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Joseph Cosina was shot in the heart after bar-close early Friday morning at Crash Mansion nightclub on Grand Ave. (it was an 18-and-over event). The 19-year-old Downey High School graduate was pronounced dead at the hospital and two others were wounded. The gunman remains at large.
About closing time, a fight broke out inside the club, police said. Cosina and his friends had no connection to the fight, said his father, Hector. Security guards asked them to remain inside with the other patrons. But a melee and then gunshots erupted in the parking lot, and Cosina somehow was able to leave the club. From the club's balcony, his friends saw him running through the parking lot, perhaps to protect his car, his father said. -- LA Times
After evolving into a salsa club and later the conflict-riddled Grand Avenue Nightclub, the building appeared bound for demolition. About a year after the lot was purchased by a housing development corporation, it was rescued by NYC-based Bowery Restaurant Group, owner of Manhattan's Crash Mansion nightclub.
We heart you, blogging.la, but don't agree that this historic space "should have been long gone by now" in favor of twin hi-rise condo eyesores. Since opening last June, Crash Mansion LA has hosted a handful of concerts and events in its 1,200 capacity room (see these flickr photos). Hopefully this homicide was an isolated event and Crash Mansion will continue booking a wide variety of eclectic local bands and nationally touring acts without consequence.