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A good solution, it might seem, for preservation-prone Telluridians who wanted to protect the town's character. By now, though, the hippies who stayed on had turned into the "ten-year club." They had roots, even investments in more than the odd piece of real estate. Telco proposed to add four new lifts on its side of the mountain, and only two, eventually, on the town side. Says David Fruen, owner of the Rose Victorian food mart and a onetime Minnesota insurance agent: "We feared all the investment would be sucked out of town to the other side of the mountain."
The former hippies, now in common cause with the elks, dusted off their activist tactics. Led by Walter McClennan, who arrived from Cleveland in 1971 and bought the downtown New Sheridan Hotel, they sued early and often, forcing Telco into a compromise. It is building the two lifts for the town now. Says Clothing Store Owner Terry Tice: "You don't have to roll over and let developers do whatever they want to."
Instead, everyone has development fever. In the bar of the Senate Restaurant, there is as much talk about financing condos as about ski bindings. Some $15 million worth of real estate has already been sold at Mountain Village. Last spring voters actually okayed putting up $1 million toward a small new airport. "The pendulum has swung the other way," says Attorney Bob Korn, 43, who was once busted in Telluride on a marijuana charge. "We have kids and mortgages now. We're just like our dads were."
When a hot-trend mass hits local cool over snowy peaks, naturally the forecast is for a storm of further quichification. Petti di pollo alla Bolognese has long since overtaken steak 'n' eggs on the menu at Julian's restaurant. The old opera house, where locals say Sarah Bernhardt performed, now includes a "conference center," and Tom Kaster, 60, a former Chicago stagehand, is Telluride's first parking-control officer. Complains one saddened resident: "We gave him a badge and created a monster." Whether magic Telluride can avoid creating a similar fate in the face of a trendies invasion is still very much up in the for now still clear mountain air.