Astro Theatre
320 S. Broadway,
Los Angeles,
CA
90013
320 S. Broadway,
Los Angeles,
CA
90013
4 people
favorited this theater
Showing 26 - 50 of 60 comments
The place definitely showed films as the Empress, and it was almost certainly only one theatre under different names (unless perhaps there were also small nickelodeons in two of the storefronts at various times- but that would be difficult to confirm at this late date.) I’d say there’s enough information now to justify adding the Hotchkiss, though probably under one of its later names, since as the Casino and the Hotchkiss it appears to have been entirely or primarily a live theatre.
Do we know if the Hotchkiss showed films or just vaudeville shows?
People don’t tip on the 405. Plus, your hat keeps flying off the hood of the car. So, shouldn’t this theater have a page? I’ll let Joe pipe in when he gets a chance….
You’re right. I’ve tried to contact the dead while I’m on the 405, but there’s too much static. I should try public transportation.
I don’t know but I make a lot of tip money by doing independent slate writing as I ride the bus to work.
And if the dead return, do they have to buy another ticket?
(April 17, 1920)
Spiritualist.
DO THE DEAD RETURN?
See Edward K. Earle, of the Angelus Spiritualist Temple, in his wonderful demonstrations of Independent Slate Writing, Sealed Questions Answered, etc., April 17, 18, 19 and 20.
NOVEL THEATER, 338 S. Spring St.
It doesn’t look that small on the map, at least to me….
(June 3, 1907)
The little Hotchkiss theater is scarcely large enough to pay in such vaudeville as the syndicate proposes to establish. The new theater being planned by Adolph Ramish and Philip Wilson, on the site of the Panorama building, is for melodrama. John Blackwood will be the manager, and his policy is outlined.
(May 5, 1907)
Mary A. Jauch to John Rebman, alterations to Hotchkiss Theater, $5100.
Joe, this might be an example of musical doors again. Here are dates and names for the other addresses in front of the auditorium. I can’t imagine that the Empress & Los Angeles would have been as small as they appear on my map (nos. 12 & 13). From what you said above, I think these were entrances to the large balconied area that says Hotchkiss at various times. Something strange…in 1916 338 S. Spring shows up as the Empress under motion picture theaters and 340 S. Spring shows up as Quinn’s Empress under ‘theaters’. Maybe they had two entrances. One for stage shows and the other for movies. Also note that other than 1916, none of the names or dates overlap and there is no Hotchkiss or Casino. I have a feeling that all of these theaters are the same place with many different front doors.
338 S. Spring
Novel [1920 City Directory]
Capitol [1925 City Directory]
Empress [1916 City Directory]
340 S. Spring
Los Angeles Theatre [1909 City Directory]
Loewe’s Empress [1915 City Directory]
Quinn’s Empress [1916 City Directory]
D'OH! The long conversation about the Hotchkiss is above, on this very page!
Seeing vokoban’s map, which shows the way the Hotchkiss was configured, it seems possible that when it opened (in 1903, as the Casino Theatre at 334 S. Spring) the entrance could have been at the north end of the building, and then before it became the Hotchkiss it was remodeled (that huge property room along the side of the auditorium looks as though it could have been part of an an addition to the building) and a new and larger lobby opened up at the south end of the building.
No, there is no page for the Casino/Hotchkiss. There was a conversation about it on the page of another theatre but I can’t remember which one.
The Hotchkiss was also the second Los Angeles Theatre, taking the name after the first Los Angeles Theatre became the Orpheum Theatre. I recall a reference somewhere saying that it was also called the Empress Theatre for a while, but I can’t find that now either.
I still don’t know if there is a page for the Casino/Hotchkiss but here’s a map showing the entrance. It’s hard to see but it was most likely at 344 S. Spring. There are newspaper articles listing it there also. Its misleading because the entrance was to the south of the auditorium.
View link
‘madido’ means ‘the way’ so I think the translation could be ‘cool way’.
Features at the Astro on 9/15/74 – “Campeones Justicieros” and “Enfriar Madido”. The first means Champions of Justice. The second is unknown. “Enfriar” means to cool, but I don’t know what “madido” means. It might be a name.
ken mc a free belt with 2 levi’s thats a good deal.
any idea if they were bellbottoms?
kinda curious here, ofcourse CT isnt about fashionspeak!
Joe Vogel…awesome pic.
I think 320 is to the far right of this 1973 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/2ywmzh
There was a fire in the 300 block of S. Broadway the other day, on the east (even number) side. The LA Times article stated that much of the original architecture was revealed when the fake fronts were destroyed. I haven’t been downtown since the fire, but I will check it out.
Right you are. Here is the correct picture:
http://tinyurl.com/ylj9ld
ken: That’s the 400 block of Broadway in your picture, isn’t it? The Cozy was in the 300 block. It was in that building which now includes among its tenants Goleth’s Beauty Salon, depicted in the photo you just linked to from the Central Theatre page.
Here is a January 2007 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/y28ayu
To get this page back on its subject, here is a 1939 picture of a fire which destroyed the Gray Building, a few doors south of the Cozy. (The file is huge, and not recommended for those on dial-up connections.) At the far left of the picture, though they are blurry and much obscured by smoke, it’s possible to make out the marquees of two theatres which must have been the Cozy and its neighbor the Central.
LM- The entrance to the Hotchkiss Theatre shown in the photo of the Hellman Building is too close to the south end of the block to have an address as low as 334. It’s possible that the L.A. Library made a mistake and the three names did not belong to one theatre at different times but to two different but nearby or adjacent theatres.
The Library’s photo collection contains a picture (undated) of the interior of the Casino Theatre, and the auditorium looks too wide to fit behind the narrow facade of the Hotchkiss. (The building could have widened out at the back, of course.)
I guess the whole question is up in the air until somebody finds more detailed information from other sources.
LM- You must be right, but there’s a surprise. The L.A. Library’s California Index contains a couple of cards which refer to a Hotchkiss Theatre, which was also called the Casino Theatre and the (second) Los Angeles Theatre. I know that the first Los Angeles Theatre was the Spring Street house which later became the Lyceum, but I’d thought the second Los Angeles Theatre was the big one still standing on Broadway. Apparently, that’s at least the third of the name.
The theatre next to the Hellman Building was apparently built 1903, opened as the Casino, and was designed by architect Abraham Edelman (announcement in the L.A. Times of 7/19/1903.) I don’t know if it ever ran movies under any of its names, or how long it survived.