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The 96-year-old Rialto poolroom and off-track betting parlor are re-opening after four months.
It's been a rough year so far for the Rialto. After very nearly closing on Christmas Day, the Rialto was bought and saved at the last minute by Manish Patel of Bar XV and Frank Faillace of Dante's, Kit Kat and Sassy's.
Related: A Christmas Miracle— The Rialto Will Not Be Closing
But then there was the fire. On January 4 a fire ripped through the apartment complex upstairs from the Rialto, and the water damage to the historic poolroom was so severe that the Rialto, the Jockey Club betting parlor, and the Jack London basement bar all had to be closed—disrupting plans to turn the Jack London into a jazz bar in the wake of the Jimmy Mak's closure.
Well, the former Corner Bar and off-track betting parlor—rechristened the Jockey Club after a long-lost and loved Portland bar on North Killingsworth—is back open this afternoon, in time for tomorrow's Preakness Stakes, the middle leg of the Triple Crown.
With Rialto closed, the only place in Portland to place off-track bets—aside from horse track Portland Meadows—was Tom's Restaurant and Bar on Division Street.
The Rialto poolroom will not yet be open today—that'll have to wait till next week. But staff says the Rialto proper will be back open May 26. Mark your calendars.