By Emily Ferguson, Westword | “December was our first month since COVID that we actually felt like we were getting on top of things,” says Paula Vrakas, owner of the Roxy on Broadway. And then came the break-in during the early-morning hours of Sunday, January 7. Later that day, the live-music venue and restaurant at 554 South Broadway posted the bad news on Instagram: An intruder had broken into the Roxy around 4 a.m. and started to trash the place, grabbing a blowtorch and starting small fires. By the time the police and fire department arrived, the suspect was nowhere to be seen, but his rampage had created enough wreckage to force the Roxy to close for three days. The suspect has not been caught, and the Roxy is actively working with police and detectives.
When Vrakas saw the footage, she recognized the individual immediately. “To start off, this gentleman has been in the building three different times,” she explains. “The first time he was in here for probably longer than he should have been…and he was asked to leave kindly. The second time, same thing: leave kindly. The other time, he actually followed my kitchen guys in the morning, but again, left kindly.
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Vrakas explains that the Roxy only has general liability and liquor liability insurance. “So basically, anything that happens to anyone else’s property is covered, or if someone was to get hurt inside, that’s covered, or if someone was to get into an accident after drinking here, that is covered. But nothing that is ours is covered,” she says.”No loss of wages, no loss of product and no help replacing anything that needs to be replaced — for example, the back door.”
The Roxy opened back up on Wednesday, January 10, but because insurance won’t cover the damage, the venue set up a GoFundMe, hoping to raise $5,000. Vrakas estimates the venue lost about $12,000 in the days it was closed, and says she will use the GoFundMe to cover product losses and staff wages, “and then give [staff] a little bit extra to be like, ‘I love you guys, thanks for sticking this out with us,'” she says. She also created a link for people to contribute gift cards to staff.
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Contribute to the GoFundMe here.
https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-the-roxy-on-broadway-recovery-gofundm?
Read the full story here:
https://www.westword.com/music/denver-roxy-broadway-break-in-gofundme-18799815
[Thanks to Alex Teitz for contributing this article! http://www.femmusic.com]
Photo: Roxy on Broadway
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