Interview: Introducing Olympus Discotheque

The storied Triangle Building moves onto its next chapter. Opening earlier this year, Olympus Discotheque has taken up residence, and it’s redefining the nightlife here in Denver. It injects a Latinx party atmosphere into downtown while creating space for the queer community. Olympus Dischotheque lives in the nexus of Denver history but hopes to rewrite the future.

OFM sat down with Adoney, the owner, his son Adoney, and Ximena Latinx (he-men-a, she/her), the Director of LGBTQ+ events.

So, what is Olympus Discotheque?

Adoney: It’s a new club for everybody. We’re mainly Latin-focused, but we’re open to everybody. We’re a club that wants to bring a new nightlife for our downtown. We just want people to come in and just have the time of the lives. We bring DJs out from Miami, you name it, Columbia, Puerto Rico, LA.

Ximena: They’ve got DJs that played for the Grammys (play) here. They’re trying to revolutionize the nightlife of Denver. In the past, Denver’s nightlife has been very white-based, white oriented. They’ve come in here and catapulted a new genre of nightlife. They are a straight club that works as a discotheque—so like in Spanish, what we would call a club is a “discoteca.” So in English, that’s the translation. They’re trying to branch away from what being a bar is to creating the nightlife you would see in Latin countries, where it just creates a celebration of life that ties in culture from all over. While they are mainly a straight bar, they act as an ally, especially on weekends for all the LGBT events that we’re gonna have here.

What inspired you to open Olympus?

Adoney (Owner): Fulfilling my dream. Just like anybody. You have a dream, you go for it.

Why is it important to have a club focused on Latin music and culture?

Adoney: It’s just in the blood. It’s who we are. It defines what being Latino is.

Ximena: When we can come together as Latinos, like, it’s just a celebration. Whether we’re just getting together for food or just hanging out, we’re just this party nature community. We’re just here to enjoy good lives, good food, and just kind of welcome all identities and all walks of life.

Why is it important to be an ally while being a straight-owned club?

Adoney (Owner): Business (laughs)

Ximena: (In all seriousness) He’s really good friends with the director of the Latin fashion show, which is a Latin gay man. And so, his relationship to the gay community stems out from just business to actually welcoming his friends and other identities into clubs and spaces where, maybe years ago, that wasn’t a thing. Here in today’s day, he’s able to bridge the gap and create spaces for all of his friends.

As we look into the Latin community, it’s more open and diverse now. I mean, Mexico has a first woman president. A year ago, the first trans woman won one of the biggest reality shows in Mexico. And so what we’re doing here with Olympus club, it’s becoming an ally to the community. It’s bridging that gap. I guess when you look at Potrero being a gay, trans bar, he’s kind of bridging the gap. We are a straight club, but we’re welcoming all walks of life. Everyone can come here and, you know, feel welcome. Feel like they can be themselves without also having to drive 40 minutes out. Come out at 2 in the morning when everything is closed and everything. Here it’s a community that welcomes you to come out in broad daylight and just be yourself.

What is the charity beer bust, and why is it important to continue this tradition?

Ximena: I brought back charity beer bust. When we partnered up together to create events, we focused on doing LGBT events here on the weekends, just because that’s what Triangle was in the past. Triangle had its own legacy over the last, like, seven to 10 years. While doing this, I come from the legendary House of Montaldo.

My great grandma started the entire scene in Denver, Colorado. She was the first. I would say I’m probably one of the later grandchildren. But out of her, like, million kids, I’m one that resonates with her the most just because our careers were very similar. Starting out when she was my age, we actually looked a lot like each other. So when she sees me, she sees a younger version of herself.

I think that Nina Montaldo’s legacy was that she gave up her personal life to stay here and build a community. What a lot of people don’t know is, Nina had a love story once upon a time. When her partner asked them to move to Chicago to go and live their own story, she chose to stay here with the community and continue to build a community here and continue to have that family. So essentially, Nina Montaldo chose her community over love. She never married. She never did any of that again. I think as the years have gone by, even with her having Parkinson’s disease, she’s never let that stop her from raising money for the community, being part of the community, and just being that original drag queen.

That’s just something that she’s instilled in all of us. To me, having a global standing from being on reality shows to coming back to Denver, I see a lot of these new entertainers as myself when I first started. A lot of the communities I’m intertwined with, a lot of dancing communities, a lot of sports communities, where maybe they’re not registered 501(c)(3)s, it’s really expensive to do anything in Colorado, much less expand and do activities, or even have a community here. So what we’re doing as a business—outside of us growing, putting a new bar and club, and everything else in between—We’re also inviting that collaboration between different groups as we help build that community.

What causes do you hope to support with the beer bus going forward?

Ximena: So we have health networks. We have community building. We have sports teams. If you have a social group that you want to start in Denver, and you just don’t have the means, reach out to us and we’ll find ways to help you.

How has Denver changed in your time being here?

Ximena: I think Denver is slowly progressing into the community that we all hope for it to be. When I first started, it was very white-ran, white-filled, white-everything. I think I came in so aggressively from the Dallas drag scene that I forced them to take me in. I just came in with huge outfits, being able to jump myself from the ceiling into splits, and do all these things that they couldn’t deny me a place in the community. From that, I helped spearhead other opportunities for Latinx community members, as well as people of color in general.

I think that after facing Black Lives Matter, after facing the pandemic, it’s changed the community so much. The community, even the uncomfortable parts of the community, have been forced to look outside of their box and see there’s a world outside of them. With shows like Pose normalizing the ballroom community, more shows like Drag Race and Dragula, they’ve normalized different aspects of drag outside of just looking pretty. The community has been forced to accept new identities, new concepts, and ideas. We’re slowly progressing to a more inclusive environment here in the Denver drag scene.

Olympus Discotheque will host its inaugural charity beer bust this Sunday from 2-8 p.m. The first beer but will benefit OFM. Come support a Latinx business and LGBTQ+ organizations.

Photo courtesy of Ximena Latinx