The Esquire Theatre originally opened in 1911, showing silent films and featuring live events on stage. After surviving the Great Depression, the introduction of television, the birth and rise of home videos and competition from suburban megaplex cinemas, neighborhood residents beat back efforts to have the theater converted into a Wendy’s. Had the restaurant opened, it would have meant more than the loss of a movie theater; it would have changed the character of the entire Clifton Gaslight neighborhood.