Richard Kelley, chairman emeritus of Outrigger Enterprises, had an interesting experience recently.
He and his wife, Linda, were visiting The Baldpate Inn, a lodge in the mountains of Colorado. The inn opened in 1917 and was famous for giving guests room keys they could keep as souvenirs.
"However, the shortage and cost of metal during World War I soon forced them to stop that practice," Kelley says. "Disappointed guests turned the tradition around and began bringing their own keys, and a competition began to see who could bring the most exotic or unusual key."
The inn encouraged this by dedicating a room to display the keys. A few years later it added another room. By 2014 the collection had grown to more than 30,000 keys.
"Among the thousands are keys to Fort Knox, Hitler’s desk, the Pentagon, Westminster Abby, Mozart’s wine cellar, Frankenstein’s castle and Jack Benny’s dressing room," says owner Lois Hoke Smith.
Some of the keys are from submarines, jail cells and palaces; they join keys from virtually every country in the world. Visitors are invited to become part of the Baldpate Key Collection by donating their own key.
"While having lunch, my wife and I had a chance to speak with Lois," Kelley continues. "We asked her if the Baldpate Key Collection might contain any keys from Outrigger Enterprises.
"She personally took us to the key rooms. Keys were everywhere — on the walls, on the columns, on the beams and even on the ceilings! We looked and looked and then, voila! We found a well-preserved key and bright key tag for Room 15 — The Islander Hotel — Waikiki — Honolulu — Hawaii!"
The Islander Hotel, of course, is where Outrigger Enterprises began when Roy and Estelle Kelley, Richard’s parents, welcomed the first guests to their just-completed building in 1947.
"Finding that key at the Baldpate Inn was very emotional for me," Kelley says, "particularly because one of my early duties was to cut replacement keys when they were lost or not returned by guests."
The inn has one more connection to Hawaii. The name Baldpate came from the mystery novel "Seven Keys to Baldpate," by Earl Derr Biggers. My readers may recall that Biggers visited Waikiki in 1925.
Biggers read about the exploits of Honolulu police detective Chang Apana, who carried a whip instead of a gun. He was the first person of Chinese ancestry to join the Honolulu police force. It moved Biggers to create Charlie Chan, the first Asian fictional detective.
Biggers also noticed that Honolulu residents didn’t lock their doors, which inspired the title of his first Charlie Chan book, "The House Without a Key."
Charlie Chan appeared in six Biggers novels, and 47 films were made with him as well. The books sold several million copies.
Biggers stayed about where the Halekulani hotel is today, and the hotel named its famous dining area House Without a Key in his honor.
Richard Kelley writes the blog "Saturday Briefing" for Outrigger each week. You can read it at saturdaybriefing.outrigger.com.
Find out more about The Baldpate Inn in Estes Park, Colo., at www.baldpateinn.com.
Bob Sigall, author of “The Companies We Keep” books, looks through his collection of old photos to tell stories each Friday of Hawaii people, places and companies. Email him at Sigall@yahoo.com.
