This Fall, the Holiday Theater Is Carrying LoHi's Stretch of 32nd Avenue

What keeps a block busy after its burger place of fifteen years closes?

On the 2600 block of West 32nd Avenue, the answer sits across the street. Park Burger served its last meal at 2643 W. 32nd Ave. on July 28. Directly opposite, at 2644, the Holiday Theater's marquee has bookings that run from mid-October into December. That includes a film matinee, a storytelling slam, a drummer best known for The Police, and an Appalachian Christmas show.

A couple of blocks east, a 16-year-old bakery nearly closed for good and was bought by a restaurateur who lives in the neighborhood. Around the corner on Tejon, a self-pour taproom opened in June. Taken together, these changes describe a strip whose evenings now depend on the theater and whose mornings depend on neighbors who decided to step in.

The marquee and the storefront across from it

Park Burger's closure wasn't a business failure. The Gastamo Group said it was closing the Highland location because it decided not to renew the lease, and that the move was not part of a wider shutdown. The original Platt Park location and the Hilltop location are still open. Gastamo founder Philippe Failyau told Westword that "being part of the Highlands community has been a genuine honor."

What goes into 2643 next is still unknown. BusinessDen reported in July that the building owner didn't respond to its questions. As of early October, I haven't found any published report of a new tenant. That means the space is unannounced, which isn't necessarily the same as vacant. Someone could have signed a lease that hasn't been made public.

The building across the street has a more settled story. MCA Denver calls the venue "MCA Denver at the Holiday Theater" and describes it as a historic 400-seat theater that serves as a hub for the arts. Its programming there began in April 2022. MCA leases the building and doesn't own it. Denver Cultural Property Trust, acting through Continuum Partners, bought the theater in 2021 from the former Highlands Church owners. MCA then signed a seven-year lease on the theater and lobby, with options to renew for two more terms.

Some travel guides still say MCA "acquired" the Holiday. The lease is the more accurate description, and it explains how the room actually runs. The museum programs some nights itself and opens the stage to partners and outside presenters on others. MCA lists jazz, films, artist lectures, Mixed Taste, original productions, and local partnerships among its uses. That mix is why the fall calendar looks the way it does.

What's on the Holiday's calendar, October through December

These are the dated bookings I could confirm as of October 7, drawn from MCA Denver's own event pages and the AXS venue schedule:

• Sunday, October 11, 2 to 5 p.m.: Denver Film's CO 150 Films Series screens Misery (1990). Tickets are pay what you can.
• Wednesday, October 14, 7 to 9 p.m.: Icons: Peaches in Conversation, with tickets starting at $27.53.
• Friday, October 16, 7:30 to 10 p.m.: The Moth StorySLAM, themed "Magic." The Moth puts StorySLAM tickets on sale three weeks before each event.
• Wednesday, November 4, 7:30 p.m.: Stewart Copeland. AXS also lists VIP meet-and-greet packages.
• Saturday, November 7, and Sunday, November 8, both at 8 p.m.: Shaun Cassidy.
• Tuesday, December 1, 8 p.m.: WHY?
• Friday, December 4, 8 p.m.: Mark O'Connor's Appalachian Christmas, presented by AEG.

Two notes on that list. First, the Billy Prine show of John Prine songs scheduled for October 17 is marked canceled on AXS, so that Saturday is open. Second, MCA's own calendar for the Holiday shows the October 11, 14, and 16 programs and the December 4 show but no November programs. The three November nights appear only on AXS. If you only check the museum's site, you'll miss the busiest stretch of the season.

This is where the theater's role on the block shows. During the first week of November, the Holiday has three ticketed nights in five days, with a 400-seat room letting out each time onto a block where one of the longtime restaurants across the street is now dark. Those audiences will spread out to whatever is open nearby.

The bakery a neighbor bought

The Wooden Spoon at 2418 W. 32nd Ave. has been a LoHi stop for baked goods and breakfast sandwiches for 16 years. By this summer, owners Jason and Jeanette Burgett were ready to stop starting their baking at 1 a.m. They had spent months trying to find a buyer and hadn't had much luck. When their usual mid-July break arrived, Westword reported that the chances of reopening were slim and that the summer break was close to becoming permanent.

Edible Beats, the group behind Root Down, El Five, and Linger, bought the bakery, and Westword reported it would reopen under new management on Wednesday, August 5. Westword's roundup of August openings later listed The Wooden Spoon as a reopening. The deal came together through the neighborhood. Founder Justin Cucci heard about it from the bakery's landlord, who is also the landlord at Linger, and all of the Edible Beats restaurants are within a few blocks of the bakery.

"I live in the neighborhood. The VP of Edible Beats lives in the neighborhood, and we have been going there, probably, for 15 years." — Justin Cucci, to Westword

At the time of the sale, the new owners said very little would change. The plan was to keep the name, all five employees, the recipes, and the equipment. Only the Burgetts would leave, and Edible Beats was already advertising for a head baker and a front-of-house lead to fill their roles. Cucci also said he'd like to carry some of the bakery's items into his restaurants: "We don't make better scones. We don't make a better carrot cake." If that happens, a Wooden Spoon scone could turn up on a plate at Root Down.

The bakery is open Wednesday through Sunday until 1 p.m. The opening time depends on which source you read. Westword's sale story gave 8 a.m., and the bakery's website says 7 a.m. The website still describes the business as family-owned, so it may not have been updated since the sale. I'd plan on 8 a.m. until the bakery confirms otherwise.

The taproom that keeps late hours

Both the bakery and the theater run on fixed schedules: mornings until 1 p.m. at the Spoon, and show nights at the Holiday. Tapster fills the hours between them. Zac and Meghan Crow opened it at 3200 Tejon St. on June 26. It's a self-pour, pay-by-the-ounce taproom with 54 taps, mostly local beer, plus cider, seltzer, cocktails, spirits, and nonalcoholic options. The Crows are the local franchise owners, and they told the Denver Post they want it to be a social gathering place.

Its hours line up well with the Holiday's calendar. According to Tapster's site, it's open Sunday from noon to 10 p.m., Monday through Wednesday from 4 to 10 p.m., Thursday from 4 p.m. to midnight, Friday from 2 p.m. to 2 a.m., and Saturday from noon to 2 a.m. The Moth StorySLAM ends at 10 p.m. on a Friday, when Tapster still has four hours left. The Shaun Cassidy show on Saturday, November 7, starts at 8 p.m. on a night Tapster stays open until 2 a.m. The Wednesday shows are a closer call. Stewart Copeland starts at 7:30 p.m., and Tapster closes at 10 p.m. on Wednesdays, so a drink is more realistic before the show than after.

How a fall Sunday on this stretch might go

October 11 is the easiest day to try the whole route:

1. Get to The Wooden Spoon before its 1 p.m. close for a scone or a slice of the carrot cake Cucci likes so much.
2. Walk west along 32nd to the Holiday for the 2 p.m. Misery screening, which is pay what you can.
3. After the film lets out around 5 p.m., head over to Tapster on Tejon, which is open until 10 p.m. on Sundays.

On that walk you'll pass 2643, where Park Burger used to be. The building owner hasn't said publicly what's next, and nobody else has either.

If you live within walking distance of the Holiday and want to know how a block in transition affects what your home is worth, I'm happy to talk it through. With Caitlin Clough, you can get an instant home valuation and then go over the 32nd Avenue details with me in person, over a scone or before a show.