On January 5, 1923, the Avalon Theatre’s blue velvet curtain parted for the first time—and a whole new world opened up for the residents of Grand Junction. Suddenly this rural western Colorado town had a show venue as grand as any in Denver or Salt Lake, perhaps even Chicago or Manhattan. With its arched windows and fine brick façade, the building shone like a spotlight, while the stage welcomed Broadway and Hollywood giants such as Ethel Barrymore Mary Pickford, and Al Jolson. The patrons played right along, arriving in style in their best evening-dress costumes. As they took their places in polished walnut-and-gold seats, the illusion was complete: Seventh and Main had turned into Fifty-second and Broadway.

But the Depression and World War II put an end to those fantasies. The fine façade disappeared underneath a flat wall of blond brick in the late 1940s, and the Avalon became known as the Cooper, part of a regional cinema chain. By the time it closed in 1989, few could remember how the theatre had looked in its glory days.

In the mid-1990s, aided by $270,000 in grant money from the State Historical Fund, the City of Grand Junction restored the Avalon to its original luster and reopened it as a performing-arts center. The wall of blond brick parted, revealing the Beaux Arts façade underneath—and, once again, a whole new world opened up to this rural western Colorado town.