Catie Cheshire
Audio By Carbonatix
Your Mom’s House was seized by the City of Denver, according to a notice posted on the Capitol Hill venue’s door on Wednesday, December 17.
The club at 608 East 13th Avenue has been the subject of multiple allegations that it did not pay workers and performers; at least nine former employees have filed wage claims with the Department of Labor since January, when Jillian Johnson bought the majority stake of the venue.
On December 17, the venue owed the city $29,820.57, according to Laura Swartz, the marketing and communications director for the Department of Finance. “The vast majority of this – $28,479.25 – are unpaid sales taxes; $1,341.32 is unpaid occupational privilege tax, which is a tax employers pay,” she notes. “The unpaid sales taxes date from as early as December 2023.”
Swartz adds: “When businesses charge customers sales tax but then do not submit that sales tax to the city, the city is responsible for becoming involved. We try to work with taxpayers, often for significant periods of time, to ensure they can continue to operate. Before the city reaches the stage of having to issue a warrant, we attempt to reach a business by phone, mail, email, and in person. Warrants are only issued after repeated attempts to collect taxes from the business fall short (in this case, since December 2023). We want to see every business in Denver succeed, and warrants are an absolute last resort.”
Much of the amount cited by the city predates Johnson’s involvement with Your Mom’s House. Before January, her only previous experience in music was in booking, through the small company No Fux Punx Productions, which has a little over 1,600 followers on Instagram. It describes itself as “rated R for RAD.”
Johnson blamed the seizure on past owners in a statement posted to the Your Mom’s House’s Facebook page. “We are currently resolving an administrative tax issue with the City that stems from prior ownership and outdated records [which] were never disclosed, including estimating assessments,” it reads. “The demands currently being addressed relate to periods before our ownership and are already in formal review. This matter is being handled through the appropriate legal and administrative process and will be fully addressed as part of that proceeding.”
The statement continues: “Importantly, this does not involve allegations of fraud, misconduct, or irresponsible operation by our current team. We have been working in good faith to reconcile the account and expect this to be clarified shortly. We’ll be back in a week and can’t wait to see you all.”
Your Mom’s House opened in 2017 under co-owners James Bedwell and Joseph Hite, as well as two other shadow owners. This spring, Bedwell filed a lawsuit against Johnson for fraud, breach of contract, civil theft, unjust enrichment and defamation, claiming he was meant to stay on as a co-owner but Johnson used “a deliberate bait-and-switch scheme designed to fraudulently obtain control of the venue and its assets.” That suit is pending.
After ownership turned over in January, issues also erupted between Johnson and the owners of Pearl Diver, a venture that operated inside YMH from December 2024 until this March, when Pearl Diver’s founders moved their venture to the former home of the Mercury Cafe at 2199 California Street and transformed it into the Pearl. The dispute was over liquor licensing, but quickly devolved into personal attacks.
In its early years, Your Mom’s House was known for its jam-band and EDM shows, as well as live-art community events. It has won numerous Best of Denver awards through the years, including for its light-up dance floor. When Johnson took over, she promised that the venue would be more dedicated to metal and punk acts. But as the venue’s reputation with stakeholders in those scenes began to falter, Your Mom’s House started mounting more hip-hop shows.
In a note to Westword regarding its coverage of the seizure, Johnson says: “The city enforcement action was based on estimated assessments issued due to unfiled returns, not verified tax liability. Those returns were unfiled because the prior owner retained control of the tax accounts, changed mailing addresses to his personal residence, and prevented access to the portal, resulting in all notices being misdirected. Once access was obtained, the returns were filed and the city’s own system now reflects a substantially lower, accurate balance.”
After the original version of this story was published on December 18, it was updated to include the statement that Johnson posted on Facebook; it was updated again on December 20 to include Johnson’s statement to Westword. Watch for continuing coverage of the situation at Your Mom’s House, including its status with the city and plans to reopen.
