Sign up for 5280's weekly e-newsletters. Want the latest restaurant scoop? The latest happenings around town? Access to exclusive events and deals just for 5280 readers? It may be time to say goodbye to the venerable Woody Creek Tavern.
…a proposed real estate deal could mean an end to the Woody Creek…..everyone is a little shook up. It has been open for 27 years.
Mary Harris, who owns the tavern with her husband, Shep, confirmed they have had an attractive offer on the restaurant and bar and are considering getting out of the business. She says the offer is from locals, who won’t change the place.
The sales price has been agreed on. As for not changing a thing, I’m skeptical because the buyers aren’t only purchasing the bar.
If the bar is sold, Stranahan said the buyers will also buy the Harrises’ share of a joint-use agreement that calls for the Harrises to be in charge of upkeep of the Tavern space, and the Stranahans to be in charge of the store and the art studio.
Although some have suggested Stranahan buy the business from the Harrises to preserve a community institution, he has not made an offer and probably won’t. “I’ve bought it twice, and that’s enough,” he said. “I’m 75. I can’t shake a martini, for Christ’s sake.”
Maybe the Tavern could be made a historical landmark. Aside from Hunter Thompson and the other local celebrities who frequented the place and made it a cultural icon, there’s this:
A significant moment in the spotlight for the Tavern came when former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and former U.S. President George H.W. Bush came to the area in 1990 for a summit hosted by the Aspen Institute. The pair stayed at the Woody Creek home of then-ambassador to United Kingdom James Henry Catto and reportedly ate Tavern takeout to keep their strength up. The meeting was broken up by Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait, which led to the first Gulf War.
Posted 4/23/2007 at 10:04 am by Jeralyn Merritt
Dining :: Permalink :: Comments (4)
[...] Ernest Hemingway and Colorado’s Hunter S. Thompson. The piece links to one of Jeralyn’s blog posts, so it’s been showing up a lot in our logs [...]
Woody Creek Tavern was one of Hunter’s favorite places to soak up dreams and ponder those crazy but genious thoughts. I think he’d be crushed if it were to nolonger able to give someone else the opertunity to do so also!
Goddamnit!, do you think Hunter cared about wether the first owners and people of Aspen cared if when they sold the tavern 27 odd years ago the place might never be the same?, or the locals were up in arms with 12gauge shot guns ready to coral any porr bugger unlucky enough to make an offer?, well of course.
But hey, the earth changes, Rome wasn’t built in a day, it taken 1,000’s of years. Lets just be happy theres enough photo’s and film floating around that show the history of the place and let it move on into the future.
I first visted the WCT in 1983. I was 23 years old and the world was mine for the taking. I stepped out into the night air after a night of drinking and was promptly robbed at gun point of my life savings ($238.00). I’d been around traveling through Europe that summer. Visted some hell holes, and get robbed in beautiful Woody Creek. It was a signal to me that Coke was about to hit hard and everything that came with it. All things must come to an end. DB