Say goodbye to another beloved Denver institution.
The Landmark Esquire Theatre will close after its final screenings on Thursday, July 18.
The theater is known for arthouse and independent films, as well as regular programming of the cult classics “Rocky Horror Picture Show” and “The Room.”
According to a former employee, the theater has long been known as “a great place for weirdos.”
Here are the people we met as they gathered to give the theater one last late-night hurrah last Friday.
Meet Jolee Harston.
She led a grassroots movement called “Save the Esquire.” But despite the group’s petitioning and fundraising efforts, fans were unable to stop the theater’s redevelopment.
“My first time coming, I was a senior in high school. It was for the Rocky Horror Picture Show, Midnight Madness. And it changed my life in a lot of ways,” she said. “I grew up in a very conservative town, conservative household, and I was coming to terms with being queer myself, and I didn’t really have that vocabulary yet. Coming to the Rocky Horror Picture Show here was the first time I’d ever been around the LGBTQ+ community. And it opened my eyes to not only what the world is, but it opened parts of myself to me that I was too afraid to look at before.”
The lesson Harston learned from all of her efforts to save the theater is that it’s important to be loud about preserving places before it’s too late.
“Tradition can be special,” she said, “and help keep character and culture in our city.”
Nearby, Vanessa Loya was crouched on the curb, yellow chalk in hand.
“We’re here to see 2001: A Space Odyssey,” she said.
“I’m writing ‘Denver, you’re tearing me apart!’”
On the other side of the sidewalk, Leah Scott was scrawling something near the theater doors.
“It feels like a very lively cultural center, or nucleus I guess,” she said of the Esquire. Adding, “It feels like a very familiar, welcoming space that has a character that a lot of other theaters lack.”
When asked what she was writing, she said, “I was going to write, ‘Oh, hi Mark.’ A quote from The Room.”
As showtime approached, the line grew down Downing Street.
In that line, we met three friends, one of whom had come to the Esquire many times, one who had come a few times, and one who was experiencing the theater for the first — and last — time.
“I have three generations of my family who’ve been coming to the Esquire,” Luca Jimenez said.
“My mom was telling me, when she found out that it was closing, the first memory that she has of coming to the Esquire was actually coming here when 2001: A Space Odyssey was first releasing and she came inside and the whole lobby was done up like the inside of a spaceship,” Jimenez said. “And so I thought that that was cool that that was the first movie that she saw here and it’s the last movie that I’m seeing here.”
Jimenez said he wants to thank the Esquire for “all of the cool stuff that I’ve been able to see here and all of the stuff that I wasn’t able to see anywhere else.”
We also spoke with Finn Hearne, 18.
The first time she came to the Esquire was to see “Evil Dead 2” with her mom. After that, she was hooked.
“This year I got a job, which, oh my gosh. It meant having money to spend,” Hearne said. “So I’ve been making an effort to come to see most of the movies that they have.”
She added, “I feel like there’s a lot of places in Denver that are losing their genuineness. I don’t know if there’s a better word for that, but I feel like there’s definitely a shift to more corporate things. You’re seeing a lot of chains pop up in place of mom and pops, which is kind of sad.”
Down the line a bit, we met Neil Duprey.
He moved to Denver three years ago and quickly realized that the Esquire has a strong community.
“You see a lot of the same people at the late-night shows and it’s just firmly baked into this neighborhood,” he said.
“Part of my heart is breaking tonight for sure.”
Behind him, we spoke to Bruce Novak.
He said he came out for closing weekend because he loves Landmark Theaters.
“I do understand that it’s a question of money and real estate value — and good things can’t last forever,” he said. “It’s sad.”
Last, we spoke with Kurt Heiner and Alex Fountain, both local projectionists.
Heiner got his start at Landmark Theatres and said he’s been coming to the Esquire his entire life.
“I feel like every cool building and every cool thing is just getting turned into whatever,” he said.
“Cinema history is here. It’s important to keep Denver history alive. But the money is not there, I guess.”
Fountain noted that the Esquire is one of the oldest continually operating theaters in Denver.
“It’s a very sad time,” he said.
Enjoy the Esquire’s final days through Thursday, July 18. The theater is currently screening A Quiet Place: Day One and MaXXXine.
