Colorado’s Homage to Chan’s Father

Earl Derr Biggers, the creator of Chinese-American detective Charlie Chan, was born in Ohio 137 years ago today, on August 26, 1884, and died 48 years later in California. Yet it’s in Colorado that you’ll find one of the most enduring tributes to his literary legacy.

As Chan expert Lou Armagno tells us in this blog post, Seven Keys Lodge—recently given a grand reopening in Estes Park, a summer resort town in north-central Colorado—was built in 1917 by Gordon and Ethel Mace as The Baldpate Inn. No, that’s not a reference to one of the half-dozen Charlie Chan novels; the name instead tipped its hat to Biggers’ first book, a 1933 standalone thriller titled Seven Keys to Baldpate. “The lodge became highly renowned,” Armagno writes, “so much so that Biggers actually visited! He gave it his stamp of approval, declaring it so much like his imaginary inn that it well deserved the title. It stayed in the Mace family through three generations. Then around 1986 Lois Smith and family took over the lodge for another three-plus decades.”

In December 2020, Mark and Meredith Powell purchased the property, rechristening it Seven Keys Lodge, again a clear allusion to Biggers’ book. “Only the third owners of this unique property on the National Register of Historic Places,” explains Armagno, “the Powells are the first owners to live on the property in 104 years!” He goes on to say:

The lodge itself is a gorgeous step back in time. And besides its famous “Key Room,” recognized as [having] the world’s largest key collection (it boasts some 30,000-plus keys from around the world, including: The Pentagon, Westminster Abby, Mozart’s wine cellar, Frankenstein Castle), it offers gorgeous mountain views, great food, hiking trails and quaint sites nearby to visit.

I could kick myself, as I lived for a time in Colorado, but never took the opportunity to drop by this retreat. Maybe it’s worth a trip after the COVID-19 pandemic eases a bit more. While in Estes Park, I could also check out The Stanley Hotel, which was Stephen King’s model for the Overlook Hotel in his 1977 best-seller, The Shining.