This new memoir is about Silicon Valley, not the Roaring Fork, but for anyone who has worked at a start-up, started a company, or were just curious what it’s like inside those bastions of innovation, “Uncanny Valley” gives a very entertaining first-hand account. Also, if you were looking for some insight into how the kids are doing ... so to speak, according to Ms. Weiner the answer is ... alright, more or less.
P.S. For those unfamiliar with the term “Uncanny Valley” click here.
Photo: Anna Stonehouse for the Aspen Times
The Aspen and Pitkin Country real estate market ended the year with strong months in October and December and total sales volume finished at $1.8B. This was on par with 2018 but the numbers were generated on significantly fewer transactions as 2018 saw 795 closings vs. 702 in 2019. This speaks to the shrinking inventory and higher prices throughout the market.
2020 is off to a strong start and we expect to report solid First Quarter numbers based on this winters activity. Here is a link to Land Title’s annual recap.
Developer Mark Hunt is turning the Crystal Palace into a luxury boutique hotel comprised of 20 rooms which will offer a full spa, fitness center, pool, restaurant, café and a rooftop terrace with beautiful views of Aspen Mountain.
The structure of the building was torn down recently, leaving only the famous brick facade as monument to the building’s history. Tim Willoughby, Aspen’s unofficial historian and Aspen Times columnist (sort of a modern day George Templeton Strong) penned (keyed) this thoughtful essay on the meaning of preservation. He writes, “Over time, stories generated by thousands of patrons recede to a whisper. The stories themselves need preservation, perhaps more than does the wholesale food commodity business that the Palace housed during Victorian times.”
The HBO documentary, “Lindsey Vonn: The Final Season,” didn’t spray much snow, so-to-speak, when it premiered late last year. That may be because in her attempt to break the all-time win record in ski racing, the Final Season ends with an anti-climatic whimper and some trademark Vonnian tears. It may also be because the film tends to gloss and puff her story like a Moncler jacket.
That said, it remains a compelling look at one of history’s greatest athletes fighting to the bitter, bitter end and what the sport of ski racing inflicts upon the human body. Ms. Vonn's injuries include, but are not limited to: a thrice torn ACL, torn MCL off the bone, plateau fracture, torn apart meniscus, a shattered arm put back together with 18 screws, nerve damage, a broken wrist, a broken ankle, and an undetermined number bad concussions. “There’s been a lot,” as she says.
While the film doesn’t really get into many of her personal life scandals—of which, there are some juicy ones—it remains an intimate look into a fearless and unrelenting competitor who can ski like the wind.
1/4-1/7: Aspen Film Academy Screenings
1/9-1/12: Winterskol, Aspen’s unique method for combatting the post-holiday blues. View Schedule
1/23-1/26: X Games View Schedule
2/1: Nordic Bonfire Dinner (AVSC fundraiser) For tickets
2/1: Fat Bike Race
2/4: Anderson Ranch Locals Photo Salon
2/6: Winter Music Series: Beethoven and Stravinsky @ Harris Hall Get Tickets
2/8-2/9: Bumble (the dating app) Powder 8 Championship
2/13-2/15: Aspen Snowmass Free-Skiing Open. (The X Game course is opened to amateurs)
2/12: Aspen Center for Physics Talk take place at Wheeler: Galaxy Quenching & Transformation Throughout Cosmic Time Get Tickets
2/14-17: Aspen Institute’s Socrates Winter Seminars More Info
2/13 , 3/12, 4/9: Aspen Historical Society’s Retro Film Series More Info
2/29 Audi Power of Four Ski Mountaineering More Info
3/9 Cliffhouse (Buttermilk) Full Moon Dinner. Skin up under the moonlight and enjoy friendly breaking of bread. More Info .
3/27: Aspen Santa Fe Ballet (ASFB) invites the California-based company: Diavolo. Get Tickets
3/27-3/29: The Grand Traverse: Backcountry ski race from Crested Butte to Aspen More Register Here!
1/13 , 2/10, 3/16 & 4/20 Aspen Institute presents: Sharing Shakespeare Series. More Info
4/12: Aspen Highlands Closing More Info
Through May 10: Yayoi Kusama at the Aspen Art Museum. More Info
Even though Kusama’s Infinity Rooms have easily been one of the biggest art events of the decade, she actually has been exhibiting them since the late ‘60s. Just opened at the Aspen Art Museum, the exhibit, which allows only three people at a time, creates daunting queues wherever it goes and Aspen is no exception.
Here’s a tip: Go early in the day. Not only will get to see the room illuminated by natural light as intended, the wait will be shorter. Find someone with an iPad to sign up for your time slot when you arrive.
Moving anywhere is pain, but Aspen comes with a special set of customs and mysteries that the uninitiated are supposed to figure out .. somehow. The Aspen Times has provided a cheat sheet. Do you know them all?
625 East Main Street (101 + 102) is prime store front in the Aspen Core and is an excellent commercial investment opportunity because:
• Solid cap rate with current tenants in place: UPS , Coldwell Banker Mason Morse, & Amen Wardy
• Excellent retail / office units in a Class A Building
• Good visibility & high ceilings
• 4 on-site garage parking spaces
• New construction that is priced below replacement cost.
I recently listed two generously-sized lots in Aspen’s coveted West End—over 7,000 and 11,000 square feet respectfully. These shovel-ready, adjacent properties have mature trees, views and are a short walking distance from the Music Tent, Aspen Institute and Aspen Meadows Resort. Great compound potential!
$4,495,000 412 N 8th Street • $4,995,000 426 N 8th Street
Aspen Historical Society
If cars speak something to their drivers, then a community of cars must say something of the community who drives them. Aspen hosts a unique assortment of vehicles—from the sublime to the sensible—a mix that doesn’t quite look like any other town in America.
415 East Hyman, Aspen , CO 81611 (970) 618-5648 lex.tarumianz@aspensnowmasssir.com