Thing 1 

When 580 Johnson Dr was put on the market in June for $8.49 million, the listing created quite a stir—it was, after all, the guest house of the late John Denver’s Starwood estate, immortalized in the singer’s 1971 hit “Starwood in Aspen.” Sited on five acres overlooking Snowmass, the two Earthship-like outbuildings (split off from the estate’s main residence, which sold for $8.5 million in 2020) exude a groovy mid-seventies ethos. “You can keep what’s there as a remembrance,” says PJ Bory of Christie’s International Real Estate, who has the listing. “But you can also build a monster house as a tribute to John Denver. I can see a fan buying this.” 

Thing 2 

On a recent trip to Italy, siblings Courtney and Steve Eaton admired the 1970s-chic helmets the hippest scooteristi wore while zipping along on Vespas. Inspired by Courtney’s daughter, a student at Colorado Rocky Mountain School recovering from a traumatic brain injury, the duo designed a line of ski and snowboard helmets with a Vespa vibe and found a factory in Tuscany to handmake them in small batches. Over the summer, the entrepreneurs launched their Carbonddale-based startup, LowDown Helmets. “I wanted to make a helmet I would want to wear,” says Courtney. “Our goal is to get as many helmets on as many heads as we can.” 

Thing 3 

In November, architects John Rowland and Sarah Broughton published Designing Aspen: The Houses of Rowland+Broughton, a 240-page coffee table book revisiting the firm’s most stunning residential projects, including Meadow House, the art-filled 8,500-square-foot residence of art collector and former ambassador Alexa Wesner. “It captures who we are as architects, as designers living in the mountains, our thoughts about community, sustainability, leadership, and how we work with clients,” says Broughton. “We hope this book is something people will read and take a lot from, and not just look at beautiful design.”