South Broadway theater in foreclosure (Denver Post September 15, 2025)
A renovated theater along South Broadway in Denver’s Platt Park neighborhood is in foreclosure, but an owner says he’ll be able to pay off the bank.
The Jewel Theater building at 1912 S. Broadway was built a century ago and was home to a climbing gym for a quarter-century, until early 2018. In December of that year, real estate attorney Doug Norberg and business partner Paul Yaft bought it for $1.6 million and undertook renovations.
“We spent a bunch of money fixing broken and missing plaster and redoing flooring and fixing brick and stuff,” Norberg said last week. “We really tried to restore it to its former glory.”
In 2021 and 2022, the Jewel Theater was leased to a local company called Latin Event Co., which threw occasional music parties there, upsetting neighbors. Norberg said the theater hasn’t been used since.
“We’ve had a ton of holding costs and we’ve been servicing the debt until recently,” he said.
The Jewel is one of two theaters along the Broadway corridor in Denver now in foreclosure. The other is the onetime Webber Theater at 119 S. Broadway, which dates to the 1910s and showed pornographic flicks for years before being used by a distillery.
CosmicBraxton commented about Alpine Theater on Feb 2, 2025 at 1:14 pm (remove)
Seen in the movie Groundhog Day..the sequence where the team initially drives into town. Also later the marquee is lit up in the background as they walk to see Phil make his prediction.
The Denison Square theater opened in September, 1915 to coincide with the grand jubilee festivities celebrating the opening of the Brooklyn-Brighton Bridge. It was positioned at the southeast corner of the Mayer-Marks furniture store, which also opened that month.
Under the supervision of David L. Schumann, the theater set out to become an unique establishment by having only employees who had red hair. The first employees were Walter A. Sheer, assistant manager; Rhoda Strelow, cashier; Rhea May Sheer and Miss A. O'Donnell, ushers. (Walter Sheer was the son of George and Rose Sheer. Rhea was Walter’s wife.
In addition, Nat E. Solomon served as an organist playing a big pipe organ. It is unknown where the organ was positioned in the theater. On either side of the stage were two water fountains.
The first moving picture shown in the theater was “The Dawn of Tomorrow” starring Mary Pickford.
Total seating capacity of the theater was 784.
Both Ohio Amusement and Associated Theaters in all likelihood, probably leased the building. Was it from the Denison-Square Association?
Upon entering the theater in those days, the screen was hidden behind thick velvet curtains. The seats were upholstered in a velvet-like material. When the movie was ready to start, the curtains would slide apart to reveal the screen. It was standard to see a double feature, cartoon, previews of coming attractions, and sometimes a newsreel.
During the 1940’s, Polish language films would occasionally be shown to cater to the Polish residents in the area.
During the 1950’s, once a week between the double feature, a part of a dinnerware set would be given to the moviegoer. This was a technique used to draw in people to come to the movies every week. One week you might get a saucer, the next week a dinner plate, and then a cup, etc.
By the end of the 1950’s, television was seriously cutting into the profits of movie theaters. People didn’t have to rely on movies for their entertainment and the theaters were in danger of closing down. To encourage waning business, Tommy Edwards disc jockey at WADC Akron, began emceeing live contry music shows at the Denison Square. The first show was on June 4, 1960[3]. The following year, on Dec 1, 1961, Edwards opened his country music store, Hillbilly Heaven, across the street.[4]. Not long afterwards, Edwards lamented the fact that it was difficult to get people out to support these country music acts.
South Broadway theater in foreclosure (Denver Post September 15, 2025)
A renovated theater along South Broadway in Denver’s Platt Park neighborhood is in foreclosure, but an owner says he’ll be able to pay off the bank.
The Jewel Theater building at 1912 S. Broadway was built a century ago and was home to a climbing gym for a quarter-century, until early 2018. In December of that year, real estate attorney Doug Norberg and business partner Paul Yaft bought it for $1.6 million and undertook renovations.
“We spent a bunch of money fixing broken and missing plaster and redoing flooring and fixing brick and stuff,” Norberg said last week. “We really tried to restore it to its former glory.”
In 2021 and 2022, the Jewel Theater was leased to a local company called Latin Event Co., which threw occasional music parties there, upsetting neighbors. Norberg said the theater hasn’t been used since.
“We’ve had a ton of holding costs and we’ve been servicing the debt until recently,” he said.
The Jewel is one of two theaters along the Broadway corridor in Denver now in foreclosure. The other is the onetime Webber Theater at 119 S. Broadway, which dates to the 1910s and showed pornographic flicks for years before being used by a distillery.
CosmicBraxton commented about Alpine Theater on Feb 2, 2025 at 1:14 pm (remove) Seen in the movie Groundhog Day..the sequence where the team initially drives into town. Also later the marquee is lit up in the background as they walk to see Phil make his prediction.
Another theater in Little Falls… the Ripley. I dropped a picture in the photos
The Denison Square theater opened in September, 1915 to coincide with the grand jubilee festivities celebrating the opening of the Brooklyn-Brighton Bridge. It was positioned at the southeast corner of the Mayer-Marks furniture store, which also opened that month. Under the supervision of David L. Schumann, the theater set out to become an unique establishment by having only employees who had red hair. The first employees were Walter A. Sheer, assistant manager; Rhoda Strelow, cashier; Rhea May Sheer and Miss A. O'Donnell, ushers. (Walter Sheer was the son of George and Rose Sheer. Rhea was Walter’s wife. In addition, Nat E. Solomon served as an organist playing a big pipe organ. It is unknown where the organ was positioned in the theater. On either side of the stage were two water fountains. The first moving picture shown in the theater was “The Dawn of Tomorrow” starring Mary Pickford. Total seating capacity of the theater was 784. Both Ohio Amusement and Associated Theaters in all likelihood, probably leased the building. Was it from the Denison-Square Association? Upon entering the theater in those days, the screen was hidden behind thick velvet curtains. The seats were upholstered in a velvet-like material. When the movie was ready to start, the curtains would slide apart to reveal the screen. It was standard to see a double feature, cartoon, previews of coming attractions, and sometimes a newsreel. During the 1940’s, Polish language films would occasionally be shown to cater to the Polish residents in the area. During the 1950’s, once a week between the double feature, a part of a dinnerware set would be given to the moviegoer. This was a technique used to draw in people to come to the movies every week. One week you might get a saucer, the next week a dinner plate, and then a cup, etc. By the end of the 1950’s, television was seriously cutting into the profits of movie theaters. People didn’t have to rely on movies for their entertainment and the theaters were in danger of closing down. To encourage waning business, Tommy Edwards disc jockey at WADC Akron, began emceeing live contry music shows at the Denison Square. The first show was on June 4, 1960[3]. The following year, on Dec 1, 1961, Edwards opened his country music store, Hillbilly Heaven, across the street.[4]. Not long afterwards, Edwards lamented the fact that it was difficult to get people out to support these country music acts.
Vincent Price went to many a show there while a student at Yale per his biography
This movie theater was featured in the 1987 movie “The Believers”. Lots of interior and exterior shorts early on…