Rio Theater (Monte Rio)

[1] Sid Bartlett, a Monte Rio merchant, bought a surplus Quonset hut from the U.S. Navy in 1949 and began converting it into a movie theater, which opened the following year.

Bartlett later sold the Rio to Thomas Dean, who was a personal friend of Christo Vladimirov Javacheff and Jeanne-Claude Denat de Guillebon.

[1] The Schafferts also were faced with a $4,000 fine for allowing neighborhood children to perform chores in the Rio in exchange for a movie ticket, a hot dog and a drink.

[1] A judge reduced the fine by 50 percent after the parents and other residents of Monte Rio commended the Schafferts for giving the children a useful activity they enjoyed.

[1] In March 2013 the Schafferts launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise $60,000 to purchase the digital projection equipment necessary for the theater to continue showing first-run films.