Day 89: Guinness World Records

The current Guinness World Record for largest collection of keys is held by Lisa J. Large of Kansas City. She has 3,604 keys.

Well, sorry to be the one to break the news to you Lisa, but I hope you’ve enjoyed being the Guinness record holder; your days are numbered. 

With an estimated 30,000 keys in The Baldpate Inn’s key collection, we far surpass the current record. The task before is us is to meet the stipulations of the Guinness Record submission. 

Would you like to be part of this project, and one of the first to know exactly how many keys are in The Baldpate’s collection? 

Written by Liz Rodgers

Day 60: Music in the Mountains

Music at Baldpate has had many rhythms and tempos!  We don’t know as much as we would like about the earliest days, other than our Dance Hall was renowned for wonderful times. 

As mentioned before, when we shared bands with other local lodges, our night was Thursday.  Pictures of the Tall Timber Boys from our photo collection and notes from family members make us wonder even more just who all performed during those early years.  Know any stories? Please share with us!

The keys to our piano in the Dining Room  (albeit sincerely old) have been graced by many a guest.  

 
Nothing new apparently, we still love it when staff are willing to contribute their musical talents as well.

Our Photo Collection and Memorabilia tells us that at one time we even had an organ for entertainment which was eventually donated to Denver University.

Over the past 30 years, we have been most honored by the friendship of our neighbors at Rocky Ridge Music Center.  They have often treated us with performances and dinner music by stars from their students and staff.   

Baldpate’s long tradition of entertaining music will continue. So if you are thinking Music & Mountains, think of us!

Written by Lois Smith

Day 52: Days with Dad

Baldpate would definitely not be what it is today without my dad, Sam Hoke. As mentioned before, from the beginning of our tenure here, my dad was not only a financial backer, idea man, but also creative engineer and super handyman when things just did not fit!

Looking even further back in time, William Mace, father of the Mace brothers who founded Baldpate, was known for his contributions even as early as 1922.  Folklore says each time he trekked in the forest, he would pick up unusual pieces of wood to be later transformed into a door handle or stair railing. He is also given credit for promoting the growth of the aspen trees along our driveway, saying he wouldn’t be content until the entire side of the mountains was covered in aspens.

So with such a heritage of helpful fathers, our Baldpate Days with Dad salute is clearly demanded. In honor of my father, we had always given free ice cream à la mode on Father’s Day, but wanted to do more. 

To promote spending time with your dad (probably what he wants most) we decided on the idea of you bringing him to lunch on Father’s Day AND then back once again to enjoy our Key-thedral Theater plays.

Start planning now, get your reservation for Father's Day, Sunday June 18^th, bring your Dad to lunch, get him free à la mode on his pie, and a free ticket to our Seven Keys to Baldpate play. 


Argyle socks, crazy bowtie, optional! 

Written by Lois Smith

Day 42: Baldpate Horses and Livery

Horses have always enthralled me! As a young girl, I spent hours dreaming of riding horses. Staring out the car widow, I’d imagine the scenery rushing by was flying under me and my trusty steed. 

I have always enjoyed visiting The Baldpate Inn, and I’m still invariably drawn to the old black and white photos of the Baldpate horses and livery.  Who were these lucky folks beaming from the saddles? What trails did they ride and what stories could they tell?

Not much written history exists regarding the Baldpate Livery, especially during the earliest years, but we know it was an important part of life at the Inn. Horses were still a main method of transportation at the inception of the Inn, gradually replaced by automobiles. Although Baldpate no longer has stables, trail riding remains a popular attraction today with many stables in the area for our guests.

In the days of the Baldpate Livery, guests and tourists enjoyed trail rides into Rocky Mountain National Park, and up towards Longs Peak.

 

One of the most well-known characters associated with the stables was Chuck Malone. He ran the Baldpate Livery and guided tours for 20 years; our best estimate is that he started in the late 1920s. Chuck and his dog, Buster, kept things lively and entertaining, and often a bit on the wild side. Legends circulate of his fortune-telling penchant, and on occasion, riding horseback into the main Dining Room of the hotel! Chuck’s name and a Baldpate brand remain carved into the Wrangler cabin’s mantle. 

This $1.00 lesson seems like the best buck you could spend for an adventure! 

Do you have a tale - tall or otherwise - of The Baldpate Livery or horses? Please tell us about it in the comments below! 

 Written by Liz Rodgers

Day 28: Six Degrees of Separation in the Seven Keys

The connections in space and time that exist within The Baldpate Inn and its key collection are staggering. With over 30,000 keys in the collection and nearly 100 years of history, what connections could you have? 

As you will recall from our yesterday’s post about the history of The Baldpate Inn’s Famous key collection, legends say author Earl Derr Biggers visited the Inn and was thunderstruck to see that this very real place was exactly what he had imagined when writing his mystery novel, The Seven Keys to Baldpate. 

In 2013, Dr. Richard Kelley spent an afternoon with his wife, Linda, dining at The Baldpate Inn.  The Baldpate Inn has always been a family business, and Richard had grown up working in a family-run hotel in Waikiki, Hawaii, opened by his parents in 1947.  The name of that hotel was The Islander Hotel, and it was where his parents, Roy and Estelle Kelley, launched the prestigious Outrigger Enterprises. 

During their lunch, Richard and Linda spoke to Lois Hoke Smith, owner and innkeeper, and asked if The Baldpate Inn’s key collection could possibly contain a key connected to Outrigger Enterprises. Lois escorted Richard and Linda to the Key Room and together they looked and looked. To Richard’s amazement, they found a key and key tag for Room 15, The Islander Hotel!

Photo credit Dr. R. Kelley

“Finding that key at The Baldpate Inn was very emotional for me,” Kelley says, “particularly because one of my early duties was to cut replacement keys when they were lost or not returned by guests.” Could this very key have passed through his hands years before?

If that wasn’t enough of an amazing connection, author Earl Derr Biggers also visited Waikiki, the hometown of Dr. Kelley in 1925, where he was inspired to create the character Charlie Chan. Read more of that story here from this article in the 2014 Honolulu Star. 

And finally, if that wasn’t enough to convince you that perhaps there’s a link to everyone in The Baldpate Key collection, read Dr. Kelley’s “The Rest of the Story” to discover another key connection to The Baldpate Inn!

 - Sources:  Honolulu Star2014; Outrigger Saturday Briefing,3/15/2014

Written by Liz Rodgers