Cozy Theatre
320 S. Broadway,
Los Angeles,
CA
320 S. Broadway,
Los Angeles,
CA
4 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 66 comments found
The Street View image has been set to the wrong location. It shows the Million Dollar Theatre right now. The Cozy was on the east side of Broadway, in the three-story building a bit south of the Bradbury Building.
Going back to the comment posted by Tillmany in 2004, I just watched “The Killer That Stalked New York” this morning, and noticed the clever, almost seamless blending of the New York and Los Angeles location work with the Columbia backlot shots. I knew right away that the Cozy had to be in L.A. when I spotted the Bradbury Building. There is one brief shot where the name of the Central Theater is clear, on the front of the marquee.
Here is a June 2009 view of the theater building:
http://tinyurl.com/le92m2
Still around in January 1960, per the LA Times. “Always Three Big Hits”. Phone number was MA8-3176.
I guess we can accept the opening date of 1927 for the Cozy, as it’s listed in the 1929 Los Angeles City Directory. Still no more word on Albert C. Martin as the architect of either the 1905 building or the later theater conversion, though.
Here is a photo taken today:
http://tinyurl.com/5m7b8o
It was nice of them to respond even if it doesn’t solve the mystery. I wonder where the person that wrote the caption for the 1955 photo got their information from. Its possible that an associate from the firm of Albert C. Martin designed this theater and not Albert C. Martin himself. Right now, I really have no idea.
I guess they do read their email. Here is a response to my inquiry. I won’t publicly post the name of the person who responded. If you’d like it, email me and I’ll send it. This doesn’t totally negate any possibility of the AC Martin connection, but its probably unlikely:
Dear Jeff,
Albert C. Martin was the designer for the Million Dollar Theater located
at 317 S. Broadway, however, I don’t find any records for the Cozy
Theater located at 320 S. Broadway. Good luck in your search.
Best regards,
vokoban: It’s entirely possible that the caption writer got the year wrong, and that the Cozy didn’t open until 1937.
LM: Martin also remodeled for Lou Bard the commercial building which became Bard’s Hill Street Theatre in 1920. A Southwest Builder & Contractor item of May 30, 1921, credits Martin with the design of an amusement complex on Sunset Pier in Venice which was to include a 1200 seat movie theatre. In addition, the California Index contains a card citing an article in Architect & Engineer of August, 1918, naming Martin as the architect of a theatre to be erected at the corner of 8th and Broadway in San Diego.
I’ve also found some cards I’ve not seen before in the Index, regarding the Million Dollar project, but I guess I’ll post about those on that theatre’s page.
Well, they might not even respond….but its worth a try! The first movie listing I can find so far for this theater is in 1937…has anyone seen earlier listings?
That is a great idea vokoban. Thanks for taking the time to do that. Hopefully they can help to solve this mystery.
Joe….Albert C. Martin Sr. and Albert C. Martin Jr. were both architects. Albert C. Martin Sr. is credited with designing the building that housed the Million Dollar Theater while William Lee Woollett is credited with designing the theater itself. Albert C. Martin Sr. is also credited with the Boulevard Theater. So far, I haven’t found any mention of this theater being designed by him. If the Cozy/Astro was designed by Albert C. Martin, it would have been the senior Martin since junior didn’t join the firm until around 1936.
I wrote a letter to AC Martin Partners inquiring about the architect of this address. If they respond, I’ll post it.
http://www.acmartin.com/nav_page.html
This building was remodeled some time after 1939, losing its original fancy cornice. In this view of the 1939 fire which destroyed the nearby Gray Building, the cornice is still there. The wide Chicago windows look to have always been there.
I’d say A.C. Martin is certainly a possibility as architect of the theatre, the building, or both. He was born in 1879, and is known to have designed theatres in the 1910s & 1920s. The Cozy would have been a pretty small project for a guy who was in 1927 part of the team designing L.A.’s new city hall, though.
“Could someone verify if Albert C. Martin was the architect of this theater”? Thats one way to get the ball rolling. Anytime that your not sure of something, post it as a question and don’t give the impression that the information is fact. That takes you off the hook if the information turns out to be wrong.
There are times when I find information on theaters that I can’t confirm. Sometimes I post the information as a question. Other times I post nothing.
Right. I could say nothing, or I could make a qualified statement and then hopefully get some corroboration. I wouldn’t have said “Please change the architect to Albert C. Martin”. I thought it was enough to raise the question and then go from there.
BTW…appears doesn’t count for much in this “business”. Either it is or it isn’t true. The person that wrote the captions for those photos should have done their homework a little better.
If the architects name comes from the text with the photo, I’ll wait for another source. I’m not saying that Albert C. Martin wasn’t the architect, I’m saying that I would like another source to verify that information. The photos are fine, but the text with the photo hasn’t been one hundred percent accurate so far
I’m no expert, but that doesn’t look like a 1905 building to me, unless it was completely done over in the twenties.
I did say “it appears”. Not citing as the gospel truth.
LM: The source for Martin as architect of the Cozy must be the caption to the 1955 photo linked from his previous comment. However, given the questions that have arisen about the accuracy of the information in the caption for a photo of the Regent Theatre in what appears to be the same book, a corroborating source would be nice— especially given the fact that the assessors info for the Cozy’s building gives a construction date of 1905. If the theatre opened in 1927, it must have been only a conversion of existing space.
Post the source for the information.
It appears that the architect was Albert C. Martin.
I decided to check this building out after work today. The middle business in the photo below is clothing. I asked the owner if I could browse the merchandise, subsequently I began wandering around the store. The interior has a drop ceiling, so no evidence of any theater is visible. At the very back was an entrance which looked promising as it appeared to lead to a large space. Unfortunately, the owner caught me peeking and pretty much harassed me out of her store. I did tell her that her $110 Dodger jackets were overpriced.
http://tinyurl.com/ysdyko
The Cozy and the Central to the north can be seen in this 1955 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/369yjh