{"id":1309,"date":"2025-10-29T23:42:54","date_gmt":"2025-10-30T00:42:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.agencywebdesigners.com\/?p=1309"},"modified":"2025-10-30T14:23:56","modified_gmt":"2025-10-30T14:23:56","slug":"casa-bonita-actors-cliff-divers-launch-strike-during-halloween","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.agencywebdesigners.com\/index.php\/2025\/10\/29\/casa-bonita-actors-cliff-divers-launch-strike-during-halloween\/","title":{"rendered":"Casa Bonita actors, cliff divers launch strike during Halloween"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Updated at 8:43 p.m. on Oct. 29 to include a statement from Casa Bonita management.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>There will be no cliff divers entertaining guests at Casa Bonita on Halloween as the restaurant\u2019s cast of performers initiates a three-day strike.<\/p>\n<p>On Wednesday, the Actors\u2019 Equity Association announced that Casa Bonita\u2019s divers, magicians, roving actors and other unionized performers would picket outside the pink palace, at 6715 W. Colfax Ave. in Lakewood, following unsuccessful efforts to bargain their first contract. The strike is scheduled to take place from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Oct. 30 through Nov. 1.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2024\/11\/25\/casa-bonita-unionize-denver-divers-entertainers\/\">Casa Bonita workers voted to unionize in November 2024<\/a> as they sought better pay and to establish workplace protections. The restaurant and entertainment venue is a beloved historic landmark and in 2023, reopened under the ownership of locally raised celebrities Matt Stone and Trey Parker. The creators of the \u201cSouth Park\u201d TV show reportedly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2023\/06\/06\/casa-bonita-lakewood-denver-renovation-cost-matt-stone-trey-parker\/\">spent $40 million reviving the restaurant<\/a> after <a href=\"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2021\/09\/27\/south-park-creators-purchase-casa-bonita\/\">purchasing it out of bankruptcy<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Casa Bonita serves thousands of diners each week and actors previously told The Denver Post there have been <a href=\"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2024\/10\/16\/casa-bonita-denver-cliff-divers-unionize\/\">numerous incidents involving guests<\/a> that had staff concerned for their safety.<\/p>\n<p>The bargaining unit of 57 people has been engaged in negotiations since April, according to the Actors\u2019 Equity Association, and last month, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2025\/09\/18\/casa-bonita-halloween-pop-up-lakewood\/\">it filed an unfair labor practices charge<\/a>\u00a0after performers\u2019 hours were cut to accommodate a Halloween pop-up event.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"related right\">\n<h2 class=\"widget-title\" data-curated-ids=\"\" data-relation-type=\"automatic-primary-tag\">Related Articles<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>\n\t\t\t<a class=\"article-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2025\/10\/22\/colfax-museum-history-colorado\/\" title=\"A treasure trove of Colfax Avenue artifacts heading permanently to History Colorado\"><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<span class=\"dfm-title metered\"><br \/>\n\t\t\tA treasure trove of Colfax Avenue artifacts heading permanently to History Colorado\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n\t\t\t<a class=\"article-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2025\/09\/19\/south-park-episode-delay-matt-stone-censorship\/\" title=\"\u2018No one censored us,\u2019 says \u2018South Park\u2019 creator Matt Stone of episode delay\"><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<span class=\"dfm-title metered\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\u2018No one censored us,\u2019 says \u2018South Park\u2019 creator Matt Stone of episode delay\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n\t\t\t<a class=\"article-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2025\/09\/18\/casa-bonita-halloween-pop-up-lakewood\/\" title=\"Casa Bonita\u2019s Halloween pop-up plans trigger worker dispute\"><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<span class=\"dfm-title metered\"><br \/>\n\t\t\tCasa Bonita\u2019s Halloween pop-up plans trigger worker dispute\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n\t\t\t<a class=\"article-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2025\/08\/25\/dana-rodriguez-work-class-restaurant-englewood\/\" title=\"Casa Bonita\u2019s executive chef taking over Englewood urban farm\u2019s restaurant\"><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<span class=\"dfm-title metered\"><br \/>\n\t\t\tCasa Bonita\u2019s executive chef taking over Englewood urban farm\u2019s restaurant\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n\t\t\t<a class=\"article-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2025\/08\/13\/best-classic-denver-restaurants\/\" title=\"25 classic Denver restaurants worth revisiting\"><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<span class=\"dfm-title metered\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t25 classic Denver restaurants worth revisiting\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Now, the union says management failed to deliver responses to key proposals that would move toward a contract. In a statement, Casa Bonita management said, \u201cWe value all of our team members and their well-being. As a policy we do not comment on ongoing labor negotiations.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCasa management came to the table today offering an additional 11 cents over their last unfair wage offer, and very little for future layoff protections,\u201d said lead negotiator Andrea Hoeschen, assistant executive director and general counsel for Actors\u2019 Equity Association, in a statement. \u201cDespite that insult, the negotiating team responded with major compromises to try to get a deal. And then Casa Bonita walked away from the table without responding.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Casa Bonita addressed the dispute in an email to people with reservations, confirming the restaurant would remain open and offering a free drink or arcade credit to guests.<\/p>\n<p><em>CORRECTION at 6:57 p.m. on Oct. 29: An earlier version of this story misstated the dates for the proposed strike.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><a href=\"https:\/\/myaccount.denverpost.com\/dp\/preference\">Subscribe to our new food newsletter, Stuffed, to get Denver food and drink news sent straight to your inbox. <\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Updated at 8:43 p.m. on Oct. 29 to include a statement from Casa Bonita management. There will be no cliff divers entertaining guests at Casa Bonita on Halloween as the restaurant\u2019s cast of performers initiates a three-day strike. On Wednesday, the Actors\u2019 Equity Association announced that Casa Bonita\u2019s divers, magicians, roving actors and other unionized&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":275,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.agencywebdesigners.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1309"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.agencywebdesigners.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.agencywebdesigners.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.agencywebdesigners.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.agencywebdesigners.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1309"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.agencywebdesigners.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1309\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1310,"href":"http:\/\/www.agencywebdesigners.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1309\/revisions\/1310"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.agencywebdesigners.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/275"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.agencywebdesigners.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.agencywebdesigners.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.agencywebdesigners.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}