The Grand Dame

I have waited awhile to comment on this but you knew that I would at some time.

The Grand Dame has a new owner and I know that he will be good to her. She will retain her president, who is a good man and she has flourished under his care. Tho, I can say that I have not enjoyed the changes to her during the Gaylord ownership but we all, as we get older, have to do things to keep up our appearances. The Grand Dame is no different.

She has sat overlooking her domain with quiet dignity.  She has welcomed all who have taken shelter under her wings. She has given nourishment to the body and souls of all that have sought her out.  Her calmness and beauty added to their stay.

And under her new owner she will continue to do so. I love The Grand Dame and will always love her. She is a part of my soul, I feel her heartbeat everytime I visit her. And I will continue to do so.

I know Mr. Anschutz will take good care of this jewel and I wish The Grand Dame the very best under his ownership.

E.K. Gaylord

picture courtesy of Historical Society of Oklahoma

This is a picture of E.K. Gaylord, he was a fascinating man and you can read about him by googleing his name. He lived to be 101 years old, I met him when I was 3 and that is what I'm sharing about.

My father and I were in the lobby of his hotel when Mr. Gaylord came out of the elevator. He was as tall as my daddy and I liked him at first glance. Mr. Gaylord came towards us and said to my father,"I didn't know you had grandchildren." I giggled, my father replied, "This is my daughterand I wanted you to meet her." Mr. Gaylord looked a little shocked.

My father looked down at me and told me to wait, he had business to discuss with Mr. Gaylord. They walked a few feet away, talked, then shook hands. When my father came back to my side, he said to me, "This is the man I am selling the hotel to. If something happens and I am unable to do that, I want you to sell it to him. Don't fight him on anything, I have given him my word. Do you understand?" I nodded yes. "Good," my father went on, "I have also told him, that you are to be given a home here at the hotel anytime you need it." At the time I did not see the reason behind this, I would always be with my father was my thinking.

Mr. Gaylord lived to be 101, he never saw my father's words carried out. My father's hotel would be sold to his son long after he died. Mr. Gaylord was told that I had died. It's a shame he never got to be the owner, it was a dream of his my father told me.

And I will always remember the tall thin man who was so nice.

Hairy Plotter, Still On The Loose

Well, its been a week and the otter is still on the loose.

He paid a visit to the Broadmoor Hotel golf course in which the hotel employees, Broadmoor Fire and Rescue, Colorado Springs Fire Dept and the Colorado Springs Utilities tried to capture him.

He eluded them all and is still romping around. The paper here did a funny spoof of him taking in the sights. It was very cute. They have gotten a lot of calls of people seeing him but none have pan out.

Maybe he'll get homesick for his otter family in the zoo and return on his own, I doubt it but it is a comforting thought.

We will see if he ever returns home :)

Mr. Gaylord and Me

My in laws came for a visit and as always, we where going to take them to The Tavern @ the Broadmoor for dinner.



I love The Tavern, the food always agrees with us, so I was looking forward to it but when I called for reservations, I was informed they were closed for remodeling. Bummer! We went to another place, not as good but okay.



I had been going down memory lane before this, remembering the first time I met Mr. Gaylord. (The Gaylord family now owns about 80% of the Broadmoor).



I was standing in the lobby with my father when Mr. Gaylord, a tall thin man, was taking his leave of the hotel. He came often for a visit.


He walked over to my father and said, "I didn't know you had any grandchildren." I piped up and said, "This is my daddy." Mr. Gaylord was quite shocked. He and my father conversed with Mr. Gaylord asking if my father was leaving the hotel to me. My father said yes along with her half sisters. Mr. Gaylord's face became very grave and he replied, "I see." They talked some more and came to a verbal agreement about something.



As he walked away, my father took my hand and said, "I'm going to sell the hotel to Mr. Gaylord." My father had to explain to me what that meant, I replied "But, where will you work?" My father laughed, he had a wonderful laugh, and said "Oh, I think I'll find something. Maybe, we'll travel. Would you like that?" I answered, "yes"



Then my father got real serious and said to me, "I want you to remember something, what ever happens and you end up with the hotel don't sell to anyone but Mr. Gaylord. I have given him my word and I expect you to honor my word, this is very important to me. Do you understand?" I nodded yes. He also said that he had arranged for me to have a home at the hotel as long as I lived and needed it. He said that Mr. Gaylord was a man of honor and I could trust him.



Things did not happen as my father planned, my father's will disappeared and so did I. My father's word to Mr. Gaylord was not honored. In the 1980's the Gaylord family were able to buy 65% of the hotel, in 1992 they were able to get 80%. The bottom line is Mr. Gaylord should have had the hotel in 1959.


He and my father have both passed on. I am the only one left who knows of a verbal agreement between two honest men and my father was a very honorable man.

Pikes Peak Library Pictures cont.

2.

ok, a little history here.

My parents had a # of 1.

houses. Picture #1 is the inside

of one of these houses. Now, the

library is saying that Picture #2

is the outside of picture #1.

Wrong, picture #2 belongs to

either the Tutt's or C.L. Tutt's

secretary, Merton W. Bogart

(I'll be doing more on good ole

Merton, he was Tutt's secretary

not my dad's and I have hard copy proof of this)

So, back to the houses. Julie wanted to live at the Broadmoor Hotel, she had friends that lived there. I heard this argument every single day. Her and my dad would argue about it, my dad would tell her "I am not living where I work." She would not let it go, she was like a pit bull. After my dad's death, she had a part of the hotel redone for her apartment. This is what she had wanted for a long time but it wasn't what she thought it would be.

She lived in fear the whole time she was there. Her phone calls were monitered and she only got a very few. This was by order of the Tutts (remember this was the time of calls going thru the hotel switchboard). She would not eat any of the food prepared for her from the hotel kitchen. When it was delivered to her apartment rooms, she would have the waiter eat the food in front of her. She was deathly afraid she would be poisoned.

So much for wanting to live at the hotel.

The Broadmoor Hotel Printing Press

Did you know that the Broadmoor Hotel had it's own printing press. They printed their own menus, brochures, books etc well after 1992.

There was a big joke around the hotel when the Tutts were running it, that they were printing their own money.

So, if you are into antique collecting, here's how you can tell if it's real:

Anything that says it is after 1939 and says the late Spencer Penrose, that's a fake and remake by the Tutt family and the Broadmoor Hotel printing press.

Anything that says it is after 1959 and says the late Spencer Penrose, that's real.

This Statue IS NOT A Death Certificate

The statue of Spencer Penrose stands in

front of the Norris-Penrose Stadium. It was
made in 1957, Spencer Penrose was still

alive.
The below pictures are
what the statue use to

look like. This statue and plaque use to stand outside the
El Pomar Foundation when it was connected

to the Broadmoor Hotel, that was way over 10
years ago. El Pomar is now located in the
Penrose house. The plaques are gone, along

with the untruths on them.

Anyone can make a statue and put any date

they want on it, that does not mean that is the
year that the person was born or died.

A headstone for a grave, by law needs a
death certificate. Spencer and Julie Penrose have no headstone, though Spencer Penrose picked out one in the 1950's, I was there. I appreciate the people involved for removing the plaque from my father's statue and placing the statue in front of the Norris-Penrose Stadium.

So, the next time someone says or you read that Spencer Penrose died in 1939 and Julie Penrose died in 1956, remember that is an untruth and the people saying and writing those things have done it for money. They care not for truth or justice, they care only to feed the greed in their bottomless soul.

The True Story of the Broadmoor

The Broadmoor Hotel started out as a hotel and casino. Count James Pourtales owned the hotel and casino, he was an old family friend of the Penroses and the house in Philly was always open to him. My grandfather loved it when the Count stopped by. The Count also was a partner in the Commonwealth Mine in AZ. My Uncle Richard sold his shares of the mine to the Count and those shares made the Count a VERY wealthy man.

The old Broadmoor was purchased and a new one built, 1918 was the year it opened. There were 100 Colorado Springs citizens who were investors in The Grand Dame but I only know a few: Spencer Penrose, Charles M. MacNeill, Charles L. Tutt Jr., A.E. Carlton, B.H. Hopkins, Clarence Carpenter and E.P. Shove. Not all of them put in the same amount of money, the biggest investor was Spencer Penrose. One by one the investors died or sold their shares so by 1937 receivership of the hotel was sold, in 1942 Spencer Penrose had his foundation The El Pomar Foundation buy the Broadmoor. So the foundation owned 100% of the hotel.

By 1959 Spencer Penrose was planning on selling the hotel to the Gaylord's, Mr. Gaylord had always wanted to buy the hotel and my father was going to sell it. The plan was to sell the hotel and go to Africa (I don't know why Africa, I know my dad had friends there. I was going to be sent to a school in Europe and I was very excited about it). That plan never happened. So, in 1992 what my dad had planned for the hotel came to be, The Grand Dame was sold to the Gaylord's.

When she was built her capacity was 600, W.S. Dunning was her manager. It was operated on the American Plan (I have no idea what that means) and it had "a la carte" restaurant, the swimming pool's water passed through a violet ray machine to destroy bacteria. The Grand Dame was fireproof, you could play golf, hike or go horseback riding. To make a reservation, you had to write in.

The first time I walked into her lobby, my father said, "I built this." I always called the Grand Dame, the house my daddy built and worked in.

She is a beautiful hotel, she stretches her arms out to give a traveler rest and comfort. She feeds, clothes and cuddles a person as you would a newborn. For me, she has always had a life about her. When the Gaylord's bought her, they gave her much needed care, a facelift and put the crown back on her head. She looks a tad different but still beautiful and she will be here long after we are gone, still giving shelter, warmth and food.