Rialto, n. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

Rialto n.

[proper name Rialto, that quarter of Venice in which the Exchange was situated, thus the centre of commercial life; actors presumably picked up the ref. from Shakespeare’s use of the name in The Merchant of Venice (1596); like the stroll n. (1), the Rialto moved, as did the activities it denoted. In 1890 it meant the stretch of Broadway between Union and Madison Squares, in 1905 it centred on Herald Square, by 1910, during theatrical Broadway’s heyday it meant the stretch between 34th and 47th Streets, centring on Times Square; its last gasp was the blocks along W. 42nd Street]

1. (US) the centre of New York’s theatrical life; spec. the south side of Union Square, on 14th Street; thus extended to local equivalents (see cit. 1913–14).

[1857		Paul Pry (London 15 Aug. n.p.: [of the Strand, London] Pongy Barrett sporting a white hat on the Rialto, and doing the extensive with a half pint of porter at the Cider Cellars].
1886		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 23 Oct. 2/2: It Is, after all, a sad rather than an amusing thing to see the wretched members of the ‘perfession’ cadging humbly for a livelihood in the neighborhood of the Rialto.
1906		‘O. Henry’ ‘Man About Town’ in Four Million (1915) 84: By this time the 3126 electric lights on the Rialto were alight.
1908		A. Stringer Under Groove 4: I wanted to get a sniff of the Rialto dust again, of [...] the bustle and stir of Broadway.
1913–14		Van Loan ‘Scrap Iron’ in Taking the Count 209: He began to show himself on the local Rialto, posing in front of cigar stands.
1917		O.O. McIntyre New York Day by Day 13 June [synd. col.] L. Monta Bell [...] was browsing around the Rialto the other night [...] Bell is at home in the theatrical district.
1942		W. Winchell On Broadway 27 Jan. [synd. col.] ‘Cafe Crown,’ set in the Sardi’s of the Jewish Rialto [i.e. the Yiddish theatre district on 2nd Ave from Houston to 14th Sts].
1993		(ref. to 1870s) I.L. Allen City in Sl. (1995) 61: Until the 1880s the south side of Union Square on 14th Street was called The Rialto, after the name of the busy commercial district in Venice.

2. attrib. use of sense 1.

1906		S. Ford Shorty McCabe 157: I rubs down and gets into my Rialto wardrobe.
1919		C.S. Montanye ‘White as Snow’ Detective Story 18 Feb. 🌐 Mike the Mouse picked up his acquaintance in a Rialto cafe and promptly learned [...] that the man was a ‘sleigh rider’.
1923		O.O. McIntyre ‘New York Day by Day’ 9 May [synd. col.] Now and then happens a sudden shower springs up as the Rialto theaters are emptying their hordes.
1946		C.S. Montanye ‘Don’t Meddle with Murder’ in Thrilling Detective May 🌐 Kenny Stangl, one of the Rialto wolf pack, was a big shot along the lane.