Tag: association

**Casa Bonita Performers Strike Over Wages and Safety Concerns**

LAKEWOOD, Colo. — Performers at the iconic Casa Bonita restaurant donned their costumes on Halloween, but instead of entertaining guests inside, they found themselves outside on the picket line.

The Actors’ Equity Association, representing cliff divers, roving actors, and other unionized performers, announced the strike on Wednesday. The union cited concerns over low wages and a lack of safety measures for the performers.

Robert Christie, who plays the character Black Bart at Casa Bonita, described his experience at the restaurant as “wonderful,” but admitted “it has not paid off.” Christie joined the team in 2023 when the restaurant reopened under the ownership of “South Park” creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone.

“That’s the reason I’m here,” Christie told Denver7 on Friday. “I really understand their tone and their point of view. That said, a lot of the guests come in thinking this is not a family restaurant and that they can abuse the entertainment.”

He further highlighted serious safety concerns, noting, “We’ve never had a fire drill. We’ve never had an active shooter drill. There’s no emergency action plan in place for if anything were to happen to a [cliff] diver, and we’re fed up.”

Christie also highlighted the pay disparity between performers and other staff. While bartenders and servers make around $30 an hour plus tips, performers on the lower end of the pay scale earn only about $21 an hour.

“These people have no scripts,” he explained. “Everything they do is essentially improv. They are out there out of the kindness of their heart, their creativity, their experience in entertainment, delivering consistently for the guests that come to Casa Bonita, banking on entertainment as making their experience worthwhile.”

This fall, Casa Bonita embraced a Halloween theme, rebranding itself as “Casa Boo-nita.” However, some performers say this seasonal change has resulted in cuts to their working hours.

“They brought this on themselves by laying off over 1,000 hours of unionized workers’ labor in the month of October,” Christie said. “Everything just kind of snowballed into this. And they eventually walked away from the table.”

In response to concerns about the Halloween theme affecting the restaurant’s beloved characters, co-owner Matt Stone told The Denver Post that while plans would change seasonally, the characters would not be permanently eliminated.

Denver7 sought comment from Casa Bonita management, who responded with the following statement:
“At Casa Bonita, we value all of our team members and their well-being. As a policy, we do not comment on ongoing labor negotiations.”

The strike is scheduled to continue through Saturday, with its potential extension still unclear.

“Casa Bonita is not going anywhere,” Christie stressed. “This place is an institution, and we want to make sure that it survives for the next 50 years so that future generations of performers can come here and work under safe conditions.”

On Friday, the Taylor family, originally from Colorado and now residing in San Diego, flew in for a visit. “We used to come here all the time for Halloween, so I thought it’d be real special to come here and enjoy it with my family once again,” said Jonah Taylor.

His father, Jeff, called the timing of the strike “a bummer.” The family honored their dinner reservations but expressed support for the striking performers.

Jonah called the strike “a complete shocker, just considering how much money [ownership] put into the place.”

“I think they deserve the best, especially when it comes to, you know, entertaining and, you know, making the restaurant even better,” he said of the performers. “I hope it’s not like a ghost town in there, but I’m sure it’s going to be a lot more different without the people that really make the place.”
https://www.denver7.com/news/front-range/lakewood/striking-casa-bonita-performers-hit-picket-line-on-halloween