Boulder Theater

Started as the Curran Opera House in 1906, now a beloved Art Deco venue in downtown Boulder. Over a century of films, concerts, and live shows in one building.

The Boulder Theater's original building was constructed in 1905 and opened in 1906 as the Curran Opera House, financed by wealthy billboard sign owner James Curran. The venue offered opera, musical productions, and eventually added a screen for silent movies, evolving through the decades from opera house to movie palace to live music venue. The building has been a fixture of downtown Boulder's cultural scene for well over a century, hosting everything from vaudeville acts to modern rock concerts on the same stage.

The resident ghost is George Paper, who managed the theater in the 1940s. According to the account that has been passed down through generations of theater employees, George died after being accidentally hanged in the lighting rig above the stage -- a tragic end for a man who had devoted himself to keeping the theater running. George's spirit began making itself known around the 1980s during renovations, when construction workers and staff reported sightings of a male figure, lights turning on and off by themselves, and an unsettling presence in the green room where performers prepare before going on stage.

George is most active near the bathrooms, where he opens and closes the door to the men's room and the stalls inside, and turns the faucets on and off. One employee saw the outline of a man run across the cafe and disappear through a wall. The temperature drops noticeably and without warning in various spots throughout the building, reported by both employees and patrons. Recognizing that their theater spirit seemed unhappy, the management eventually renamed the venue's restaurant and bar after George -- George's Food and Drink, which was renovated in 2007 and opened in 2008. The gesture reportedly brought George some peace, though he hasn't stopped his occasional bathroom mischief. The Boulder Theater remains one of downtown Boulder's most haunted landmarks, and George Paper continues to be the most famous phantom in the city's entertainment district.