Aspen, Colorado, early 1970's film by Bo Bedford

[@frankhammond201]

That's me in the gold 1970 Impala with ski rack at 1:34. I'm amazed to see this for the first time, some 50 years later.

[@roberttemple2521]

When did you live in Aspen?

[@frankhammond201]

@@roberttemple2521 I was there 1970-73. Worked at Gretl's & The Copper Kettle. I lived in a few places: Independence Lodging, Dormez-Vous, Lazy Glen, Otto Creek Ranch, Uhlfelder Apartments. How about you?

[@roberttemple2521]

@@frankhammond201 I was there winters 74-5 and 75-6. First in El Jebel over the old filling station there, then Basalt, then lived in the "Mouse House" in Aspen, finally, the second winter, at Independence Lodge. You may've seen/heard me playing harmonicas in the streets as I carried a sandwich board around the pedestrian malls there. The eccentric owner of the sign business, Mickey Shemin, also lived in Independence Lodge. He also played the big echo harmonicas as he would sometimes shoulder the signs, too. I worked as a pearl diver at the Weiner Stube, a popular Austrian restaurant next door to Independence Lodge/Aspen Drug [or was it Independence Drug...? :) Those WERE the daze.

[@frankhammond201]

@@roberttemple2521 Sorry, just saw your reply. I was friends with Mickey!

[@toddstone611]

Best 10 minutes of film I've watched in years. So many memories of old Aspen. I lived there and was probably about 6-8 years old when this was shot. Only complaint. I wish he'd got some of the original Aspen ski lodges.

[@gardensofthegods]

I just got done watching an interview where Jill st. John talks about how great it was back then before all the rich came in and made it impossible for regular people to afford living there and she says it was a classless society and wonderful . I'm glad you had those experiences when you were younger... but I also feel sad for you that the place you used to love was destroyed by Rich assholes

[@mtngal40]

Hi Todd! It's Alena :)

[@jimmydingo7138]

Hi Todd! It's your old next door neighbor on Riverside Dr. Hope you are doing well. Great video. (P.S.- Jimmy is my handle...)

[@gardensofthegods]

Bo Bedford... you really made my day . I was interested in seeing what Aspen used to look like before the rich destroyed it . Wow I really wish I had been there back in the day . I'm not so interested in seeing it nowadays . I just saw an interview where Jill st. John talks about how wonderful it was back in the day when there weren't many buildings there and there was only one street there that was paved and all the rest of them were dirt roads... she mentioned the wonderful old buildings and and believe it or not she talked about all the dogs roaming around . She said it was wonderful back in the day because it was a classless society and everybody could afford to live there and she talks about how sad it is now that it's all these rich people and how they make sure everybody knows their rich . She said back in the day you didn't know who a lot of the rich people work because they were very low keyed and they all drove trucks . She said also the parties back then were wonderful because you met all kinds of people just regular average people and everybody got along . Thank you so much for putting one of my favorite Steve Miller songs at the beginning and end.... I believe his number 5 album was the best and too bad most people never even heard of it . Jill St John said she first arrived there in 1959.... picture what it was like wow.... said he first came on board there in 1949..... imagine what it was like way back then . Thanks so much for showing us what it was like back when it really did have the beautiful people.... the real people who were beautiful and not a bunch of Rich a-holes .

[@frankschaeffer241]

Was there- this brings back many good memories- bet i would hardly recognize it now…. Great film!!!!

[@bitjockey]

I would encourage all of you that are talking about how "it used to be", to go back, bring your skis, eat a good breakfast, and ski some of the same and best terrain that exists. Yeah, the town is different. Yeah, it's a different demographic. But the draw to this place is to arrive and use it in the way YOU see fit. Get a happy hour bottle of wine at L'Osteria. Hike highland bowl. Sleep in your car in intercept lot. Don't be so negative. I still love this town so much.

[@margaretlouiseable]

"Sleep in your car" doesn't work for everybody. I love Aspen though.

[@sambissell2658]

Many thanks for posting this. I spent a bit of time in 1970/71/72 in Aspen on weekends, mostly, when I was over in G. Jct at college. A friend and I would hang out with a guy and his GF, Peter and Paula (I think was her name), who lived down in the trailer park (which is sadly missing from your film). One weekend stands out in my mind when we came over to do the thing we did best (trip the weekend away on any and all hallucinogens) and we wanted to score some weed: when it was all said and done, we'd bought some of the worst seed-weed I ever bought from this guy selling weed out of the back of his (1970) headquarters for running for Sheriff.....the one and only Hunter S. Thompson! Anyway, thanks for the wonderful memories of Aspen when times were at their best before the rich ruined it! (And thanks to CMC for being so open-minded to teach film to their students!)

[@jimmydingo7138]

I grew up there- AHS class of 1984. Even when I am visiting there I still miss it because it is not what it once was. The people were so great and yes there was some "rich people" but nothing like it is today. Some of the original buildings are still there but most have been replaced. Nowadays, it looks surreal to me and doesn't have any soul like it once had. This video has been a very nice gift.

[@jdubs9922]

Could not agree more. Aspen has lost its soul.

[@jebbennett7]

Wow, what a lot of memories! My mother's family lived in Aspen starting in the early '50's and I grew up visiting there in summer and winter, and worked there for a while in college. This film captures that unforgettable moment.

[@mtngal40]

How fun to take a nostalgic trip down memory lane. My home town; it's changed just a bit, LOL, since my childhood in the 70's.

[@gardensofthegods]

You were lucky to have been there back then and I would have loved to have also been a part of that..... Jill st. John in an interview here on KZbin talks about how much the town changed and how great it was back in the day when regular people could afford to live there and she said the parties were great because everybody was there just regular people and that it was a real classless society . It's a shame that rich assholes take over and suck the magic out of places that are wonderful and best kept secrets . She said back then the rich kept a low profile and you usually didn't know who they were and that everybody pretty much drove trucks . She says now they're rich make damn sure everybody knows their rich in Aspen what a shame it must have been such a cool place

[@brownspot9]

mtngal40 I lived there also in the late 70’s.

[@mtngal40]

@@brownspot9 I still live here! Can't get away, the outdoor activities keep me here :)

[@brownspot9]

mtngal40 Hmm. I worked at the airport in 1977-81. Ticket Agent for Rocky Mt Airways. I lived in a small apartment above The Paragon on Hyman. Those were beautiful times.

[@mtngal40]

@@brownspot9 The good ol' days! Well, Aspen isn't what it used to be but it still has a lot of wonderful people and I've been mountain biking for 35 years and the trails are great here. I stay here for the outdoor activities, not for the glitz and glamour. I was raised by a single mom with four other siblings, we were poor but and I am in gratitude every day for how lucky I am that I still get to live here. I hope you've found bliss wherever your travels have taken you; life is finite. :)

[@sundial4000]

Bo, so fantastic. Great memories of so many things. I came to Telluride because Aspen changed. Now Telluride has changed just as much relatively.

[@gardensofthegods]

Yeah it's really a shame because I have never even been there to Colorado and always wanted to go but I would have rather had seen it back in the 70s before the rich ruined it

[@chrisb8655]

@@gardensofthegods You're right, & it's easy for people to say "stop being negative, come here & ski", but the whole point of the "negativity", which is really frustration, is that wealthy people have priced everyone else out. Even vacationing in these towns has become expensive. So, I relate to what you're saying.

[@howardlovett233]

Thank you so much! This takes me back. I grew up coming to Aspen as a visitor and then was fortunate to live with some cousins and attend Aspen High School the winter of 1973-73. This looks just a few years before that. This is the Aspen I remember!

[@gardensofthegods]

I really enjoyed this video as I have never been to Colorado but want to go and heard somebody talkin about how Aspen used to be a wonderful place before the rich ruined it

[@iwanttoridemybike2224]

Thank you so much for this. When I miss my late sister and times with her in Aspen where she made her home for 40 years, I get to googling and today I found this!

[@scottsandquist5381]

Great video and music. i must say that this is the 1970s......this wasnt just Aspen, this was everywhere in the North half of our country....( i was never in the south till the 80s so i dont know what it was like there in the 70s.) Northern Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota etc were all young and beautiful in the 70s. Fk ! life was beautiful, music was incredible, the cost of living was good, wtf has happened? .......That was my childhood- young adult time. id leave home with $200 in a 4th hand car and take off out west without a care! I wouldnt be able to go a couple hundred miles like that anymore. we had it made. Everyone thought Nixon was bad! Look whats happening now for the last 20 years.....Ill always cherish my memories, friends, music from the 70s. Peace to all

[@roberttemple2521]

Thank you so much for sharing this marvelous footage. I, too, messed with film back then, wish I had filmed Aspen as you had. I was a ski-bum in Aspen straight [?] out of high school, winters 74-75 and 75-76, lived in the ski-bum dorm house "Independence Lodge", worked next door at the Weiner Stube and skied wildly in my backyard nearly every day both winters. Some wonderful memories of those years spring forth when I watch footage such as yours. I still have my K2 tattoo on my arm.

[@gardensofthegods]

I thoroughly enjoyed this footage even though I've never been to Aspen but if ever there was a time I would have loved to have been there no later than the early 70s and I hear how the rich have destroyed it and sucked the magic out of it . You can see a video here on KZbin where Jill St John talks about how great it was back in the day when it was truly a classless society there... her words not mine.... she talks about how great it was and what a shame it is now that most people cannot afford to live there

[@michaelpanagiotis7109]

K2 !

[@patrickromanowski6250]

this is great. thanks for sharing. made my morning.

[@davidyork8020]

I lived in aspen in the 70s went to the old middle school in town , mom worked for the city of aspen .. thanks for the memories .. I think Aspen was better in those days ...

[@gardensofthegods]

@@davidyork8020 even Jill st. John agrees with you as I just got done watching here on KZbin where she talks about how great it was back in the day and it was a classless society . She laments how most people can no longer afford to live there and that the rich who are there nowadays make damn sure you know they are wealthy

[@x-raycat323]

What I'm digging the most is the Ford Fairlane painting camouflage so hippies could probably camp in the woods in the stealth ! And the Saint Bernard pub with the Star Trek symbol on its forehead😊

[@thelonewolf2288]

Thanks for posting this fabulous video. Those were wonderful times then. The powder, the girls, the music, the hot springs oh, did I mention the girls ? All those cute little hippy chicks ... I would do it all over again instantly.

[@AndWhatzCooking]

What a contrast to Aspen today. This is what Aspen looked like when I arrived in 72. Hard to fathom!

[@maryholloway5487]

No cellphones or hipsters. I rolled into Aspen in 1974..I still live in Colorado. What a journey - a long, strange trip it’s been.

[@DeafCub81]

WOW I know it had been change lots since 1970s. I recall it’s highway 82 around the town. There are few cute dogs around the town.

[@CatalinaCruz-fd9jk]

Love the lack of traffic. So different now. Thank you for the reminder.

[@GreenChiliBurrito]

Always a fun place to go, any time of year. Hard to find anymore.

[@RTD3]

Back when it was still fun and affordable.

[@brennamitchell6369]

Love it! Thank you, Bo!

[@margaretlouiseable]

Gosh I miss the old times! We were much more sophisticated, well dressed, and kind.

[@100mardi]

nice walk down memory lane.

[@gardensofthegods]

I'm sure it breaks your heart no doubt given that it's not anything like that now and got ruined by a bunch of Rich a-holes

[@rhettadams9161]

I miss the donut tree in front of Little Cliff's :)

[@COPhill08]

So many dogs!!!

[@claudiabianca2414]

does anyone remember how many times the stop sign was dynamited before it finally stayed? This is the Aspen I remember when the dogs ran the town.

[@jetrepaz]

thx for sharing

[@juliemelville7957]

💕💕💕

[@andychris7647]

💗💗hello Julie Melville how are you doing with your family I hope you’re safe from the virus?

[@davidyork8020]

back before aspen was all about money !!

[@gardensofthegods]

I was never there but I would have loved to have been there back when it was a cool place.... Jill st. John talks about this in an interview on KZbin and says it was wonderful and it was a classless society back then and that different people kept a low profile and drove trucks. She talks about how it's a shame that now most people can't afford to live there. . Yes she addresses that problem about how it's all about money and showing off and making sure people know you're rich.. well what a pity and that is what rich people sometimes do... they find a magical place that's the best kept secret unsuck the magic out of it

[@GourmetLA]

Love❤!

[@michaelpanagiotis7109]

The big Pooch at the 5:04 minute mark is the best !

[@JasonKavetis]

Very cool.

[@henrygiancarlo9832]

hello can i use this for an 8 second video for a song I made? It would be on spotfy.

[@davidwood8731]

Nice!

[@sunsetfoglight]

big dogs, shops, white people. this vid brings back how insular aspen felt in the early to mid 70s; it reminds me how glad i was to graduate from aspen high and get out of dodge.

[@gardensofthegods]

But don't you regret what it's turned into nowadays where most people can't even afford to live there and it's filled with a bunch of Rich creeps do you want everybody to know how rich they are . You were so lucky to have lived in a town like that back in the day... I don't think you realized how lucky you were with all that wonderful nature there and I hear about the golden quality would have every late afternoon... it sounds like it was a breathtaking area to grow up in

[@cassconner6023]

Well at least it was White, that’s always the best.

[@sunsetfoglight]

@@gardensofthegods you're right, it was indeed wonderful in many ways to grow up there. it's a beautiful spot & back in the 70s buying a coffee wasn't like buying a coffee at the airport $wise. i have fond memories of many of the teachers at Aspen High, too.

[@GourmetLA]

In the beginning if that is the new (at that time)employee housing apartments that is my Siamese cat Mitzi in the window!

[@pammietime4495]

Wow I've lived here since 2000 and can't believe what Aspen was.The main thing I found hard to watch was all the homeless animals OMG.Glad it's not like that now.

[@iwanttoridemybike2224]

My late sister lived in Aspen 1976-2018. Most of those dogs had homes, but we're allowed to be 'free range' pups and hang with their pals all day, and would head home to their families at the end of the day! I think in the early '80s, the town began enforcing the leash law, and my sis would have to go post bond for her doggo, Bonehead Jackson, when he and his buds were unable to resist the treats the dog catcher lured them into his truck with.

[@dianet9629]

Don't think the dogs were homeless. Just off leash

[@pammietime4495]

@@iwanttoridemybike2224 I forgot about that.I think it was more off leash back then.

[@carl-md1qq]

Wheres Hunter Thompson with his shaved head?

[@1suoiraciv954]

How your AsBen? was a common bumper sticker

[@nickelodeo]

I would have taken so many strays home with me