Esquire Theatre (Denver)

The Esquire Theatre, originally the Hiawatha Theater, is a historic movie theater building at 590 Downing Street in Denver, Colorado, at the corner of East Sixth Avenue and Downing Street in the Capitol Hill neighborhood. Built in 1927 by theater operator Gordon B. Ashworth with an American Indian decorative theme inspired by Longfellow's poem The Song of Hiawatha, the building housed a neighborhood cinema through the late 1920s and 1930s before closing around 1939. It reopened in November 1942 as the Esquire, operated by Fox-Intermountain Theaters, with Helen Jean Spiller as manager and an all-female staff.^[18][19][10]

Under Spiller's management (1942 to approximately 1954), the Esquire functioned as both a neighborhood cinema and a community gathering place, hosting annual toy matinees, children's programming, and prestige bookings including the 1949 Denver roadshow engagement of Laurence Olivier's Hamlet.^[20] In November 1954, Fox Intermountain formally repositioned the Esquire as its key Denver venue for international and art-house films, launching a subscription-based film festival circuit across a 25-city, seven-state territory.^[21] The Denver Film Society used the Esquire as its primary exhibition venue, and the theater introduced a no-late-seating policy for Diabolique in 1956, four years before Alfred Hitchcock's similar policy for Psycho.^[22] The building also served as a recurring venue for Denver's Jewish community, from Yiddish and anti-Nazi film screenings at the Hiawatha in the 1930s through civic events at the Esquire in the 1950s, a connection documented primarily through the Intermountain Jewish News.^[23][24][25]

Landmark Theatres began operating the Esquire in 1980, continuing its identity as an art-house and repertory cinema.^[16] The theater gained attention in 1988 as the site of Denver's exclusive run of Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ, which drew protests and record attendance.^[26] The Esquire also maintained a long-running midnight movie series, including one of the longest continuous runs of The Rocky Horror Picture Show in the United States.^[5][15] The building's exterior was redesigned in 1965 by Denver architect Richard L. Crowther.^[10] After closures for water damage in 2018 and the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Landmark ceased operations in July 2024 when its lease expired.^[16][7] The building, owned since 2021 by Franklin 10 LLC, is slated for adaptive reuse as restaurant and retail space, with the theater's marquee signs to be preserved.^[27][28]

In May 1927, Denver theater operator Gordon B. Ashworth announced plans to build the Hiawatha Theater at 590 Downing Street. ^{[note 1]} Ashworth, a former World War I flier and lieutenant, described the project as inspired by Longfellow's poem The Song of Hiawatha: "the architectural materialization of the story of this stalwart Indian." "The story of Hiawatha will be depicted in the decorative system," Ashworth explained, "and the brilliant, rich Indian coloring will be used throughout."^[17] He framed the Hiawatha in national terms, declaring that Denver would "find itself in the ranks of the unusual in theaters" alongside new cinema palaces being constructed across the country.^[17] Ashworth envisioned the Hiawatha as "a jewel in a western setting," with "every detail so perfectly arranged that there will not be one false note" and construction arranged so that "every seat will be the best seat in the house." The building was planned as "ultra-modern in every health-promoting, scenic and lighting detail," with a seating capacity of 900 and a construction budget of more than $40,000 (equivalent to $741,379 in 2025).^[17][11]

Excavation began on Tuesday, May 24, 1927, with the contracting firm of Dutton & Kendall handling construction. Ashworth targeted an opening in early September, a timeline of approximately three and a half months that the project met.^[11]

Denver artist Corliss McGee designed and painted a series of brilliantly colored murals for the interior, Indian in motif and tone, depicting the story of Hiawatha; the Rocky Mountain News article included an illustration of one of McGee's mural designs.^[29] The interior walls were finished in a light bronze tone; the upper portions, rounding into the ceiling, bore designs taken from Indian blankets, each an authentic symbol representing a legend, worked in reds, blues, and what the Rocky Mountain News described as "the brilliant Indian tones."^[6] Indian pottery jars arranged along the top of the walls provided indirect lighting, with additional Indian motifs below serving as light fixtures. The lighting system was combined "in a most unusual manner" with the ventilation system.^[17][6] The carpet was Indian in tone and design, and the lobby was described as "very handsomely dressed."^[6]

The Rocky Mountain News called the Hiawatha "the only really western theater in the community," with an exterior "effective in simplicity and of design."^[30][6] Less than two months after opening, the Denver Clarion, the University of Denver student newspaper, went further, claiming the Hiawatha had "the distinction of being the first theater in America built after the American Indian style." The community "looks upon the edifice with pride," the paper noted, and reported that "something original and new may be expected each time" from the stage presentations.^{[31][note 2]}

The theater's opening capacity was reported as 800 seats, down from the 900 planned during construction.^{[note 3][6]}

The original Hiawatha Theatre was a brick building with a stepped parapet along Downing Street, a boxy marquee, steel casement windows, and decorative arched windows on the primary façade.^[12] The original architect is unknown; the building was constructed by Dutton and Kendal General Contractors.^[12]

Phil Goodstein, a Denver historian whose The Ghosts of Denver: Capitol Hill is one of the few published accounts of the building's early history, wrote that the Hiawatha was built "at the behest of John Thompson of the Bluebird."^[3] Contemporary Rocky Mountain News accounts from 1927, however, consistently identify Gordon B. Ashworth as the theater's builder and owner.^[17][11][6] Thompson may have been a financial backer, or the attribution may reflect an error in Goodstein's account, written approximately 95 years after the theater's construction.

The Hiawatha opened on the evening of Saturday, September 3, 1927.^[13] That morning, Ashworth, drawing on his aviation background, flew over Denver with Justin A. McInniny of the Alexander Aircraft Company in an Alexander Eaglerock biplane, dropping numbered circulars over the city. Circulars ending in "0" earned a 30-day theater pass; those beginning with "5" earned a free airplane ride from Alexander Airport.^[13]

The opening-night feature was Winners of the Wilderness starring Joan Crawford, accompanied by a color film of Whittier's The Barefoot Boy.^[30] On stage, a trio of melody makers performed alongside a child singer performing an Indian song, a live theatrical extension of the building's decorative program, reflecting the performance conventions of the era.^[30] The following day's booking was College Days with Marceline Day.^[13] The Rocky Mountain News described the opening as "a gala affair attended by all the film men as well as fans in town," with crowds arriving "from all parts of the city."^[30] On Saturday afternoon, Ashworth hosted a free children's matinee for the neighborhood.^[30]

Local businesses took out a full-page welcome advertisement: Quality Bakery at 1308 East 6th Avenue ("Welcome to Our Neighbor The Hiawatha Theater"), Hannon Drug Company at the corner of 6th and Marion ("One Block From the Hiawatha"), Wobido's Pharmacy at the corner of 4th and Corona, the National Quality Meat Market at 1310 East 6th Avenue, the Colorado Photo Company at 1942 Broadway ("The Hiawatha Selected Us"), and a screen and millwork company that had done finish work on the theater's interior.^[32]

Within weeks of opening, the Hiawatha began staging live dance prologues on weekend evenings. Bernard Hoffman, a dancer previously associated with the America Theater, composed and staged the programs, decorating the stage for each performance.^[33] In December 1927, Billy B. Beam, a blackface vaudeville comedian from Muskogee, Oklahoma, completed an eight-week residency across the Hiawatha, Cameron, and other Denver neighborhood theaters. A veteran of Big Time vaudeville circuits, Beam had originated the "gift night" format (comedy combined with prize giveaways) in 1909, and toured nationally with his wife, booking himself independently.^[34] The combination of film screenings and live vaudeville acts was the standard presentation model for neighborhood theaters in the late silent film era.^[34] In late December 1927, just two months after The Jazz Singer launched the sound film revolution, the Hiawatha installed the Orchestraphone, described by the Rocky Mountain News as "the most recent of the talking motion picture machines." Released by the National Theater Supply Company, it was the only Orchestraphone in Denver.^[35] First National held a trade-style preview of The Shepherd of the Hills using the system on December 29, in cooperation with the National Theater Supply Company.^[36]

Ashworth sold the Hiawatha within approximately three months of opening. By December 1927, J.J. Hamilton had purchased the theater and installed the Orchestraphone, planning to make the venue "ultra-modern in every particular."^[35] In November 1933, the International Amusement Company, headed by Theodore Zadra and H.A. Goodridge, took over operation. The company already controlled the Ogden Theatre on East Colfax Avenue and the Liberty Bell Theater in Leadville. Manager Louis Williams and the entire Hiawatha staff were retained.^[37]

During the Depression, the Hiawatha functioned as a neighborhood institution beyond its role as a cinema. In the summer of 1932, the theater fielded a softball team in the Lakeside League at Lakeside Amusement Park. In the Rocky Mountain softball tournament, the Hiawatha defeated Stearns Dairy 8–4 (with a lineup of Nadler, Snyder, Zekerman, Neumen, Richardson, Schwartz, Zarens, Goldman, Cohen, Zekman, and Martin) and beat Fabricant Auto 2–0. The team received a forfeit from Boulder Cleaners, had a late game against Sobule Brothers at 10 PM in the Lakeside League, and advanced to face O.P. Skaggs at 9 PM and then Conoco Oil in the semi-finals.^[38][39][40]

The Hiawatha served as a venue where Denver's Jewish community could see films reflecting their experience. The theater screened Symphony of Six Million (RKO, directed by Gregory La Cava, produced by David O. Selznick, score by Max Steiner) on July 10-12, 1932, at Depression-era prices of 10¢ and 25¢ (equivalent to $6 in 2025). The Intermountain Jewish News described the engagement as an opportunity for "Jewish people who were unable to see this true picture of Jewish life at moderate prices."^[23]

In its final months of confirmed operation, the Hiawatha screened two films of particular significance. In April 1939, the theater showed Professor Mamlock (1938), a Soviet anti-Nazi film written by Friedrich Wolf, a Jewish refugee from Hitler's Germany, depicting the persecution of a German-Jewish surgeon. The Intermountain Jewish News noted the film had been "banned in some eastern states because it is too dangerous."^[24]

In late May, the Hiawatha screened Mamele (1938, made in Poland), starring Molly Picon, whom the IJN called "darling of the Yiddish stage." The film arrived in Denver direct from a two-month run at New York's Continental Theater.^[41] An "overflow audience sat spellbound," the paper reported in its review; the film ran through the following Monday.^[42] Both screenings occurred months before the German invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939; much of the Polish Yiddish film industry that produced Mamele would be destroyed in the Holocaust.

The Hiawatha's last confirmed operation was in late May 1939. The building was dark from approximately mid-1939 until its reopening as the Esquire in November 1942.^{[note 4]} The building's final programming, politically challenging anti-fascist cinema and Yiddish-language film, foreshadowed the art-house identity the venue would formally adopt over a decade later under its new name.

The building reopened on Tuesday, November 10, 1942 as the Esquire Theatre, operated by Fox-Intermountain Theaters, Inc.^[18][19] The former Hiawatha had been "completely remodeled in a thoroly modern manner," with a new screen, new projection and sound equipment, and what the Denver Post called "a striking front." Spiller described it as "the most up-to-date theater in the Rocky Mountain west."^[18] The Esquire opened as a first-run house, showing films "day and date" with the downtown Denver Theatre, the Fox chain's Denver flagship.^[19] The premiere attraction was Thunder Birds in Technicolor, starring Gene Tierney, Preston Foster, and John Sutton, with Counter-Espionage starring Warren William as The Lone Wolf and Eric Blore.^[18][19] Doors opened nightly at 6:45 PM except on Tuesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays, when doors opened at 3 PM with continuous performances. Wartime admission prices were 40¢ for matinees (before 6 PM), 50¢ for evenings, 30¢ for soldiers, 10¢ for children, and 60¢ on Sundays, all prices including tax.^[19] By 1953, the Esquire was one of nine Fox theaters in Denver.^[43]

Helen Jean Spiller, described by the Denver Post as "Denver's first woman theater manager," was named manager of the Esquire at its 1942 opening.^[18] At the time, Spiller lived at 4 Logan Street and had spent seven years in the motion picture business, the last three as cashier at the downtown Denver Theatre, the Fox chain's Denver flagship.^[18] "And to carry the feminine touch a step farther," the Post reported, "the Esquire will be operated by an all-girl staff."^[18] She remained central to the theater's identity until her death in 1957.^[45][44] Her Rocky Mountain News obituary described her as "prominent in Denver theater circles." She had come to Colorado as a young woman and spent most of her life in Denver, with a career spent entirely within the Fox theater organization, where she had worked her way up from cashier to personnel manager, bookkeeper, and finally theater manager.^[44] The obituary confirmed that she "instituted a famous all-girl staff for the theater," the same all-female team announced in the 1942 opening coverage, notable enough to be memorialized in print fifteen years later.^[44][18] A 1956 "Staff Week" event during which "the Esquire aides" ran the theater and staged a midnight screening of Diabolique appears to reference this staff demonstrating their capabilities.^[46]

In October 1953, Spiller received the Clayton Long Trophy, the highest award in the Fox-Intermountain Theaters chain, presented by Rick Ricketson, president of the organization, and Ray Davis, the Fox Denver city manager.^[47] She represented the Esquire in partnerships beyond the theater itself, including a corporate safety incentive program with the Gates Rubber Company that pooled $6,480 (equivalent to $77,978 in 2025) in ticket books from nine Denver Fox theaters for Gates' 4,500 employees. Other Fox managers participating included Harvey Gollogher of the Bluebird Theater and Earl Goldsworth.^[43]

The obituary appears to indicate that Spiller managed the Esquire from 1942 until approximately 1954, when she received a promotion within the Fox organization; the exact year and the new title are unclear due to damage in the surviving text.^[44] Spiller lived at 1045 East 12th Avenue, within walking distance of the theater. She died October 22, 1957; services were held at 1 PM at Howard Mortuary with cremation at Tower of Memories. She was survived by her mother, Mrs. Maude Spiller; and two sisters, Mildred Spiller and Mrs. Charles Jeffers, all of Denver. The family requested memorial gifts to the Colorado Heart Fund in lieu of flowers.^[48][49]

Under Spiller's management, the Esquire ran annual holiday toy matinees as a sustained community practice. In 1949, the Esquire and the Bluebird Theater held a joint toy matinee, partnering with the Denver Santa Claus Shop, the Lions Club, and the American Legion. The Lions Club stationed a miniature locomotive in front of the Esquire to collect donations, with Bill Burton serving as engineer of the American Legion's toy train. Films were donated by Warner Bros. and Columbia Pictures. Donations were delivered to Trinity Church at East 18th Avenue and Broadway for distribution to families through welfare agency certificates. Jimmy Grimshaw, age 2+1⁄2, of 1121 East 6th Avenue (the Esquire's own block) was photographed arriving early with his toy. Spiller told the Rocky Mountain News: "Wheel toys and sporting goods are particularly in demand. We hope toys will be in fairly good condition, because repair facilities are limited."^[50][51] In 1951, Lorraine Keys of 420 Monroe Street was photographed arriving early. The program included an Abbott and Costello comedy and color cartoons. In 1953, the theater partnered with Goodwill Industries, screening a Roy Rogers film donated by Republic Pictures, a Hopalong Cassidy picture from United Artists, and an Our Gang comedy. Jackie Carl Bartholomew, age 4, of 628 Corona Street was photographed presenting his toy to Spiller.^[52][53]

Spiller also ran Saturday kid matinees with a secret-code contest whose clues were hidden in Fox Theaters' newspaper advertisements,^[54] and weekly Wednesday summer matinees (three-hour programs starting at 1 PM with games, features, comedies, and color cartoons) with membership loyalty cards offering every fourth show free.^[55] In one characteristic promotion, Spiller spotted a photograph of three-year-old Heidi Vincent of 175 South Knox Court in the Sunday Rocky Mountain News and invited her, and every other girl in Denver named Heidi, to see the film Heidi at the Esquire for free. Girls named Heidi were told to call Miss Spiller at the theater.^[56] The theater also hosted a children's spring and summer fashion show, offered alongside the regular movie program, given by Cramer's of Aurora, with garments modeled by youngsters,^[57] and an eighth-birthday block party in November 1950, with cake for every patron, a sneak preview of an outdoor action film, and free admission for all children turning eight that month for the Saturday morning Hopalong Cassidy show.^[45]

Even before its formal repositioning as an art-house venue, the Esquire handled prestige bookings normally associated with downtown flagship theaters. Laurence Olivier's Hamlet, the 1948 Best Picture winner and the first non-American film to receive the award, was described as "now being shown in the larger American cities" when the Esquire announced its engagement. The film played a multi-week roadshow engagement at the Fox Esquire beginning February 15, 1949. All seats were reserved, with twice-daily showings at 2:30 and 8:30 PM. Tickets went on sale February 8 at the theater and were also available at the downtown Paramount Theater. Evening prices ranged from $1.20 to $2.40 (equivalent to $16.24 in 2025 equivalent to $32.48 in 2025); matinees from $1.20 to $1.80, more than double the standard movie ticket of the era.^[20][58][59]

In late 1952, the Esquire ran a joint promotion with the downtown Denver Theater and the Rocky Mountain News for the Doris Day film April in Paris (Warner Bros.), including a national contest with a trip to Paris as the grand prize. Local finalists received passes good at any Fox Denver theater.^[60]

By April 1954, the Esquire was drawing block-long lines for Heidi, winner of the Venice International Film Festival's best youth film award, with four daily performances and audiences in which adults outnumbered children. A Rocky Mountain News feature by Frances Melrose profiled Spiller as "mopping her brow" from the volume of business. One woman telephoned Spiller from a barbershop nearly a block away to ask whether she would make the next show. The same feature situated the Esquire within Denver's mid-1950s exhibition landscape: Pinocchio was playing at the RKO Orpheum, Prince Valiant was opening in CinemaScope at the Denver Theater, and Justice Is Done (another Venice prize winner) was at the Vogue Art Cinema.^[61]

The Esquire's association with art-house and repertory programming predated Landmark Theatres' involvement by decades. Goodstein wrote that in the 1950s, "the Esquire emphasized it was a serious theater rather than a simple cinema," stressing "high-class films, e.g. Shakespearean dramas such as Lawrence Olivier in Henry V." The cinema served tea before the movies began, handing patrons printed programs for the films.^[3]

In November 1954, Fox Intermountain Theaters (a division of National Theatres) formally designated the Esquire as its key Denver venue for "unusual films from all over the world." The repositioning launched with the Western premiere of The Little Kidnappers (1953). The Esquire became the flagship for a 25-city, seven-state film festival circuit across Fox Intermountain's territory, with films offered on a subscription basis over twelve-week periods in cooperation with local civic groups. Fox described the arrangement as a first: no other exhibition chain was known to be offering subscription art-film programming with community partnerships. Festival programs also launched in Rawlins and Laramie, Wyoming, and La Junta, Colorado.^[21]

The Denver Film Society used the Esquire as its primary Denver exhibition venue. In the first months of 1956, DFS presented Cocktails in the Kitchen, a British comedy "in the tradition of Genevieve and Doctor in the House" that had completed a successful two-month run at Boston's Exeter Street Theater; any couple married during the engagement was admitted free. Showings ran at 5:30, 7:30, and 9:30 PM, with Saturday matinees at 3:30 and Sunday matinees at 1:30 and 3:30.^[62] DFS also staged a revival of The Life of Emile Zola (1937 Best Picture) with the Robert Benchley short How to Sleep, on the same daily schedule.^[63]

The Western premiere of Diabolique (Henri-Georges Clouzot) in late January 1956 proved a landmark booking. The Rocky Mountain News called it "one of the most important films to come out of France in the last 10 years." The film had won the French critics' prize and the New York Film Critics' award for Best Foreign Language Film of 1955, and its New York engagement had been playing to capacity since October. For this screening, the Esquire introduced a no-late-seating policy: "Because of the unusual nature of this motion picture, the Esquire Theater will not admit any patron after the main feature has begun." The Rocky Mountain News described the practice as "unprecedented."^[22] DFS also announced plans to bring Clouzot's The Wages of Fear to Denver.^[22] The no-late-seating policy continued as a standing house rule; by May 1956 the paper noted that "nearly all Esquire patrons have heartily endorsed this new system, which gives them freedom from distraction during the showing of the feature films."^[64] The practice predated Alfred Hitchcock's famous no-late-admission policy for Psycho (1960) by four years.

The Diabolique midnight screening at 11:45 PM during Staff Week, with the Esquire's staff running the theater to demonstrate their capabilities, also established a midnight movie tradition at the venue that would persist for decades.^[46]

The theatre also screened mainstream prestige releases during this period. West Side Story played at the Esquire in 1961,^[66] and Mary Deshaies worked the ticket booth in 1964 during a run of Zorba the Greek.^[66] By 1967, the Esquire was equipped with Panavision and DeLuxe Color projection capability.^[67] The Graduate opened at the Esquire on December 22, 1967, and ran for 52 consecutive weeks, one of the longest exclusive engagements in the film's national rollout, matched only by the Four Star in Los Angeles, the Coronet in New York, and the Town in Seattle.^[68]

The Esquire served as a gathering point and exhibition venue for multiple Denver communities. In spring 1956, the Mile-Hi chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) co-sponsored the first Denver showing of Samurai, an International Film Festival winner, with the screening announced for April 26 and expected to run for three weeks. Tickets were available at $1.00 at both the JACL office at 1225 20th Street and the Esquire.^[69]

In September 1956, the Ladies Auxiliary of the Jewish National Home for Asthmatic Children (JNHAC) held a membership theater party at the Esquire, with a dessert luncheon served in the lobby before a sneak preview. Lieutenant Governor Stephen McNichols delivered greetings at the event, organized by Mrs. Ben Kaminsky (tea chairman), Mrs. Manuel Hoffman (program chairman), Mrs. Albert Rose (membership chairman), and auxiliary president Mrs. Maurice (Nan) Gaon.^[25] The Jewish community's connection to the building extended back to the Hiawatha era, from Symphony of Six Million in 1932 and the Yiddish and anti-Nazi programming of 1939, through the JNHAC events of 1956, a relationship spanning twenty-four years across both names, documented primarily through the Intermountain Jewish News.

In 1987, under Landmark Theatres' operation, the Esquire extended its engagement of the Merchant Ivory film Maurice, covered by Out Front, Colorado's LGBT newspaper, as a significant screening for its readership.^[70]

Sources disagree on when the theatre was renamed. Four independent sources place the name change in 1942: a 2020 article in the CU Denver Historical Studies Journal, which noted that the 1942 reopening featured "Denver's first female theater manager and an all-female staff";^[10] research compiled by preservation activist Jolee Harston as reported in Westword;^[71][15] a 2005 Denver Post retrospective, which noted that the Esquire "reopened as the Esquire in 1942 with 'Thunderbirds'";^[26] and Phil Goodstein's history of Capitol Hill, which corroborated that "the remodeled hall became the Esquire in 1942" and that the cinema "advertised that it employed Denver's first women theater manager and an 'all-girl staff.'"^[3] Goodstein noted that the Hiawatha "did not fare well through the 1930s" and that by 1941, an Evangelical temple had rented the building for Sunday morning services, placing the closure in religious rather than purely commercial terms and filling the gap between the Hiawatha's last confirmed film screenings in 1939 and the 1942 reopening.^[3]

Other sources tie the name change to the building's 1960s renovation rather than the 1942 reopening. The Denver Landmark Preservation Commission's 2024 staff report states that "in 1965, notable Denver architect Richard Crowther made extensive alterations to the building and it reopened as the Esquire Theater."^[12] Goodstein dated a separate remodeling to 1966, describing it as "further remodeling and a role change."^[3] A BusinessDen article placed the name change more vaguely in "the 1960s."^[72] The weight of available evidence favors 1942 for the name change itself, with the 1965–1966 date referring to the Crowther renovation that gave the building its current exterior appearance; the DLPC report appears to conflate the two events. A contemporary Denver Post advertisement from November 3, 1942 — announcing the opening of "a new and distinctive show place, the Esquire Theatre, Sixth and Downing Streets" — confirms the 1942 date for the name change.^[19]

In 1965, architect Richard Crowther undertook a major renovation that gave the building its current exterior appearance, replacing the Hiawatha's ornamental features with an austere modernist exterior.^[12][10] Crowther, born in Newark, New Jersey, had worked as a neon light designer in San Diego before moving to Denver in 1948.^[10] His firm, Richard L. Crowther & Associates, was based at 257 Fillmore Street in Cherry Creek and expanded in February 1961 to include associates Jack Kruse and Gary Landin.^[10] Crowther was known for what the city described as "progressive architecture and the use of passive solar energy."^[12] His other Denver projects included the Cooper Theater, a cylindrical structure with a 146-degree louvered screen and 814 seats,^[12] the first theater designed for Cinerama, which opened on March 9, 1961, at a cost of $1 million and was demolished in 1994.^[10] He also designed Cooper theaters in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, and Omaha, Nebraska,^[12] as well as ride entrances at Lakeside Amusement Park, White Spot restaurants, and King Soopers stores.^[10] A Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, Crowther also authored The Paradox of Smoking (1983) and donated his professional materials to the Denver Public Library's Western History Department.^[10] He died in 2006 at age 96.^[10]

The Ortiz article described the Esquire's post-renovation design as an "austere square box" and an "unornamented Plain Jane," a stark departure from the domes, arches, terra cotta, and elaborate themes of Denver's earlier movie palaces.^[10] The city staff report noted that "the Esquire Theater exhibits many of Crowther's design principals including the use of materials and signage design."^[12]

The building measures 9,175 square feet (852.4 m²) with 25-foot (7.6 m) ceilings.^[8] Originally a single-screen theatre with a balcony and an opening capacity of 800 seats, the Esquire was converted to a two-screen configuration in the early 1990s, according to Goodstein, who wrote that "another remodeling occurred in the early 1990s saw it turned into a two-screen movie house."^[3] The Denver Post described the result as a "twin-screener"^[73] with a capacity of approximately 450 seats.^[5] The building sits on a corner lot with two street addresses: 590 Downing Street (used throughout the theatre's operating history) and 1212 East 6th Avenue (the Sixth Avenue frontage, used in the property's 2026 commercial lease listing).^[74] The lot includes 24 on-site parking spaces; the total gross leasable area following the 2024–2026 renovation is listed as 15,274 square feet (1,419.0 m²), divisible to a minimum of 3,000 square feet (280 m²).^[74] The listing agent is Sam Leger of Unique Properties, co-owner of Franklin 10 LLC.^[74]

The theatre was equipped with Panavision and DeLuxe Color capability by 1967^[67] and screened films in 70mm format on multiple occasions through its history.^[75][66][76]

The Esquire is located within the Alamo Placita Historic District, but because Crowther's 1965 alterations fall outside the district's period of significance (1889–1942), the property is classified as non-contributing.^[12]

Nancelia Jackson, who arrived in the Cherry Creek neighborhood in 1926, recalled "having fun at the Esquire Theatre," but her son Gary reminded her that she had been required to sit in the segregated balcony upstairs.^[77] Jackson lived on Garfield Street in Cherry Creek for nearly her entire life; her grandfather William Pitts had built homes in the neighborhood and co-founded the Black resort town of Lincoln Hills near Nederland.^[78] Jackson died on August 18, 2024, at age 98, two months shy of her 100th birthday.^[78] Her obituary reiterated that she had been "only allowed to watch movies from the Esquire Theatre's balcony."^[78] Gary Jackson went on to become the first Black prosecutor in Colorado; Nancelia's diary, begun at age 14, was accessioned at the Museum of Boulder and was being digitized for the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture at the time of her death.^[78]

Landmark Theatres began operating the Esquire in 1980 as a lessee rather than the building's owner.^[8][9][79] A 1983 legal brief filed with the Colorado Supreme Court in Friends of Chamber Music v. Denver cited the Esquire as an example of a privately owned theatre, distinguishing it from city-owned entertainment venues for purposes of Denver's Facilities Development Admissions Tax.^[80] By 1986, the Esquire was co-managed with the Mayan Theatre.^[81]

Landmark was an LA-based company; during the Mark Cuban ownership period, it was a subsidiary of 2929 Entertainment and operated 52 locations across 27 markets nationally.^[82][73] Cuban sold Landmark to the Cohen Media Group in 2018.^[83] Under Landmark's management, the Esquire operated as part of a three-venue art-house circuit alongside the Mayan and the Chez Artiste. Together the three theaters gave Landmark eight screens in Denver, and the city became one of the chain's top markets nationally. Landmark's vice president of marketing, Ray Price, acknowledged the difficulty of the art-house business but noted that hard work and luck could make it succeed.^[84] The circuit's reach extended beyond Denver itself; a 2000 Colorado Springs Gazette article noted that the Mayan, Chez Artiste, and Esquire offered foreign, independent, and off-mainstream fare (films such as Topsy-Turvy, Sweet and Lowdown, and an adaptation of Mansfield Park) that might never reach Colorado Springs.^[85] A 1997 Regis University Highlander article described the Landmark chain, "which includes the Mayan, the Chez Artiste, and the Esquire," as providing "quality movies compared to most of what Hollywood shoves down our throats."^[86]

In 1996, Rebecca Cole managed the Esquire, which she described as showing "mainly independent films that usually don't attract big, mainstream audiences."^[87]

In 1988, the Esquire was the site of Denver's exclusive run of Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ, which drew protests and record attendance. A 2005 Denver Post retrospective noted: "Nothing pushes ticket sales quite like a dust-up; the Esquire reported record attendance."^[26]

In May 1990, when Landmark closed the Ogden Theatre, Denver Post film critic Howie Movshovitz reported that "some films will move to the upstairs screen at the Esquire or the Mayan." With the three screens at United Artists' Chez Artiste also available, Denver would continue to receive a good selection of non-mainstream films.^[88]

In 1987, the Esquire extended its engagement of the Merchant Ivory film Maurice, covered by Out Front, Colorado's LGBT newspaper, as a significant screening for its readership.^[70]

By the early 2000s the Esquire offered concessions well beyond standard movie-theater fare, reflecting its art-house identity. Moviegoers could purchase imported Lindt chocolate bars for $2.75 (enjoyed, on at least one occasion, while watching the 7:30 p.m. showing of Chocolat)^[89] while the theater's barista prepared cappuccinos and half-caf lattes.^[89] Haydn Sillech, president of Colorado Cinema Holdings, which had recently taken over six Mann Theaters in the Denver metro area, noted that Dippin' Dots and hot pretzels had proven especially popular with younger audiences.^[89] The theater's popcorn developed its own reputation; a 2012 Denver Post listing described it as "the best popcorn in town,"^[90] and patrons recalled "popcorn machines from 1927."^[71]

Manager Rebecca Cole, who oversaw the Esquire's program of mainly independent films at 590 Downing Street, observed that in nice weather "people want to go to the mountains," but extremely hot summer days reliably drew customers grateful for air conditioning.^[87] A 2009 visitors' guide prepared for the American Library Association described the Esquire as a two-screen theater in Denver's residential Capitol Hill neighborhood presenting independent films, with general admission at $9.75 and matinee tickets at $7.25. The guide noted that the theater was accessible from the Colorado Convention Center via the Route 2 bus, with a trip of approximately twenty minutes.^[91]

The Esquire served as a regular venue for the Denver International Film Festival across multiple years, typically hosting the festival's closing-night screening. The 13th festival in 1990 opened at the Paramount Theatre with the American premiere of Waiting for the Light, starring Shirley MacLaine, Teri Garr, and Vincent Schiavelli, and closed at the Esquire with Charles Burnett's To Sleep with Anger, in which Danny Glover played a villainous house guest.^[92]

The Denver International Film Society's financial difficulties in 1991 highlighted the Esquire's role in the festival's history. When the society voted to seek Chapter 11 reorganization, a retrospective account noted that early festival audiences had dashed between the Ogden, the Vogue, and the Esquire, with the Aladdin and the Denver Center Cinema added later, all of which had since closed except the Esquire.^[93]

The 14th festival in 1991 opened at the Paramount with Little Man Tate, Jodie Foster's directing debut, ran approximately 80 programs through October 17 at the Cherry Creek Cinema, and concluded with John Sayles' City of Hope at the Esquire.^[94] The 15th festival in 1992, which opened with a gala screening of Strictly Ballroom, used the Tivoli, Esquire, and Paramount theaters as its primary venues, with additional events at the Boulder Public Library.^[95] The official closing screening was held at the Esquire, while 25th-anniversary presentations of Bonnie and Clyde, The Graduate, and In Cold Blood took place at the Paramount.^[96]

The Denver International Film Society organized a recurring benefit event called "Denver Cannes, Too!" that paired Esquire screenings with social gatherings at the nearby La Coupole Cafe. In 1993 the event featured the Italian film Especially on Sunday at the Esquire, followed by a summer buffet on La Coupole's patio; in a distinctly European touch, Cinema Paradiso was screened outdoors on a billboard above the restaurant's patio.^[97] The 1994 edition featured a screening of Lina Wertmüller's Me, Let's Hope I Make It at 7:15 p.m., followed by a party at La Coupole with Mumm champagne and hors d'oeuvres. Tickets were $20.^[98] In 1996 the event screened Bernardo Bertolucci's Stealing Beauty at 7 p.m., after which guests moved to a patio party at La Coupole featuring Perrier-Jouët champagne, a buffet supper, and dancing. Tickets were $20, or $15 for Denver Film Society members.^[99]

The Esquire also served as a venue for benefit premieres and private promotional events throughout the 1990s and 2000s. In May 1992 Landmark Theatre Corp. and Sony Classics co-presented a benefit premiere of Howards End, starring Vanessa Redgrave, Anthony Hopkins, Emma Thompson, and Helena Bonham Carter, at 7 p.m. on May 19 at the Esquire Theatre, with all proceeds going to the Colorado AIDS Project.^[100][101] Tickets were $10 for the film alone or $25 for preferred seating and a dessert reception afterward at Chives American Bistro, with the higher tier also including a champagne reception.^[102]

In July 1994 a premiere screening of That's Entertainment! III was held at the Esquire, followed by a reception at the Denver Buffalo Company. Admission was $25 for the film and party or $10 for the film only.^[103] In September 1998 Fox Searchlight invited 125 local bartenders to a private screening of The Impostors at the Esquire, with a pre-party at Chives hosted by Grand Marnier.^[104]

In June 2004 Boulder-based Free Speech TV hosted a special benefit screening of Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 at the Esquire, with University of Colorado graduate Urban Hamid, an Iraqi-Swedish journalist whose footage appeared in the film, introducing the showing and leading a post-screening discussion. Tickets were $40, with proceeds supporting Free Speech TV and New York's Deep Dish TV.^[105]

The 1996 release of Big Night, starring Tony Shalhoub as an Italian cook, produced an unusually close tie-in between the Esquire and the Denver restaurant scene. Shalhoub's brother Michael worked as a waiter at LoDo's La Coupole restaurant while the film played at the Esquire.^[106]

Landmark Theatres, KVOD radio, Cooks Mart, and Barolo Grill jointly sponsored a "Big Night at Barolo Grill" sweepstakes in conjunction with the film's run. Moviegoers who saw Big Night during its first three weeks could register at the Esquire, at Barolo Grill on East Sixth Avenue, or at Cooks Mart on East Third Avenue to win a nine-course, $250 (equivalent to $513 in 2025) dinner for two at Barolo Grill ^[107][108] The "Big Night at Barolo Grill" dinner was held on October 30, with the restaurant also preparing a limited-reservation version of the meal on November 9.^[108]

Twenty-two sweepstakes winners were served a nine-course meal prepared by chef David Steinmann, with courses including soup, pasta, salmon, risotto, mushrooms, and a full roasted pig the guests dubbed "Babe at Barolo." The dinner was accompanied by dozens of bottles of Italian wine and copious amounts of grappa.^[109]

With competition looming from the Starz FilmCenter (later renamed the Sie FilmCenter), which was set to open on April 5, 2002 as the permanent home of the Denver Film Society, Landmark responded by expanding its programming at the Esquire. The chain launched a free Film Club with special member perks, a Meet the Filmmakers program, and a "Direct This!" series in which critics selected screenings of work by their favorite directors. The "Direct This!" screenings took place at 10 a.m. on Saturdays and Sundays at the Esquire beginning April 6, with free admission for the first 100 Film Club members and tickets at $4.50 for additional members or $5.50 for non-members.^[110]

In May 2005 the Mayan and Esquire theaters celebrated the Mayan's 75th anniversary with a series of special events and screenings. David Kimball, Landmark's city manager for Denver who programmed the Mayan, Esquire, and Chez Artiste, said the weekend was a way for the chain to thank the community that had embraced the theaters for many years.^[26] The Esquire's Sunday program featured screenings of Casablanca at 10 a.m., Singin' in the Rain at 12:15 p.m., and Buster Keaton's The General at 3 p.m., with the last accompanied by live music from the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra. Tickets, popcorn, and soda were each priced at 75 cents, except for The General, where tickets were $5.^[111]

During the anniversary events, Landmark recounted the Esquire's history: the theater had originally opened as the Hiawatha in 1927 at East Sixth Avenue and Downing Street and reopened as the Esquire in 1942 with Thunderbirds.^[26]

The Esquire's midnight movie series continued into the 2010s, with the theater turning 85 in 2012.^[90] By 2012, the Esquire had two screens and was programming independent and foreign-language films.^[4] The theatre celebrated its 85th anniversary on August 29, 2012, with a screening of The Last Picture Show at $5 tickets and a $3 popcorn-and-soda combo.^[4] In 2016, the Esquire screened the controversial documentary Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe after a Littleton father wrote to Landmark requesting the film be shown.^[112] On August 27, 2023, the theatre participated in National Cinema Day with $4 tickets.^[113]

In September 2017, the Denver Film Society and three other independent exhibitors (Cinema Detroit, West End Cinema, and the Avalon Theatre) filed an antitrust lawsuit against Landmark in the US District Court for the District of Columbia.^[82][114] The suit alleged that Landmark used its market dominance to coerce distributors into granting exclusive screening rights, a practice known as "clearance," shutting out independent competitors.^[82] DFS executive director Andrew Rodgers stated that since the Sie FilmCenter opened in 2010, the society had never been able to show a film simultaneously screening at a local Landmark location.^[82] The Esquire was named alongside the Mayan and the Chez Artiste as one of Landmark's locally recognized Denver theatres.^[82]

In mid-December 2018, a utilities outage caused a broken water pipe, forcing the Esquire to close indefinitely.^{[115][73][16][7]} Landmark spokesperson Hugh Wronski described it as "a utility problem including a bit of water damage"^[116] but was tight-lipped about the extent of the damage, declining to elaborate.^[117] A former employee later described the cause as a burst water pipe;^[118] the Denver Post described it as a "damaging water-main break."^[119] At the time of the closure, the theatre was showing only one film, Mary Queen of Scots, which was moved to the Mayan Theatre.^[73]

The closure extended well beyond initial expectations. By March 2019, the theatre remained shuttered; Wronski told Westword that Landmark was making upgrades alongside repairs, including new seats, a new concession stand, and updated amenities, and planned to "reopen early summer."^[116] The Esquire reopened on June 14, 2019, after a top-to-bottom renovation that included new, spacious seating with armrests and cupholders and upgraded concessions, though the lobby was still mid-renovation.^{[14][120][3][117][121]} Opening night featured Jim Jarmusch's The Dead Don't Die; the Friday–Saturday midnight series was to resume July 5.^[120][117] Landmark declared on Facebook: "We're back ... and better than ever!"^[14] The theater's iconic sign had by then beckoned audiences along the busy stretch of East Sixth Avenue for more than 90 years.^[117] A July 2019 Denver Post overview of the local film landscape noted the renovation was "a relief for people who feared Landmark might not have seen the value in renovating and instead would sell the real estate under the theater's East 6th Avenue perch."^[122]

Less than a year after the reopening, the COVID-19 pandemic forced the theatre to close again.^[9][119] Landmark stopped paying rent in April 2020.^[8] The building was owned by a family LLC known as Downing Street, which bore annual taxes of approximately $31,000.^[8] According to Goodstein, the Downing Street LLC descended from the fortune of the Fontius family, "whose house had to come down to make way for the Hiawatha Theatre." He wrote that "for years the Fontius family was renowned for its show business" and that after leaving Sixth and Downing, family members lived at 556 Circle Drive.^[3] No other source in the available record corroborates or elaborates on this provenance.

In August 2020, Downing Street listed the 9,175-square-foot (852.4 m²) building for sale at $3.3 million through Unique Properties, whose executive vice president Tim Finholm described it as "a generational asset."^[8] The listing noted the building had 25-foot (7.6 m) ceilings, 28 parking spaces, and a new roof and interior.^[8] Landmark's lease was set to expire in 2024.^[8] By September 2020, The Gazette reported the Esquire was "up for sale and not expected to reopen as a movie theater."^[123]

Finholm later recalled that "most people looked at wanting to redevelop the property but there was too much lease term left on the lease for a developer. They wanted to go around and redevelop the property now rather than wait out the tenant."^[72] Goodstein wrote that the Esquire "struggled to regain its élan" after the 2019 reopening and that "the shutdown associated with the outbreak of COVID in 2020 badly hurt it."^[3] By May 2021, Landmark was back in good standing with the building's owners.^[119][3] The Esquire reopened on May 21, 2021; the Mayan had reopened in January 2021 and Landmark's Greenwood Village location on May 14, while the Chez Artiste remained closed.^[9]

Sam Leger and Tim Finholm of Unique Properties, a South Broadway-based commercial real estate firm, purchased the Esquire building for $2.1 million in 2021.^{[83][72][124][125]} Finholm and Leger had originally been hired to market the property for sale; Franklin 10 LLC was formed from the transaction.^[27][124] Landmark Theatres continued to operate the Esquire as a tenant after the sale, with its lease set to expire in July 2024 and no renewal option.^[126][83]

In late October 2023, the building's owners submitted redevelopment plans to Denver's Department of Community Planning and Development, proposing conversion of the theatre into restaurant, office, and retail spaces.^[126][83] BusinessDen reported the filing on November 13, 2023.^[7] The Denver Gazette covered the story on November 15,^[126] followed by 9News on November 17,^[127] Westword on December 1,^[71] Denver7 on December 3,^[128] and the Glendale Cherry Creek Chronicle on December 15.^[83]

Jolee Harston, whose grandmother had attended the Esquire in the 1950s and '60s, launched a "Save the Esquire" campaign through the Instagram account @savetheesquire.^[71][128] A separate group also launched a "Save The Esquire" movement with an online petition and t-shirts, seeking to secure historical landmark designation for the building.^[15] Harston visited the theatre "almost weekly" for independent films and its "late-night $5 movie series" and planned to submit a historic landmark designation application in April 2024.^[71][15] Harston began the landmark preservation request process on December 5, 2023.^[128] The petition gathered more than 2,500 signatures by early December 2023^[83] and exceeded 5,000 supporters by March 2024.^[129][15] At the time of the initial reporting, the Esquire's marquee read "May the odds be ever in our favor" during a screening of The Hunger Games, a double meaning not lost on preservation supporters.^[128] Matt Tourresani, who lived next door to the theatre's parking lot, was among the neighborhood residents who spoke in favor of preservation.^[128]

Sam Bryan, a student at Arapahoe High School, created a senior-year capstone project in an effort to save the theater, attempting to preserve it through landmark designation, though the effort was unsuccessful.^[130][131]

Dr. Vincent Piturro called the plan to retain the Esquire sign on the redeveloped building "a bit cruel."^[127] Denver had already lost two other cinemas, the Continental and the Elvis, earlier in 2023.^[127]

When the plans first surfaced, co-owner Leger was noncommittal, telling Westword: "We don't have any plans at the moment to do anything to anything. We just made a submittal."^[71]

On March 20, 2024, Landmark Theatres president Kevin Holloway confirmed the Esquire's closure (four years short of the theater's 100th anniversary) citing the company's evaluation of "this market and our long-term business strategy."^{[16][72][27][28][132][133][79][134][130][135][131]} Co-owner Sam Leger of Franklin 10 LLC said the owners had been unable to find a replacement theatre tenant.^[27][129] The Esquire's last day of operation was July 17, 2024, when its lease expired without an option for renewal.^[15][16][7] The building was to be repurposed for upscale restaurants and retail use.^[27][28] Landmark's Mayan, Chez Artiste, and Greenwood Village locations were to remain open.^[27]

The Denver Landmark Preservation Commission unanimously approved the redevelopment plan on March 19, 2024.^{[15][129][12]} Although the Esquire is located within the Alamo Placita Historic District, Crowther's 1965 alterations fall outside the district's period of significance (1889–1942), and the property is listed as non-contributing in the district's designation application.^[12] The building is not individually landmarked.^[12] Amanda Weston of Denver's Community Planning and Development department noted that landmark status "does not affect the use of a building" and that adaptive reuse is "highly supported in Denver."^[71] The property is in Council District 5, then represented by Amanda Sawyer.^[12]

The owners criticized Crowther's design as boxy and monolithic, saying the building needed to be better integrated into the neighborhood.^{[16][28][131]}

The redevelopment, one of Denver's first projects through the city's Adaptive Reuse program,^[66][28] was designed by Neo Studio, a Denver firm on Walnut Street led by partner Michael Noda.^[83][27] The plan called for enlarging the building from 9,175 square feet by more than 6,000 square feet to a total of approximately 15,800 square feet on a 0.39 acres (1,600 m²) lot.^[83] The first floor would house two units of approximately 3,675 square feet (341.4 m²) each for retail and restaurant use; the upper level would contain approximately 8,500 square feet of office space with a conference room and balcony.^[72][83] An addition on the south side would extend into the existing parking lot,^[126][83] with new entrances on the north and south sides and awnings.^[83]

The theatre's mezzanine would be demolished, and skylights would be added to the roof.^[12][72] The plan specified ribbon-style windows inspired by Crowther's other works,^[12] with numerous additional windows cut into the concrete walls.^[15] Addition materials included Summit Brick in the "Blake Street" color, anodized aluminum storefront in black, and Techwood manufactured wood soffit in "Peruvian Teak."^[12] The commission's staff recommended approval with conditions relating to brick color, brick size, and light fixture locations.^[12] Demolition as a percentage of each elevation was specified at 24.76 percent (north), 10.52 percent (Downing Street), 27.89 percent (south), 13.02 percent (alley), and 4.32 percent (roof).^[12]

The building would not be demolished.^[27] The three iconic Esquire marquee signs and existing theatre doors were to remain, with the signs refurbished and prominently featured in the new design.^{[72][27][124][16][130][28]} A plaque commemorating the theatre's history would be displayed in the building.^[72] Spokeswoman Wendy Aiello, quoted on behalf of the owners, confirmed these preservation elements alongside plans for wider eight-foot sidewalks, planters, and trees.^[72]

Steven Simard, president of the Alamo Placita Neighbors Association, praised the adaptive reuse plans: "The plans we have seen for the adaptive reuse of the Esquire Theatre are terrific. The building's owners and their design teams have proven that creativity can allow an old building to serve a new purpose in a historic neighborhood."^[27][15] John Deffenbaugh of Historic Denver compared the approach favorably to the threatened demolition of El Chapultepec.^[15] Comparable Denver adaptive reuse projects cited included REI at Confluence Park and Cerebral Brewing on East Colfax Avenue.^[15] Construction was estimated to run from June 2024 to January 2025.^[126][83]

The Esquire's closure coincided with broader financial difficulties at Landmark Theatres' parent company. Charles Cohen's Cohen Media Group had defaulted on a $534 million loan from Fortress Credit Corp.A November 2024 foreclosure auction drew no bidders, leaving the company with $187 million in unresolved debt. Deadline reported that Landmark had "lost leases and closed locations" in several cities, including Denver. ^[136]

The Esquire's programming ranged from mainstream prestige releases to independent, foreign-language, and avant-garde films.^{[120][9][137]}

The Esquire frequently served as the exclusive Denver venue for independent and specialty films. Robert Altman's Short Cuts played in 70mm at the Esquire in 1993.^[75] In the summer of 1997, Ulee's Gold, starring Peter Fonda, opened exclusively at the Esquire and remained in first run long after mainstream blockbusters such as Batman & Robin and The Lost World had left their screens; at its peak the film expanded to several suburban locations.^[138] In September 1999 a digitally renovated version of the Beatles' Yellow Submarine, presented in DTS digital stereo sound, played a one-week engagement at the Esquire. For the first time in the United States, the screening included the animated sequence for "Hey Bulldog," a John Lennon composition that had been cut from the original American release.^[139] In 2002, 2001: A Space Odyssey opened at the Esquire in one of only two new 70mm prints, "featuring a digitally restored and remastered sound track, that Warner Bros. Pictures prepared last year to 'celebrate' '2001' in 2001."^[76] Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet also screened in 70mm in 1996.^[66]

Other documented screenings included Fargo (1996), which featured the breakout performance of Denver-born John Carroll Lynch,^[66] Princess Mononoke (1999),^[66] and Bowling for Columbine (2002), which played to a 90-percent-full house and received a standing ovation.^[66] Al Gore's climate documentary An Inconvenient Truth arrived in Colorado on June 9, 2006, showing at the Esquire.^[140] That same year, Who Killed the Electric Car? made its Denver debut at the Esquire in a special screening before beginning a longer theatrical run on July 14.^[141] In June 2011 Shayvision, a film chronicling the life of former CU Buff and nationally recognized artist Shay Davis, had its Colorado premiere at the Esquire.^[142] In 2022, the Esquire screened Stamplickers, a locally produced science-fiction film by the Denver art collective Phantasmagoria.^[66]

Sara Horle, who grew up with her sister Kate less than a block from the Esquire on Downing Street, saw The Goodbye Girl there in 1977 at age six.^[66] In a 2024 letter to the Denver Post, Harry Puncec of Lakewood recalled Saturday morning children's matinees at the Esquire in the early 1950s, describing programs of approximately fifteen cartoons, an episode from a fifteen-part serial, and a feature-length Western; he and his brothers each received a quarter and walked from their home a few blocks away on Emerson Street.^[143]

The Esquire became one of the longest-running venues in the United States for midnight screenings of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, featured as part of the theatre's "Midnight Madness weekend series" alongside The Room on Friday and Saturday nights.^[120][90] Denver was one of only five American cities (alongside New York, San Francisco, Houston, and Los Angeles) that could claim a quarter-century of continuous showings by the year 2000,^[5] and was identified as one of the few cities that had never stopped showing the film since its original 1975 release.^[15]

Before moving to the Esquire around 1992, Rocky Horror had screened at the Ogden Theatre, where costumed viewers and actors often blended in with the eclectic East Colfax Avenue scene.^[5] Goodstein corroborated that "after the Ogden closed, the Esquire sometimes had midnight films, including the Rocky Horror Show."^[3] At the Esquire, the film screened at midnight on Saturdays, consistently drawing approximately 115 costumed, dialogue-shouting, paper-tossing devotees as of 1990. Mindy Posey of Landmark Theatre Corp. attributed the film's enduring theatrical appeal to the audience participation experience, observing that half the reason people attended was for the participation and that the effect would be lost on home video.^[144]

By the 2020s, Colorado's Elusive Ingredient performed monthly at the Esquire.^[71] The cast described the theatre as "more than a valued performance space," calling it "our home... a community space of inclusivity and opportunity."^[71] Preservation activist Jolee Harston recalled that her first visit to the Esquire was a midnight Rocky Horror screening when she was 17.^[71][128]

The audience participation that defined the Rocky Horror experience at the Esquire followed traditions that had developed nationally since the late 1970s. Accounts differed on where the practice originated: one history placed it in Los Angeles, where a group of regular attendees began singing along with musical numbers, while another traced it to the Waverly Theatre in New York, where fans dressed as characters for a Halloween 1976 showing.^[5] 20th Century Fox marketed the film as a midnight movie in the 1980s, and well-attended showings became participatory events. Audiences brought props: rice to throw during the opening wedding scene, newspapers to hold over their heads during an on-screen rainstorm, and toast and toilet paper to hurl during other sequences. Actors dressed as characters moved through the aisles, sometimes sitting with viewers, sometimes standing in front of the screen, performing original dialogue alongside the film's lines.^[5]

Colorado's Elusive Ingredient, an all-volunteer shadow cast based at the Esquire, performed every weekend with the movie beginning in 2000.^{[5][145][146]} Cast member Scott Sworts, an architect trainee, was among those quoted in the Denver Post's coverage of the 25th anniversary, noting Denver's distinction as one of the few cities with an unbroken run of the film.^[5] In 2013, Colorado's Elusive Ingredient set the world record for the largest Rocky Horror Picture Show performance, with more than 8,500 people attending a screening at Red Rocks Amphitheatre.^[146]

For the 25th anniversary of Rocky Horror in October 2000, the Esquire held midnight showings with a costume contest on both Friday and Saturday nights. Landmark city manager David Kimball expected the 450-seat house to fill both evenings. Tickets were $7.75 each, available only at the door beginning at 11 p.m., with no advance sales.^[5] Earlier that year, when the Elusive Ingredient began performing before and during Saturday midnight showings, tickets were listed at $7.50, with audience participation kits distributed to attendees.^[145]

The Esquire's Rocky Horror screenings held particular importance for the LGBTQ+ community. Rocky Horror was characterized as "an iconic cinematic milestone for the LGBTQ+ community,"^[71] and the theater served as what Westword described as a safe haven for art lovers and marginalized groups.^[15] When the Esquire's closing was announced in 2024, Colorado's Elusive Ingredient issued a statement describing the theater as their home and "a place where the queer, artsy and weird are celebrated," adding that they would not stop fighting for the space to remain open as a theater.^[15]

The Esquire's support for such programming dated to at least 1987, when under Landmark's operation the theatre extended its engagement of the Merchant Ivory film Maurice, covered by Out Front, Colorado's LGBT newspaper, as a significant screening for its readership.^[70]

Apart from its Rocky Horror screenings, the Esquire ran a long-standing Friday and Saturday midnight movie series variously known as Midnight Madness or CineInsomnia. The series programmed cult favorites, genre films, and occasional Denver or Colorado premieres. A 2012 Denver Post column described it: "The Esquire Theatre, which turns 85 this year at 590 Downing St., still rocks its popular midnight series on Fridays (and Saturdays), featuring the movies fans know by heart."^[90]

In 2006 the series featured Jaws ("Now that's scary, kids"),^[147] The City of Lost Children over Thanksgiving weekend ("the perfect French oddity for Midnight Madness"),^[148] and Die Hard during the holiday season,^[149] all at $7. In July 2007 the Thai martial-arts film Dynamite Warrior had its Denver premiere as part of the series, also at $7.^[150] David Fincher's Fight Club also appeared in the midnight rotation.^[151]

For Valentine's weekend 2009 the Esquire programmed midnight showings of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind at $7.25.^[152] In 2010 the series gave Colorado premieres to Birdemic: Shock and Terror at $7.25^[153] and The Room, the Tommy Wiseau film widely regarded as one of the worst movies ever made; a 2010 Colorado Daily piece called it "the worst movie of all time," adding that it "makes Wiseau the new Ed Wood."^[154] Tommy Wiseau appeared at Esquire screenings of The Room, which the Denver Gazette described as "life-changing" weird nights.^[66] A 2012 schedule included Black Swan, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Ghostbusters, and Back to the Future.^[90]

The theatre also hosted Hitchcock festivals,^[66] and a 1984 screening of the Talking Heads concert film Stop Making Sense was recalled as "an entire dance party."^[66]

The midnight series was suspended during the Esquire's 2018–2019 closure for water damage and resumed on July 5, 2019, following the theater's renovation and reopening.^[117]

The Esquire was equipped with Panavision and DeLuxe Color projection technology by 1967.^[67] The theater's 70mm projection capability distinguished it among Denver venues. In October 1993 Robert Altman's Short Cuts played in 70mm at the Esquire,^[75] Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet screened in 70mm in 1996,^[66] and in 2001 the theater screened 2001: A Space Odyssey from one of only two new 70mm prints that Warner Bros. Pictures had prepared with a digitally restored and remastered soundtrack.^[76]

The logistics of film delivery to the Esquire reflected the physical demands of repertory exhibition. Each showing required octagonal metal boxes housing an average of six reels of film totaling fifty pounds, shipped cross-country. On days when the theater was not open for a matinee, its bulky art-house prints had to be delivered to the dry cleaner next door on Downing Street.^[155]

Dr. Vincent Piturro, a professor of film and media studies at Metropolitan State University of Denver, described the Esquire as "a cultural icon" and "an aesthetic icon," crediting the theatre with inspiring his career; he had been a patron since the 1990s.^[127] Denver "once boasted as many as 66 movie theaters," according to the Glendale Cherry Creek Chronicle.^[83] By the time of its closure, the Esquire was one of the few remaining standalone neighborhood theaters in Denver not located in an indoor mall.^[10] In March 2024, Denver Gazette senior arts journalist John Moore compiled a column of reader memories spanning six decades of Esquire attendance.^[66]

In a 2005 retrospective marking the Mayan's 75th anniversary, Denver Post film critic Lisa Kennedy described the Mayan and the Esquire as "two of Denver's art-house stalwarts." Landmark city manager David Kimball said: "The community has embraced these theaters for many, many years. I think they will continue to do so, and this is just a way for us to say thanks."^[26]

The price points are not directly comparable: the 1932 figure represents affordable second-run neighborhood exhibition during the Great Depression; the 1942 prices are first-run wartime admissions with a discounted soldiers' rate of 30¢ and a children's rate of 10¢ (all prices including tax); the 1949 figure reflects premium reserved-seat roadshow pricing at more than double the standard ticket price of the era; and the 1956 figure is a standard house admission with a weekday matinee discount.^{[23][19][20][64]}

• Esquire Theatre in Denver, CO - Cinema Treasures
• Official website
• First website redesign
• Original website