1930 movie palace, concerts and comedy · $$$ · since 1930
Paramount Theatre
The 1930 art deco house on 16th Street where the mid-size tours and the big comics play.
Paramount Theater Denver (5189251636) — Paul Sableman, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The Paramount opened in 1930 as a Publix movie palace, designed by Temple Buell, and it still has one of the country's last working twin-console Wurlitzer organs. Today it is a 1,870-seat concert and comedy hall a block off 16th Street, booking the acts too big for the clubs and too small for Ball Arena: touring comedians, singer-songwriters, legacy rock. It is a twelve-minute walk from Union Station up 16th, and the blocks around it are why LoDo dinner reservations run early on show nights.
Why go. A beautiful old room where you can actually see the performer.
The balcony front rows are the best value in the house; ride the free 16th Street shuttle back to Union Station after.
A short walk from Paramount Theatre
TheaterDenver Performing Arts Complex
$$$Four blocks of theaters under one glass canopy, a five-minute walk from Larimer Square.
Downtown, a few blocks over · 1400 Curtis St
Landmark16th Street
The mile-long pedestrian spine from Union Station to the Capitol, rebuilt and renamed
LoDo · 16th St from Wynkoop St (Union Station) to Broadway
Dazzle
$$Denver's serious jazz room, now at the foot of the Arts Complex.
Downtown, a few blocks over · 1080 14th St
Comedy Works Downtown
$$The basement club where national headliners still test material
LoDo · 1226 15th St
LandmarkLarimer Square
Denver's oldest block, strung with lights, still the city's dinner street
LoDo · 1400 block of Larimer St (14th–15th)
Ocean Prime
$$$$Polished corporate steak-and-seafood on the corner of 15th and Larimer.
LoDo · 1465 Larimer Street