302

Did you like yesterday's blog post about 304, one of our haunted rooms? It included an audio clip from the Slacker and Steve Radio Show where they brought a psychic into the room to perform a reading. The fun continues next door in 302, another one-bedroom suite with the same access to the open-air porch that 304 has. If you liked that, then you'll probably like this audio clip taken from 302 with the same psychic.

PS Check it out! CBS Channel 4 from Denver sent their social media team up to Boulder this morning to document the crazy snowfall we got. While they were downtown, Mike and Michael stopped by to investigate the Halloween decorations and shot a live video right in our lobby. Click here to see the results!

304

Our lobby has undergone a transformation since yesterday's post. Skeletons, vampires, and spider webs are everywhere, and there's even a disembodied hand coming out of the front desk. It can only mean one thing -- Halloween is fast approaching. Last year, the Slacker and Steve Radio Show from Alice 105.9 made a stop at the Hotel Boulderado on their Tour of Terror. Slacker and Steve each stayed in one of our alleged "haunted" rooms on the third floor. Click here to listen to the audio clip from the radio show.

While there have been reports of ghosts and paranormal activity all over the hotel in a variety of guest rooms, two of our suites in the historic section have seemed to be more active than the average room. Room 304 is a beautiful one-bedroom suite featuring a king bed and views of downtown Boulder. It also has a door leading to an open-air porch that connects to 302, making it one of the most popular and desirable rooms in the hotel. Many people stay in 304 without any problems or disturbances, but there have also been reports of people feeling uneasy, hearing strange noises, and other unexplained phenomenon.

304 and 302 will be open to the public this Friday as part of Historic Boulder's Ghost Walk/Ghost Talk this Friday between 7pm and 10pm. "Ghosts" will be on hand to share their stories of days past, refreshments will be served, and psychics will be available for personal readings. Visit Historic Boulder's website to learn more about this event and how to purchase tickets.

Munchkin Masquerade

Since so much is happening downtown this weekend (Halloween, CU's homecoming game/Pearl Street Stampede), Downtown Boulder Inc. pushed up their annual Munchkin Masquerade to Thursday, October 29th. Between 2pm and 5pm, trick or treaters will descend on the downtown area in search of sugar loot. Start out at the Daily Camera's building where you can pick up a starter treat bag, map of participating merchants, and a free photo of your costumed kid provided by Eight Days a Week. The Hotel Boulderado is an official stop on the map, but many people forget to stop by because it's not directly on Pearl Street. These people miss out on lots of candy given away in our "haunted" lobby, which is decked out with creepy, spooky Halloween decor.

Happy Birthday, Yuko!

Taking a moment today to wish our Sales Office Manager, Yuko Ishige, a very happy (and a bit early) birthday. Yuko is the glue that holds our office together, and whether she is preparing the sterling menus for a wedding reception, fielding dozens of phone calls from people looking to reserve space at a Holiday Tea or Seasonal Buffet, or cheering on the Rockies, she does everything with dedication and passion. Megan will be bringing in a chocolate cake for us to celebrate Yuko's birthday next week, since, as Yuko has said before, "I would bathe in chocolate if I could." (She's especially fond of the Triple Chocolate cupcakes at Tee and Cakes.) Happy Birthday, Yuko! Here's to a year full of fun, love, and chocolate!

Boulder Wilderness Shuttle Visitor Packages

Have you heard of the Boulder Wilderness Shuttle? It's a new company in town that offers shuttle service between area hotels and popular wilderness hotspots. The Hotel Boulderado has partnered with the Boulder Wilderness Shuttle to offer packages for visitors that combine the cost of their room with a guided tour. Right now, there's package available on our website that offer a guided hiking tour, guided biking tour, and one specifically geared towards sightseeing the amazing fall foliage that Colorado has to offer.

Women's History Afternoon Tea

We are once again excitedly preparing for tomorrow's Women's History Afternoon Tea. Tickets are still available for this event, which features the Legendary Ladies, who will be performing "Unconventional Women of the West," a series of five-minute monologues from interesting female historical figures. Here's a sneak peek of some of the characters who will be visiting the Boulderado tomorrow:Emily Griffith (1868-1947) was a Denver teacher who dreamed of opening a school that would be open to people of all ages. In May of 1916, the Denver Board of Education gave Griffith a condemned schoolbuilding in which to make her dream a reality. The Opportunity School opened on September 9th that year, and by 1954 was serving 10,000 students each year and had an alumni base of 400,000.


Mother Cabrini (1850-1917) was the first American citizen canonized (made a saint) by the Roman Catholic Church. She founded sixty-seven non-profit institutions dedicated to a variety of social projects throughout the Unites States and also abroad.


Mary Rippon (1850-1935) was the first female professor to teach at the University of Colorado, and she did so for over thirty years. Rippon's works have been long recognized by the university, which named an open-air theater after her. The female students at CU also worked for her nomination and acceptance into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame.

The Women's History Afternoon Tea partially benefits the Circle of Care project, an elderly enrichment program. Twenty-five senior citizens have been given complimentary seats to this event.

CU Family Weekend

The hotel is full and decked out with black and gold balloons. Q's Restaurant's reservations are full for Friday night. There's gold foil-covered candy down at the front desk. Traffic on Broadway is much heavier than usual, both on the roads and sidewalks. Conclusion? It must be Family Weekend over at the University of Colorado.

The Boulderado's Director of Sales & Marketing, Beverly Silva, was interviewed in the Colorado Daily about the boom in business the hotel receives for this weekend. "'It's a great boost for our local economy,' Silva said of Family Weekend. And while Silva said one wildly successful weekend can't make up for the sagging economic times of the past year, "it gives some encouragement and brings enthusiasm. People are happy.'" (Read the article in its entirety.)

It's true. Family Weekend is one of those unofficial Boulderado holidays where the place is jumping, employees are busy running around (bolstered by all that gold foil-covered candy, I think!), and we tend to thrive on the rush of it all. Stop by to see for yourself, and as an added bonus in the lobby tonight there's a special performance by Jasco from 6pm-9pm.

The Boulderado Green Team

Earlier this year, the Hotel Boulderado employees formed a Green Team to make sure that we are doing everything possible to be as green as we can. You might remember an Earth Day blog post where I shared some of what we do to be a green hotel. The Green Team is kicking these efforts up a notch as we try to become a certified green business. They've been working with the Environmental Protection Agency on a waste reduction program -- hopefully, this will lead to certification from the EPA and PACE (Partners for A Clean Environment). The Green Team has focused on three main areas: resource management, energy efficiency, and water conservation, but is keeping in mind that no change is too big or too small.

Monthly energy evaluations measure how much gas, electric, and water/waste the hotel uses, which helps us to keep an eye on these levels. The hotel recently reconfigured our recycle and waste disposal program, and by doing so, we are able to recycle at least 25% more than before and reduce waste by 25%. This was accomplished by converting our old Glass & Can and Cardboard recycle bins into one Single Stream dumpster, where we can also recycle things like phone books, milk and juice cartons, brown paper bags, and aluminum foil. The kitchens at the Boulderado (both from the catering department and Q's Restaurant) are now partaking in composting. (And big thank you to Pete, our banquet chef, for researching special composting bags!)

Some upgrades and replacements are also taking on a greener tint here at the Boulderado. We purchased six new HVAC units on the roof of the historic building. The old units were very inefficient, being over 25 years old. (Commercial units are measured in SEER units to rate their efficiency -- the removed units rated an 8, while the new ones are rated as 13, with higher number indicating more efficiency.) As exit signs need replacement, they are repalced with LED exit signs, and the maintenance department has replaced about 30% of the signs to date. All T-12 fluorescent bulbs have been repalced with T-8 bulbs with electrical ballasts.

What else are we doing? Over half our employees have and use (and love!) an Eco-Pass. The Sales Office, which uses more paper than any other department in the hotel, tries to use recycled paper whenever possible to use up both sides of each piece of paper, and also switched over to paper that contains 30% post-consumer waste. Computers are turned off in offices overnight and during the weekends.

Way to go, Green Team! I will be sure to keep everyone posted on their work as we move the Hotel Boulderado into a clean, green world.

Boulderado Menu Tastings

Did you know that here at the Hotel Boulderado, our catering departments offer complimentary menu tastings for people who have booked an event with us? Planning a menu for a wedding, holiday party, or corporate reception is so much easier and less stressful when you know exactly how the food will taste. In fact, there's one taking place on our Mezzanine right this very minute. There's champagne and organic wine tastings, hors d'oeuvres, and even a beef tenderloin carving station. Some local vendors are partnering with us to showcase their talents: there's cake service provided by Kim and Jake's Cakes, music by Tom and Melissa from Affinity for Music, event photos by Marsha Steckling over at Life Exposed Photography, and gorgeous centerpieces from European Flower Shop. Interested in booking an event at the Boulderado? You can email us at sales@boulderado.com, call us toll-free at 1 (866) 826-2887, or fill out a request for proposal form on our website.

September Winner ~ Tell Us Your Boulderado Story

One of the components of the Boulderado's 100 year anniversary is the Tell Us Your Boulderado Story campaign, which is a collection of memories and narratives from the last century about the Hotel Boulderado. Our goal is to collect 100 stories which will be compiled into a coffee table book. The Boulderado selects a monthly favorite, and September's winner is Ruth Schutlz. Enjoy her story, "The Boulderado Double Daylily."

"On August 1st, 1954, my husband, Al Kahre, and I bought our first house. It was brand new and there was no landscaping. It was barren!

At that time our family owned Kahre Interiors which was located in one of the little shops just west of the Boulderado Hotel. In the spring of 1955 we were scrounging for plants for our yard from any place that we could find them. We had no money for landscaping. Then we learned that the little old pioneer house wedged between the Boulderado Hotel and our little row of shops was scheduled for demolition so that the hotel could remodel and expand. My husband asked for permission to salvage some of the plants from the well-tended little garden in the yard of the little old pioneer house. He was told to take anything and everything that he wanted. Every night after work, he dug up as much as he could before it got dark, brought it home, and planted it by street light and flashlight.

Among the various plants were some daylilies. They were very hardy and produced lovely flowers. Using these beautiful daylilies, that were gifts of the Boulderado Hotel, as the parent, I have now developed a beautiful double daylily which I recently registered with the American Hemerocallis Society as the Boulderado Double. Would you believe that without realizing it, I registered Boulderado Double during the 100th anniversary year of the hotel!"

Boulderado Double Daylily

Hotel Boulderado, circa 1955

Bill and Winnie Hutson

A bit more Boulderado history for you on this chilly but sunny October day, this time concerning the Hutsons, Bill and Winnie (seen left ~ photo from the Hutson family collection).

William (Bill) Hutson, Jr. came from a family that was very familiar with the hotel business. His father, William Sr., owned and operated three hotels throughout the Midwest in Kansas and Missouri, and when it was time to select a gift for Bill and his new beauty queen bride, Winnie, William decided to continue the tradition. He bought the Hotel Boulderado for the young couple in 1940, the year after they were married, for $40,000. William Sr. added the Boulderado to his chain of Hutson Hotels, but turned the day-to-day operations and management over to his son, Bill. This marked the first time in Boulderado history that the hotel was privately owned. A Daily Camera article rejoiced at the news: "The sale is heralded by citizens of Boulder for it will put in possession of the hotel a company with sufficient capital to make the hotel what all Boulder wants it to be."

War, however, interrupted plans for modernization. Bill Hutson became a civilian flight instructor and then joined the Army Air Corps in 1942. He was stationed in a variety of locations, including Arizona, Texas, and California. Wherever he went, Winnie Hutson followed him. Hotel management during this time fell on a few Hutson Hotel employees, and occupancy became so high that they had to limit guest stays to three days in order to accommodate the demand.

When World War II came to a close in August of 1945, Bill and Winnie returned to Boulder to start improvements on the Boulderado. The coal furnace was converted over to natural gas. Electric lights were installed in each rooms, replacing the original gas and electric light fixtures. Carpet was laid in the halls, lobby, and in fifteen rooms. Fluorescent light took over the illumination of the lobby, and on the rooftop a large neon sign replaced the wooden one.

Winnie gave birth to a son, William (Bill) Hutson III, in 1946. While the family wasn't living in the hotel, like Hugh Mark did years earlier, Bill still grew up knowing every inch of the Hotel Boulderado, and would spend every Halloween trick-or-treating among the rooms of the permanent residents.

Bill Jr. turned the managerial duties of the Boulderado over to his friend, Ralph Hume, who had already been working at the hotel since the 1930s, first as a bellman and then as a front desk clerk. The Hutsons continued to manage the dining room, which was the Boulderado Coffee Shop in the late 1950s. Entrees could be had for under $2, and all dinners included potato, salad, fruit, and a beverage. Winnie's mother, Rosa May, worked for a time as the head of the housekeeping department, and lived in room 505 until she died.

It was during the Hutsons tenure at the Hotel Boulderado that the stained-glass ceiling in the lobby caved in after a heavy Halloween snowstorm. Less than two months later, William Hutson Sr. died, and Bill Jr. followed just four months later. Bill Hutson III was 14 years old. Ralph Hume continued to operate the hotel, but in 1961 Winnie decided to finally cut the ties and leased the Boulderado to another couple, the Howards. Stay tuned to learn about their adventures running the Hotel Boulderado in the 1960s!

October at the Boulderado

October is here, which means falling leaves, crisp air, and my favorite holiday all year, Halloween. This month is shaping up to be a busy one here at the Hotel Boulderado. Read on to learn what's happening at the hotel and in the blog in October.

• Murder Mystery Dinners are back! Book your spot for the 9th, 23rd, or 30th and enjoy the lively troupe 'Til Death Do Us Party's performance, "It's My Party, and I'll Die If I Want To." Accompanied by a buffet dinner and cocktail of your choice, it's dinner and a show all rolled into one.
• Women's History Afternoon Tea on Sunday the 18th. Take a step back in time with the Legendary Ladies as they present brief monologues of significant women while you enjoy a classic afternoon tea. Later this month, I will introduce you to the historical figures who will be featured right here in the blog.
• Two very special room profiles will also be featured on the blog this month, each one taking you inside the stories and rumors behind some of our "haunted rooms."
  
• The Munchkin Masquerade on October 29th invites trick-or-treaters downtown. The Hotel Boulderado pulls out all the stops to create a "haunted lobby" where kids can collect their candy, and parents can stop by the Corner Bar for a martini.
  
• On October 30th, Historic Boulder will feature the Hotel Boulderado on their Ghost Walk Ghost Talk fundraising tour. Spiritualists will be situated in two haunted rooms to see if anything arises.
• Employee pumpkin carving contest! The Maintenance Department came up with a brilliant snowman made of pumpkins last year, and I can't wait to see what creative carvings are entered this year.