Fox Arroyo Theatre

Closed as a movie theatre on May 19, 1957 with a great double-feature of “Zombies of Mora Tau” and “The Man Who Turned to Stone.”

Pacific Coast Theatres Circuit opened the Arroyo Theatre on December 28, 1928 with Lon Chaney in “While the City Sleeps.” The venue featured a Robert Morton pipe organ with Walter Freed as its organist.

I believe this theater was used by York Barbell as a west coast distribution center for their products. I was a driver for them in the 60’s. Tony Terlazzo was the manager and an Olympic weightlifting champion.

The Cozy Corner was visited by the restaurant inspectors of the L.A. County Department of Public Health on February 1, 2008, and received a grade of 91 according to the very handy EveryBlock website. 91 is an “A” so I guess the place is (or was then) safe enough to eat at. Its address is listed as 3232-½ N. Figueroa. Thus far, the restaurant doesn’t appear to have been reviewed on any of the websites that do that sort of thing, so its probably nothing special.

The name Cozy Corner doesn’t suggest a very large restaurant, so I’d guess that it occupies only the front part of the building. The auditorium is probably still being used as a warehouse, with its entrance on the back street. As the street along the back of the building is called Arroyo Seco Avenue, I think the business using the auditorium might be Complete Brake Supply, listed at 3248 Arroyo Seco Avenue, though that might be in the building next door on the corner of Cypress Avenue.

I’m glad to hear that the building still exists, in any case.

I can’t find any recent information on the state of this building. I fear that it may either have already been demolished, or is in imminent danger of being demolished, to make way for a major mixed use development project which is associated with the Cypress Park-Lincoln Heights station of MTA’s Gold Line, which is a couple of blocks from the theatre at Avenue 26.

I remember passing by this theater. It was designed in the Churrigueresque style popularized by the Panama-California Exposition held in San Diego in 1915. If I recall correctly, it is a two story building, with either offices or apartments on the second floor. Its location is on the very southern edge of the rather bohemian but little-known Mount Washington district of Los Angeles, an area of rugged hills and canyons filled with a remarkable variety of houses in styles that range from late Victorian to modern. It is not too far from the Heritage Square project, where a number of early Los Angeles houses have been restored and assembled into a sort of architectural museum. It also has good access to the Pasadena Freeway. This one might be a good candidate for some sort of restoration project if it came on the market.