Egyptian/Holiday Theatre - Denver, Colorado
Posted by: Groundspeak Regular Member Big B Bob
N 39° 45.715 W 105° 01.209
13S E 498274 N 4401333
A once old and shuttered neighborhood theater is now slowly on it's way back.
Waymark Code: WM6ACV
Location: Colorado, United States
Date Posted: 05/02/2009
Published By:Groundspeak Premium Member silverquill
Views: 13




This storefront theater was originally built as the Egyptian Theatre in 1914. Eventually it became part of  the Atlas Theatre Company chain and was known as the Holiday Theatre, and continues with its script marquee today, although after closing as a movie theatre in the 1980's, it was used as a restaurant in its front lobby, with the snack bar and theater sectioned off.

The current owners, Albert and Judith Ovando, are in the process of bringing back this once popular movie house. They are currently working on a pizza parlor where the original theater entrance was.  

In 2006, the Ovando's spoke to Westword Magazine:
The Holiday Theatre, at 2644 West 32nd Avenue, originally opened as the Egyptian in 1914 and was one of the few theaters screening Spanish-language movies in the '60s and '70s. The movie house was shuttered in the late '80s, when ticket sales fell off with the rise of the video-rental market. In 1993, Alberto Ovando bought the building, which also includes apartments and office space, and attempted to revive the onetime community hub, but the Holiday remained comatose. "We are working on trying to reopen," says Ovando, who began slowly fixing up the interior a year ago. The movie screen is still in good shape, but the place needs seats and projectors. He hopes to lease the space to someone willing to bring the building up to date.

I was able to enhance the vintage photo to show the original theater entrance had an external ticket booth (normal for that era) and two arched french doors which led into the lobby.  From the photo, to the left of the entrance, you can also see that the current entrance was possibly a grocery store, as I can make out fruit baskets with a price marker sticking up.  There is a large "S" for the business logo next to the theater marquee... could that have been an original "Safeway"?

They are slowly refurbishing the theater seats and extending the stage for live music shows. Sometime in the 1950's the Egyptian theme was covered as it was renamed the Holiday Theatre. The snack bar is virtually untouched, with some of the condiment servers and butter-popcorn vat, are still in place.


 The Ovando's have discovered Egyptian style hieroglyphics under the paint along the top of the walls in the lobby and in the auditorium. They hope to one day restore the original decorations by the time they re-open the theater in December 2009.

Year Theater Opened: 1914

Number of Screen(s): 1

Ticket Price (local currency): Not Listed

Matinee Price (local currency): Not Listed

Concessions Available: Not Listed

Web site: Not listed

Visit Instructions:
Must take a photo of the theater.
Please try to include yourself or gps in the picture.
Tell of your experience at the theater, if it is still a theater. If it is no longer a theater tell of an experience from the past at the theater, if this can be done.
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Recent Visits/Logs:
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WalkingDuo visited Egyptian/Holiday Theatre - Denver, Colorado 12/24/2010 WalkingDuo visited it
Outspoken1 visited Egyptian/Holiday Theatre - Denver, Colorado 12/13/2010 Outspoken1 visited it

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