Aspen is widely recognized for luxury hotels, costly homes, celebrity visitors and world-class skiing. Yet beneath the town’s polished, affluent image, an older and more unconventional identity continues to endure.
More than five decades after author Hunter S. Thompson’s Freak Power movement helped establish Aspen as a hub for counterculture, artists and unconventional residents remain part of the community.
DJ Watkins, a local author, curator and gallerist, has made preserving that history part of his work. Through his Aspen Collective gallery, Watkins displays pieces tied to Aspen’s countercultural past alongside contemporary work by artists from Colorado’s Roaring Fork Valley. He also runs Fat City Gallery and has helped bring local galleries together through the Aspen Art Walk.
Watkins recognizes Aspen’s reputation for materialism and conspicuous consumption but says luxury represents only one aspect of the community. He points to artist studios, community arts programs, performance spaces and local events as signs that Aspen’s cultural life continues to change.
The town’s unconventional character actually predates Thompson by decades. Aspen began drawing artists and intellectuals in the 1940s, when Walter and Elizabeth Paepcke helped establish institutions including the Aspen Institute and became involved with the Aspen Skiing Company.
Over time, Aspen developed a reputation for eccentric residents and irreverent traditions. Among them was “mall bowling,” a bizarre stunt from the 1970s that involved using a beer keg as a bowling ball while people acted as human pins during construction of the town’s downtown pedestrian mall.
Aspen’s skiing community developed traditions of its own, with informal groups taking on distinctive names and rituals that reflected the town’s unconventional character.
Tim Mooney, who arrived in Aspen in 1970, remembers a dramatically less expensive town. He rented a log cabin downtown for $75 a month and eventually spent 25 years teaching skiing on Aspen Mountain.
Mooney also worked as a tour manager for singer-songwriters Jimmy Buffett and John Denver. He recalls his time at the J-Bar, a place where people such as Hunter S. Thompson and Hollywood stars could be seen.
Aspen’s cost of living has since changed dramatically. The median value of a single-family home has climbed above $13 million, while average winter hotel rates can surpass $1,000 per night.
Still, longtime residents maintain that Aspen’s distinctive local culture has not vanished.
Signs of it remain in unconventional architecture, independent gathering spots, community arts organizations and residents who continue to make their lives there despite the enormous expense.
For Watkins, Aspen’s luxury and counterculture do not have to conflict. He views them as connected parts of the town’s history, which continues to draw people interested in art, music, nature, skiing and unconventional lifestyles.
The generation of Aspen “freaks” emerging today may differ from those of Thompson’s era, but the mountain town’s rebellious and unconventional streak appears to remain intact.
Original article
Comments