Frank Day

My blogging series about the different Boulderado owners and managers had to come to an end eventually, I guess. And perhaps this is the blog post I've been pointing towards ever since I first started sharing the history of these people. Beginning with William Beattie and Hugh Mark, then moving on to the Hutsons, Ralph Hume, and the Howards, and continuing with Louis Winterberger, William Brantmeyer, and Bart Bortles.

Bortles and Dick Dorman sold the hotel to Boulderado Hotel Ltd. in 1980 after just two years of ownership. Sid Anderson stayed on as the general manager. Frank Day became the new managing general partner of the hotel. At the time, Day described the rooms as "threadbare and tatty, but clean and comfortable." He decided to renovate the building from top to bottom.

First to be done were the fourth and fifth floor guest rooms on the west side of the building. Rooms that connected to share a bathroom were converted into large suites. Rooms without bathrooms had them installed in what used to be the closets. Each room received a makeover in time, and the tradition of each Hotel Boulderado room having a different decorating scheme was born. (Each of our guest rooms are individually decorated with their own carpet, drape, and wallpaper.) At the time, the hotel was also full of original antique furniture, but most of them had lost their luster over the years. Every piece of furniture was refinished on the fourth-floor porch, cataloged, and photographed.

Amazingly enough, the Hotel Boulderado remained open during this entire process. While seven or eight rooms were taken out of the rental inventory, the rest remained open to guests. By the time the renovation had been completed, it brought the hotel's room count to 42. With an occupancy averaging 92% almost every night, Day felt confident in expanding the guest rooms at the Hotel Boulderado. First one expansion in 1985 and then another in 1989 increased the hotel's inventory to the current 160 and also added the Events Center in the North Wing.

Without the initial renovation and the subsequent expansion, the Hotel Boulderado may never have recovered the grandeur it exudes today. When you walk into the lobby, the cherrywood staircase gleams, the stained-glass ceiling glitters, and friendly faces greet you at the door and the front desk. This is the Boulderado that I've come to love and treasure, made possible by the people who contributed over the years not only to the hotel, but the hotel's history as well. Boulderado employees are also caretakers of a landmark, and we make sure to hold that duty in as high a regard as we do for our daily tasks.

Boulderado Dining Room: A History Lesson

One of the most fascinating spots to consider in the Hotel Boulderado is our dining room, located on the lobby level of the northeast corner of the historic section. It has the distinction of being the oldest continually-operated restaurant in Boulder -- with the exception of a brief closure during World War II, the dining room has served guests since the hotel opened in 1909. Management and menus have changed a myriad of times, as has the look and feel of the space.

When we opened in 1909, the dining room was one of the premier places to eat out in Boulder. A Daily Camera newspaper reporter who wrote the article about the Boulderado's opening noted, "The spacious dining room, with its snowy linen, polished silver, and delicate bouquets, gave promise of the tempting delicacies and huge banquets that are to come. The kitchen, with its massive ranges and variety of modern conveniences, appeared equal to the tasks of furnishing the best and the most that could be demanded of it. The handsome electric chandeliers, the exquisitely patterned rugs, the profuse decoration of palms, ferns, and flowers, the beautiful music of the orchestra, all added to the sum to make a perfect total."

During his tenure as owner and manger of the Hotel Boulderado, Hugh Mark and his family were always given the honor of being the first guests to enter the dining room at mealtimes, and they occupied the same table year after year. It was at this table that Hugh Mark would keel over from a heart attack, taking the life of one of the Boulderado's most dynamic leaders. Betty Mark, Hugh Mark's young daughter, took full advantage of the formal dining room when she started taking tap dancing lessons and needed a place to practice. "The private dining room was a marvelous pace to practice, as the taps resounded beautifully on the tile floor," Betty recalled years later.

But the Marks were not the only ones who took regular meals in the dining room. Several service groups, including the Chamber of Commerce, Lions, Kiwanis, and Rotary groups, held weekly luncheon meetings there. Even though President Franklin Roosevelt repealed Prohibition in 1933, Boulder remained a "dry" county. Only 3.2% beer was permitted to be served in the dining room, despite the fact that more than one chef snuck down to the basement to nip from a flask. By the time the stock market crashed in 1929, the formal waiters with white jackets and finger bowls had given way to waitresses and a less formal atmosphere.

When it came time to re-open the dining room after it closed during the Second World War, the Hutsons decided to modernize and remodel. New equipment was brought in, including a range, refrigerator, new dishes, glassware, silver, and linens. Soda-fountain-style booths and a new, U-shaped lunch counter gave the dining room a more casual feel, as did it's new Mexican motif and "Cactus Room" name.

This didn't last too long, as by the late 1950s the dining room had been transformed into the Boulderado Coffee Shop. According to Legend of a Landmark: A History of the Hotel Boulderado, "A variety of dinners was offered from charcoal-broiled chopped sirloin steak with mushroom sauce and French-fried onions -- for $1.25 -- to choice roast prime rib of beef au jus, for $1.75. More beef dishes, chicken, pork, and seafood rounded out the menu. All dinners included potato, salad, fruit, and beverage."

A day came after the Howards took over when the manager of the then Chinese restaurant that occupied the dining room simply did not show up to work. June and Ed frantically kept the business going until they convinced friend and local restaranteur Fred Shelton to take over the space. He opened Fred's Steakhouse in the dining room, and a popular phrase took off -- "Come eat with Fred and sleep with Ed." Fred's specialty was a sirloin steak dinner priced at $2.15. Fred stayed until 1969, when the Howards gave up the hotel. From there, a dizzying succession of various owners, themes, and names came about:

• Doug and Fran Simcoe's Boulderado Empire Room in 1969
  
• The Prosperity Garden in 1972
• Fleur de Lis (1970s)
  
• Winston's Seafood Grille (1980s)
  
• Teddy Roosevelt's American Grille

Teddy Roosevelt's remained until John Platt moved Q's Restaurant from the second-floor Porch to the dining room, where it has stayed through the present day. Patrons who eat at Q's must cross the same original tiled floor that proved so useful to Betty Mark in her tapdancing days.

Louis Winterberger

The Howards sold the Hotel Boulderado in 1967 to Court Plaza Inc, a group of local investors in Boulder. Louis Winterberger was a partner in the group, and he took over the day-to-day task of managing the hotel. Like the Howards, Winterberger wished to keep the hotel rooms period in nature.

In an attempt to keep the hotel full, Winterberger allowed more permanent residents to stay at the Boulderado. Most of them were elderly folks whose spouses had already passed away. One such resident was Walter Lawry, who marched such a familiar trail from the Boulderado to his favorite restaurant that the alley he walked down would later be renamed "Lawry Lane" in his honor. According to Legend of a Landmark, "Senility was a trait of . . . Winterberger's guests. 'A woman came to the front desk one day and asked if we had any rooms,' he said. 'I showed her her own room and she said it was delightful, and that she'd take it.'"

The same year that Court Plaza Inc. took over the Boulderado, Boulder residents finally voted to repeal the prohibition the city had been under since the 30s. For the first time, full-strength wine, beer, and liquor could be legally served within the city limits. Winterberger turned an unused space in the basement into Catacombs Bar and Restaurant, which opened in 1969 to thirsty patrons. He also added an entrance to the bar from 13th Street, paving the way for the hotel entrances to be switched in the future. (The hotel's main entrance since its 1909 opening was located on Spruce Street. But with the crumbling stone portico and Catacombs traffic, the entrance was eventually moved to 13th Street.)

When Court Plaza Inc. sold the Boulderado in 1976, Louis Winterberger shared his thoughts. "Naturally we have mixed emotions about selling the hotel. Our Christmas carol sing in the decorated lobby at Christmas time soon became a family tradition and we have pleasant memories of the lovely weddings, the Philharmonic Balls, and many other social events which have taken place in the lobby. We know the new owners feel as we do about the historic preservation of the hotel, and we are pleased they will be continuing our efforts."

Gwen, Winterberger's wife, shared her memories of running the hotel with her husband in our Memories of the Boulderado. Click here to read her story.

Ed and June Howard

Boulder has long been known as a hippie haven, and no decade conjures up the hippie in the mind's eye more than the 1960s. It was a tough time by then for the Hotel Boulderado. A guest left a note summing up the stay: "Toilet got stuck in night, had a hard time stopping it. Towel rak fell down when I hung up towel. Lamp switch out of order, won't always turn off. Shades too small and don't keep out streetlights. Pillows like rocks. I scarcely slept, all things taken together."

It took a brave spirit to take on a hotel in the condition the Boulderado was in, and that spirit was embodied by Ed and June Howard. The Howards had been friends with the Hutsons for years and agreed to lease the Boulderado from Winnie Hutson beginning in June of 1961. The Howards worked hard to keep the hotel running -- Ed represented management, maintenance, and also worked as a desk clerk, while June also worked behind the desk, connected incoming and outgoing phone calls, and worked briefly in the dining room.

Ed and June cultivated a family atmosphere in the lobby. When the Boulderado first opened in 1909, an orchestra played to entertain guests. The lobby orchestra was replaced by a Victrola, then a radio, and then during the 1960s, a television that guests could gather round and watch. The Howards encouraged the community to come in during the holidays for sing-a-longs. Many of the hotel's guests at the time were permanent residents, mostly elderly folks who could no longer live on their own.

Not everyone in Boulder thought the Boulderado was worth holding on to. City administrators declared it to be a fire hazard because of the cherrywood staircase that stretched from the basement up to the fifth floor and wished to tear the hotel down to make more room for parking downtown. They gave the Howards two options: either encase the entire staircase in sheet rock, or install a sprinkler system throughout the hotel. Ed effectively saved the Hotel Boulderado by deciding to install the sprinklers.

In 1967, just six years after taking over, the Howards had had enough and passed the ownership and management of the Boulderado over to Louis Winterberger, whom we will meet in a future blog post. If you are interested in reading more about the Howards and the Boulderado in the 1960s, check out Ed's oral history or June's Boulderado story.

Ralph Hume

Ralph Hume is an interesting figure in the Hotel Boulderado's history. He started out as a bellman in the mid-1930s and then moved up to desk clerk, making friends with Bill Mark, Hugh Mark's son along the way. In the late 1940s, when owner Bill Hutson was losing interest in running the hotel, he turned to Ralph, who took over the managerial duties until 1961.

The times, they were a changing during Hume's era. More and more people were able to afford purchasing a family car, and many travelers bypassed downtown Boulder in favor of the new, modern motels that had spring up on the outskirts of town. The motels offered amenities that the Boulderado couldn't compete with, like swimming pools. Even after adding a new parking lot, the only travelers who seemed to want to stay at the Boulderado were lawyers who wished to be near the courthouse. To compensate for the drop-off in occupancy, Hume decided to open up the Boulderado's rooms to more permanent guests who paid by the week or the month.

It was during Hume's tenure that a few panels fell from the stained-glass ceiling. The hotel in general was in need of freshening up, so Hume decided to remove the remainder of the ceiling and start over. He hired local contractor Moss Miles to install red, white, and blue Plexiglas in its place. A young Bill Hutson III (the Hutson's son) helped Miles with the installation, and admitted years later, "Even then I knew it was tacky."

Stay tuned to learn about the next couple that owned and managed the Hotel Boulderado during the 1960s, Ed and June Howard. For a sneak peek, you can read our transcript of an oral history from Ed on our website.

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!