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South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone will soon become the owners of Casa Bonita, a Colorado landmark in Lakewood, per CBS4. The show is celebrating its 24th anniversary and both Parker and Stone grew up in Colorado and met while attending the University of Colorado at Boulder. The writers, producers, and directors were hired by Comedy Central in 1997 to create the animated series, and considering they just signed a $900 million deal with CBSViacom to create 14 South Park movies and 7 more seasons, they could afford it. One of the most popular episodes in the series is about a fictional small Colorado town that takes place at Casa Bonita and the restaurant and beloved small entertainment center were pending bankruptcy when they reached an agreement with an owner.
Governor Jared Polis’ office live-streamed the conversation on Friday morning, “As of about an hour ago, pending bankruptcy proceedings, we’ve come to an agreement with the owner and we’ve bought it,” Stone told Polis. According to the outlet, a group called “Save Casa Bonita” had been working to try and get the restaurant fully operational. Right now only the arcade, gift show, and tours of the facility have been open throughout the day with the restaurant closed to diners since the COVID-19 pandemic. “We know that there have been a lot of people in Colorado that love Casa Bonita and have been working on this and we’re excited to work with everybody and make it the place we all want to make it,” said Parker, who was wearing a Colorado Rockies T-shirt. Polis shared photos on Instagram and shared his excitement, “I couldn’t be more excited to find out they’re buying Casa Bonita! I also got to present them with their very own Tegridy plates!” He wrote in the caption.
Since its debut, 309 episodes of South Park have been broadcast, consistently earning the highest ratings of any basic cable program. The Twitter account for Comedy Central, South Park’s network, shared the news on Friday with the caption, “You’re not dreaming.”