The lease on northwest Denver’s Oriental Theater changed hands last week, although fans of the 700-capacity venue won’t notice some of the changes until the coming months.
The lease moved from former holder Scott LaBarbera to the entrepreneurs behind the venerable South Broadway rock club 3 Kings Tavern.
“That’s probably the coolest neighborhood in town, and we’ve wanted to be over there for a while,” said Marty Killorin, who will run 3 Kings and the Oriental with his business partners Jim Norris and Jeff Campbell.
Some of the biggest changes on the new owners’ list include operating the theater’s lobby bar as an everyday bar — opening around 4 p.m. daily for a happy hour that will sometimes include live jazz and First Fridays. They also want to cater the film programming to the surrounding neighborhood, supporting local independent efforts and showcasing family fare on the weekends, Killorin said.
The new owners plan to clean the theater up in the coming weeks. The music programming will stay somewhat similar to what fans have come to expect, and the theater will remain open to rentals from outside promoters.
