Mundo 1953.

About the razing

2005-08-07T10:59:00.000-07:00

Article on Puerto Rico's "EL Nuevo Dia" newspaper lamenting the destruction of the Riviera theater.

Crying for the Riviera

2005-08-07T10:51:00.000-07:00

Emotional article on Puerto Rico's "El Vocero" newspaper talking about a woman's reaction when she saw the Riviera being destroyed.

article

2005-08-07T09:37:00.000-07:00

Riviera lobby

2005-08-07T09:32:00.000-07:00

Photo showing one of the lobby of the Riviera. Wish I could get a better picture, but this will have to do for now.

Riviera in the 1960's

2005-08-07T09:26:00.000-07:00

I found this photo in a book discussing architectural design in Puerto Rici in the 2oth century. The Riviera is mentioned as one of the gems of the Art Deco movement in Puerto Rico. Still the government did nothing to save it.

Riviera theater's last days

2005-07-08T03:46:00.000-07:00

This photo was taken a few weeks prior to the theater's grazing to make way for an atrocious building project. With the Riviera went a whole era of moviegoing in Puerto Rico as one of its most architecturally interesting movie theaters was gone. This was the theater in which so many members of my family (grandparents, uncles. parents) spent nights watching the best of Hollywood movies. I was lucky enough to see many movies there, but the theater was a bit deteriorated at the time. Still, one could see all the wonderful art deco architecture and cool interiors.

Background

2005-07-07T05:51:00.000-07:00

The Riviera theater was an example of art deco architecture in movie theaters. It was a first run theater catering to the upscale Condado section of San Juan. It was later a second run movie house showing double features.