Astro Theatre

This reopened as the Astro theatre on October 8th, 1969 with a triple bill adult program. Spanish movies by the end of 1969. Grand opening ad posted.

We were very poor and lived on welfare in Highland Park. We went to the Cozy Theater many times because the price was cheap (25 cents) and they showed three feature films at a time. We would eat an inexpensive but excellent meal at Clifton’s Cafeteria then go to the Cozy for hours of excellent entertainment. There was another theater nearby that also offered similar pricing with first run movies, but Cozy offered three feature films. Years later I still miss the Cozy Theater. I’d be interested to hear from hosetrader1010 about the history of purchasing, owning and selling the Cozy.

The 1906 permit lists Robert Brown Young as the architect and PM Johnson as the builder. AC Martin did many of the changes in the 1920s, but not, apparently the 1926 conversion of part of the ground floor into the 350-seat Cozy Theater. The Cozy opened in 1926 or 1927. The cornice came off circa 1950 and floors 4 and 5 were lost in 1971. Architect Chas A Ham converted the by-then, 403-seat Astro into a restaurant space in 1977. There’s a post on this building here: http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showpost.php?p=6994825&postcount=27790.

To search permits go here: http://ladbs.org/LADBSWeb/online-building-records.jsf

Click the link at the bottom of the page and then search by “address”. Hint: for better results just type in the street number and street name, not “St”, “Ave”. etc.

Here is a June 2009 view of the theater building:
http://tinyurl.com/le92m2

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.

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,

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?

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.

I’m no expert, but that doesn’t look like a 1905 building to me, unless it was completely done over in the twenties.

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.

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

I saw a photo of the Cozy today in one of the Images of America books. It was on the first floor of the office building that you cn see in a few of the pictures already posted. It had a triangular marquee, nothing out of the ordinary. The Central was also visible a few doors to the north.

Still looking for the DNA….I’m going to add this theater but don’t know what name to use. I guess I’ll use the Capitol since that’s the last name I’ve been able to find for the place.