Friday, March 24, 2017

Day 39: Celebrities and The Baldpate Inn

Did you ever wonder how an early twentieth century Colorado mountain lodge could possibly have such Hollywood connections?   Me too!

Our historic guest registers boast signatures of Betty Grable, Gregory Peck and more. And Ethel’s old diaries talk casually of lunch with Roy Rogers.

Besides all the celebrity photos in our Dining Room, there are photos of Hollywood actress Lana Turner at Baldpate and news accounts of her 1941 visit to open Trail Ridge Road.


We know that most of the black & white photos in our collections are the artistic photojournalism of Mace brothers, Charles & Stuart, who during this time worked for the Denver newspapers. As celebrities came to town, they were tasked with covering the story and getting pictures. Many of the photos in our collection have been signed by these celebrities, often with a personal note to the Mace family indicating they visited Baldpate. Apparently these famous folks also told their friends about the Mace’s mountain retreat.

In the 1950s, another Hollywood connection was Stuart’s son, Stuart Jr. and his Husky dogs, popular as "Yukon King," stars of the CBS’s Sergeant Preston, TV series. The Mace Huskies were filmed both in Aspen (where Stuart Jr. lived) and even taken to Hollywood to film there!

More recently, actor John Ritter and family were often guests at Baldpate Inn when they visited the area. We loved when both John and his wife, Nancy Morgan, provided a signed photo for our collection.

We have certainly been honored by these special connections!

Written by Lois Smith

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