A bank wanted to knock it down for a parking lot - the neighbourhood formed the Friends of the Mayan and won. The Mayan Theatre, at 110 Broadway on Denver's South Broadway strip, opened on 20 November 1930 and survives as one of only three theatres in the United States still standing in the Art Deco Mayan Revival style. The architecture is the attraction: Denver architect Montana Fallis dressed the house in pre-Columbian fantasy - jaguars, masks, polychrome terra cotta flora and a monumental "chief" figure above the marquee - blending Mayan, Aztec and Native American motifs into the exuberant style that briefly promised an all-American architecture during the picture-palace boom. The first life was pure Depression-era showbusiness: opening with Jeanette MacDonald in Monte Carlo, the Fox Mayan ran first-run features for Fox Intermountain for decades - grocery-night giveaways included - before passing through Mann Theatres to discount operators who closed it in 1984. The rescue set a Denver precedent: when the building's bank owner pulled a demolition permit, the Friends of the Mayan fought a two-year campaign - with the mayor and a congresswoman weighing in - that saved the building, won it city landmark status, and delivered a two-million-dollar restoration; it reopened on 7 November 1986 as a triplex, the balcony split into two intimate screens above the original orchestra-floor auditorium. The current tenure fits the neighbourhood: Landmark Theatres runs the Mayan as Denver's signature art house - independent, foreign and documentary programming with a balcony bar - anchoring the Baker district's South Broadway corridor of vintage shops, bars and music rooms. Practical notes: the 0 bus runs the Broadway spine and street parking tightens on weekends; the main downstairs auditorium keeps the full 1930 decorative envelope - choose it over the balcony screens for the architecture, the mezzanine lounge details reward a look, and the marquee's neon chief is one of Denver's great photo stops after dark.

Type: Theater / Concert Hall

Address: 110 N Broadway, Denver, CO, United States, 80203

Website: https://www.landmarktheatres.com

Cover Charge: 1

Opening Date: 20/11/1930

Serves Food

Accessible