Famous Guests ~ Messrs. Darrow, Frost, Ellington, and Armstrong

The Hotel Boulderado has been honored to have some famous people stay with us over the years. We recently started a new regular post on our Facebook page that features one of these famous guests each Friday. In case you miss one of these Facebook posts, we will be doing a wrap up on our blog each month to share with you some of our most famous guests of the past.

Clarence Darrow was one of the most famous defense lawyers of his time and stayed at the Boulderado during the 1920s. He participated in two of the most highly publicized trials of the era: the Scopes trial focused on teaching evolution in schools, and the trial of thrill-seeking killers Leopold and Loeb.

The poet Robert Frost was a frequent guest of ours during the 1930s. His daughter was a tuberculosis patient at the Boulder Sanitarium at the time, and whenever he came to town to visit her he would stay at the Hotel Boulderado. Some of Frost's most famous poems include "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening", "Mending Wall" and "The Road Not Taken".




Musician Duke Ellington showed up on our doorstep during the 1960s with an entourage of forty people -- and no reservation! We were happy to accommodate him and his entire party. During his career, Ellington elevated jazz music (which he referred to simply as "American music") to a whole new artform thanks to his use of the big band and all its instruments.

Another jazz musician, Louis Armstrong, also stayed at the Boulderado in 1961 when he was in town to perform at the nearby University of Colorado. Armstrong became recognizable as the most famous trumpet player of the 20th century and was also well-known for his scat singing abilities.


 One interesting follow up to our last two guests. During the 1960s, not every hotel in Boulder would accept an African-American guest. The Hotel Boulderado was, in fact, one of the few establishments at the time in the city that Black guests were permitted to stay at.

Famous Guests

Since we opened in 1909, the Hotel Boulderado has played host to a wide variety of guests, some more famous than others. Here's a few of my favorite stories:

• Ethel Barrymore stayed here in 1915 while she was performing at the Curran Opera House (now the Boulder Theater).
• Helen Keller stayed here twice (once in 1914 and again in 1923) while doing lectures at the University of Colorado. On one of these trips, Annie Sullivan accompanied her and they stayed in room #205.
  
• Duke Ellington showed up at the Hotel Boulderado in the 1960s with his forty-two person entourage -- and no reservation.
  
• Louis Armstrong stayed here in 1961 when he played a concert at the university. At the time, not too many hotels in Boulder would allow black guests. The Hotel Boulderado was an exception.
• Robert Frost was a frequent guest here in the 1920s because his daughter was a patient at the nearby Boulder Sanitarium.
  

Guess Who . . .

Plenty of famous people have stayed at the Boulderado, especially musicians. Some of the more notable names are Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, and Pearl Jam. Well, as of this weekend, we can add one more to the list. The legendary B.B. King stayed here Friday night after his show at the Boulder Theater down the block. He checked in to one of our Presidential Suites, but couldn't enjoy the room for more than one night because of his tour schedule. We hope B.B. King and his band enjoyed their stay at the historic Hotel Boulderado!