Cosmo Theatre
176 E. 116th Street,
New York,
NY
10029
176 E. 116th Street,
New York,
NY
10029
2 people
favorited this theater
This neighborhood house played out its last years with double feature action flicks. An occasional Canon or New Line film would open here first run. It closed around 1983.
Contributed by
RobertR
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Recent comments (view all 23 comments)
It seems that there was alot of crime at this theater.
MELT DOOR OFF SAFE, COOL MONEY, ESCAPE; Thieves Get $6,000 After Using Acetylene Torches and Fire Extinguishers in Theatre.
NY Times November 10, 1925
Free portion of story:
Cracksmen virtually melted the door off the burglar-proof safe in the office of the Cosmos Motion Picture Theatre, 176 East 116th Street, it was disclosed yesterday, and used fire extinguishers to cool off $6,000 before departing with it. About $200 in silver refused to yield to the chemicals of the extinguishers and the cracksmen left that behind.
Here’s a new link to a vintage view of the auditorium:
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OMG. I’ll never forget being at the Cosmo when the blackout hit NYC (was it 1977?). If I remember correctly, it was either “Westworld” or “Island of Dr. Moreau” (or both?). Anyway…..the lights go out, the movie stops, etc…..but no one is freaking out just yet…..we’re just waiting for things to get back to normal. But they don’t. Then I can hear some commotion outside. My mother is freaking out. The noise is escalating, and then people start storming out of the theater. My mother grabs both my hand and my brother’s so hard that the next day we still had red marks on our wrists! As we walked out of the theater, it was a surreal scene. Stores being looted, traffic, commotion, sirens going off. I’ll never forget it.
The Cosmo here.
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and here……..
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Registering
My God! Blast from the past! I grew up in Spanish Harlem in the 70s and 80s when La Marqueta was still functioning. I vividly remember our family’s weekly outings to the Cosmo Thearter! My mother, father, brother and I! I can still smell the popcorn! The beautiful marble floors and staircases, the old fashioned bathrooms and the long velvet drapes that hung from ceiling to floor in the screening room itself! What a beautiful time to grow up in and what a beautiful community with such flavor and sense of family! The best time of my life! What a great memory and an even greater loss! Those times in Spanish Harlem with my family will live in my heart forever! Que viva El Barrio y las jentes latinas que se vivieron y suigen viviendo en esa communidad tan especial!
great story joot29. i lived up there for 8 years in late 1990s-2000’s and remember the blackout if 2003(or was it 04)…different times
The Cosmo Theatre can be seen at the left side of this 1932 photo from the Municipal Archives: lunaimaging
Portions of the marquee and vertical sign can also be seen at the extreme left here: lunaimaging