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89-599: The first 13 editions of the US Comedy Arts Festival were held annually at the Wheeler Opera House and other venues in Aspen, Colorado . The primary sponsor of the festival was HBO , with co-sponsorship by Caesars Palace (the primary venue), TBS , GEICO Insurance, Twix candy bars and Smirnoff Vodka . In-between, HBO had started a spin-off version simply named The Comedy Festival, which

178-674: A block of 25th Street . A portion of Third Street in Santa Monica in Greater Los Angeles was converted into a pedestrian mall in the 1960s to become what is now the Third Street Promenade, a very popular shopping district located just a few blocks from the beach and Santa Monica Pier . Lincoln Road in Miami Beach , which had previously been a shopping street with traffic, was converted into

267-415: A city or town restricted to use by people on foot or human-powered transport such as bicycles, with non-emergency motor traffic not allowed. Converting a street or an area to pedestrian-only use is called pedestrianisation . Pedestrianisation usually aims to provide better accessibility and mobility for pedestrians, to enhance the amount of shopping and other business activities in the area or to improve

356-478: A city where residents still largely get around in cars. A car-free town, city or region may be much larger. A car-free zone is different from a typical pedestrian zone, in that it implies a development largely predicated on modes of transport other than the car. A number of towns and cities in Europe have never allowed motor vehicles . Archetypal examples are: Other examples are: To assist with transport from

445-399: A crossover behind the stage. The second story was finally established as the lobby and the corner space at street level was set aside for a bar. To its west, the entry space was converted into a box office, which the building had previously lacked. A passenger elevator was built to make the theater wheelchair accessible . That allowed the addition of an interior fire stair, which in turn led to

534-411: A curved coffered ceiling, done in azure with silver stars amid intersecting imitation wood, from which a chandelier hangs. At the north end is the stage with a maroon-and-gold proscenium and red velvet curtain. Above it is an emblem with Roman legionnaires ' helmets and lutes . The south windows offer an unobstructed view of the mountain, flanked by box seats. A curved wooden balustrade sets off

623-525: A large surplus over the years. The Comedy Festival , then known as the HBO /US Comedy Arts Festival, was held in the building annually from 1985 to 2007. Among the performers who have appeared at the Wheeler are Lily Tomlin , Renée Fleming , Phish , John Denver and Bill Maher . Kate Hudson made her debut there as an elementary school student. Michael Hutchence 's last official live recording with INXS

712-423: A large-scale pedestrianised area that relies on modes of transport other than the car, while pedestrian zones may vary in size from a single square to entire districts, but with highly variable degrees of dependence on cars for their broader transport links. Pedestrian zones have a great variety of approaches to human-powered vehicles such as bicycles , inline skates , skateboards and kick scooters . Some have

801-470: A living, profit by healthy physical recreation, with facilities at hand for [their] enjoyment of art, music, and education." While planning these events, the Paepckes discovered the Wheeler and its neglected, debris-strewn auditorium. They led a community effort to clean it up and restore it. Austrian architect Herbert Bayer , who the Paepckes had hired to design promotional materials for Aspen, designed

890-422: A minimalist reconstruction that used Japanese lanterns strung across the stage as lighting and a bare stage. While this was enough to allow Lowell George to make live radio broadcasts and an informal concert by folk musician Burl Ives , it was nowhere near what the theater needed, and due to structural concerns the only events it could host in wintertime were movie screenings. A fire escape had to be placed on

979-600: A pedestrian only street in 1960. The designer was Morris Lapidus. Lincoln Road Mall is now one of the main attractions in Miami Beach. The idea of exclusive pedestrian zones lost popularity through the 1980s and into the 1990s and results were generally disappointing, but are enjoying a renaissance with the 1989 renovation and relaunch of the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica, California ,

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1068-402: A reminder of an expansion that could have been. The new box office's entrance was directly in the path of winds blowing down from the mountain, making it especially cold in winter. The lobby could only accommodate half of a capacity audience. And the removal of the fire escape had required the addition of an incongruous bump on the north facade. These issues were overlooked when it came time for

1157-542: A rough settlement of log cabins on a plain high in the Roaring Fork Valley , Aspen grew quickly when silver was found in abundance in the nearby mountains. During the Colorado Silver Boom of the 1880s, its population soared and it soon incorporated as a city. One of those attracted to the city was Jerome Wheeler, a Civil War veteran who had married a Macy's heiress. For a few years in

1246-445: A section of cornice and plain frieze coincides with the arches' springline to suggest the top of a pilaster . Above the windows is another wide plain frieze. Just below it, in the northernmost bay of the east, is a group of three small windows. The roofline has a denticulated pressed-tin cornice below broad overhanging eaves . The middle section of the south facade has a pediment with similar cornice. Within its recessed entablature

1335-459: A total ban on anything with wheels, others ban certain categories, others segregate the human-powered wheels from foot traffic, and others still have no rules at all. Many Middle Eastern kasbahs have no motorized traffic, but use donkey - or hand- carts to carry goods. The idea of separating pedestrians from wheeled traffic is an old one, dating back at least to the Renaissance . However,

1424-488: Is a blind oeil-de-boeuf . The corner facade has a much smaller segmental semicircular top, and a very small pediment tops the northernmost bay on the east facade. Inside, the first story is given over to storefronts and the box office . The second story has back stage dressing rooms and the theater lobby, painted in Venetian plaster with a mural showing the building. Both interiors have been extensively renovated. In

1513-688: Is a removable barrier, controlled by a residents' organisation. In Amsterdam, Waterwijk is a 6-hectare neighborhood where cars may only access parking areas from the streets that form the edges of the neighborhood; all of the inner areas of the neighborhood are car-free. Many cities close certain streets to automobiles, typically on weekends and especially in warm weather, to provide more urban space for recreation, and to increase foot traffic to nearby businesses. Examples include Newbury Street in Boston , and Memorial Drive in Cambridge, Massachusetts (which

1602-848: Is along a river). In some cases, popularity has resulted in streets being permanently closed to cars, including JFK Drive in Golden Gate Park , San Francisco ; Griffith Drive in Griffith Park , Los Angeles ; and Capel Street in Dublin. Several studies have been carried out on European carfree developments. The most comprehensive was conducted in 2000 by Jan Scheurer. Other more recent studies have been made of specific car-free areas such as Vienna's Floridsdorf car-free development. Characteristics of car-free developments: The main benefits found for car-free developments: The main problems related to parking management. Where parking

1691-553: Is based mainly on experience in North West Europe, where the movement for car-free development began. Within this definition, three types are identified: The more common form of carfree development involves some sort of physical barrier, which prevents motor vehicles from penetrating into a car-free interior. Melia et al. describe this as the "limited access" type. In some cases, such as Stellwerk 60 in Cologne , there

1780-404: Is centered on Strøget , which is not a single street but a series of interconnected avenues which create a very large pedestrian zone, although it is crossed in places by streets with vehicular traffic. Most of these zones allow delivery trucks to service the businesses there during the early morning, and street-cleaning vehicles will usually go through these streets after most shops have closed for

1869-568: Is not controlled in the surrounding area, this often results in complaints from neighbours about overspill parking . There were calls for traffic to be reinstated in Trafalgar Square , London, after pedestrianization caused noise nuisance for visitors to the National Gallery . The director of the gallery is reported to have blamed pedestrianization for the "trashing of a civic space". Local shopkeepers may be critical of

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1958-410: Is on East Hyman Street, in the center of the south facade. An auxiliary entrance is located at the top of a short flight of steps in the corner facade. At the north end of the west facade is a three-bay glass storefront with entrance. A small addition, containing a stairwell, protrudes from that corner to the north. On the west end of the front facade is a narrow blind brick addition. All the windows on

2047-509: The Aspen Music Festival 's events to productions by local community groups. It is one of two buildings in town named after early developer Jerome B. Wheeler . Originally, the opera house was located on the third floor, with retail space at street level and professional offices on the second floor. An early 20th-century arson fire damaged the interior, and in its wake the theater fell into disuse. The building became property of

2136-639: The Gay Village in Montreal . Algonquin and Ward's Islands, parts of the Toronto Islands group, are also car-free zones for all 700 residents. Since summer 2004, Toronto has also been experimenting with " Pedestrian Sundays " [1] in its busy Kensington Market . Granville Mall in Halifax, Nova Scotia was a run-down section of buildings on Granville Street built in the 1840s that was restored in

2225-810: The Third Street Promenade ; the creation of the covered, pedestrian Fremont Street Experience in Downtown Las Vegas ; the revival of East 4th Street in Downtown Cleveland ; and the new pedestrian zone created in the mid-2010s in New York City including along Broadway (the street) and around Times Square . During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, some cities had made the pedestrianization of additional streets to encourage social distancing and in many cases to provide extra rooms for restaurants to serve food on patios extended into

2314-496: The balcony , supported by salmon-colored cast iron Corinthian columns. Two small side stages, decorated in Lincrusta – Walton paneling with a geometric design, flank the main stage at this level. Behind the stage are dressing rooms and a crossover to allow actors to change sides of the stage during a performance without being seen by the audience. This space also gives access to the fire stair and elevator. The history of

2403-464: The boomtown . With the lucrative returns on his mining investments, he financed two monumental buildings that bear his name and remain standing: the Hotel Jerome , Aspen's most prominent landmark to travelers passing through on what is now State Highway 82 , and the opera house, at the city's center. The ground floor housed Wheeler's bank, a barber shop and a clothing retailer. The second floor

2492-614: The 1890s, from a design by Willoughby J. Edbrooke that blends elements of the Romanesque Revival and Italianate architectural styles . In 1972 it became the first property in the city to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places , and the second in Pitkin County . The upstairs auditorium hosts a number of events every year, ranging from nationally prominent music and comedy acts and some of

2581-481: The 1990s at the request of the retailers. Half of Kalamazoo's pedestrian mall has been converted into a regular street with auto traffic, though with wide sidewalks. Mackinac Island , between the upper and lower peninsulas of Michigan, banned horseless carriages in 1896, making it auto-free. The original ban still stands, except for emergency vehicles. Travel on the island is largely by foot, bicycle, or horse-drawn carriage. An 8-mile (13 km) road, M-185 rings

2670-546: The 1994-5 Fremont Street Experience in Las Vegas and recent pedestrianization of various streets in New York City . These pedestrian zones were more closely tied to the success of retail than in Europe, and by the 1980s, most did not succeed competing with ever more elaborate enclosed malls. Almost all of this generation of pedestrian malls built from 1959 through to the 1970s, have disappeared, or were shrunk down in

2759-678: The Aspen community. The theater is available for rent for private and public occasions, except during the period from mid-June to mid-August when it is mostly used by the Music Festival's Opera School. Pedestrian mall Pedestrian zones (also known as auto-free zones and car-free zones , as pedestrian precincts in British English , and as pedestrian malls in the United States and Australia) are areas of

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2848-483: The Australian rock band INXS came to the Wheeler to warm up before its world tour later that year. Six songs recorded at that show were released on a rare limited-edition CD, INXS: Live in Aspen – February 1997 . Lead singer Michael Hutchence died nine months later, making it his last official live recording. Seven years later, John Oates released a combination CD and DVD of a show of his, John Oates: Live at

2937-700: The Historic Wheeler Opera House . Renovations continue. In the late 2007 the faux wood finish in the auditorium was restored. This was followed by the repainting of the lobby, in which the Venetian plaster and mural of the Wheeler were added. The transfer tax was renewed in 2000, and a strong local real estate market during the following decade left the Wheeler with $ 28 million in funds. A master plan calls for most of that to be spent on an expansion; however, expansion plans were suspended by Aspen City Council in December 2009. The Wheeler

3026-651: The Silver Circuit, working its way from Denver through Leadville , over the Divide and through Aspen to Utah and eventually ending at Cheyenne, Wyoming . Along it audiences got to see everything from Shakespeare and classical music to vaudeville and boxing. That era ended with the Panic of 1893 . Congress repealed the Silver Purchase Act, and mines closed overnight as demand dropped. Jerome Wheeler

3115-469: The Wheeler parallels that of Aspen. Established with much fanfare during the city's initial boom years in the late 19th century, it fell into decline along with much of the rest of Aspen's buildings when the silver market crashed. Restoration efforts began in the mid-20th century, as Aspen became established as a ski resort town, and the affluence that attracted in turn produced more money for further restoration efforts. First established in 1879 as Ute City,

3204-471: The Wheeler unchallenged domination of the skyline. To the west is a vacant lot. The terrain is level, with the lower slopes of Aspen Mountain and the ski area's base facilities several blocks to the south. The building itself is a five-by-seven- bay structure three stories tall, topped by a hipped roof . All three visible facades are faced in rusticated peachblow sandstone ; the west and north sides are done in plain brick. The two-bay main entrance

3293-700: The Wheeler was built. Near the end of the decade some visitors, particularly Europeans who helped to train the "soldiers on skis" of the Army's Tenth Mountain Division in the area, saw the city's potential for recreational Alpine skiing . After World War II ended, some of the Europeans, and veterans of the Tenth, returned to Aspen to build a ski resort. They established the Aspen Skiing Company with

3382-512: The attractiveness of the local environment in terms of aesthetics, air pollution, noise and crashes involving motor vehicle with pedestrians. In some cases, motor traffic in surrounding areas increases, as it is displaced rather than replaced. Nonetheless, pedestrianisation schemes are often associated with significant falls in local air and noise pollution and in accidents, and frequently with increased retail turnover and increased property values locally. A car-free development generally implies

3471-429: The boom years fell empty and neglected. Some burned, unattended and unextinguished, or succumbed to decay from the effects of an intense annual five-month winter at 8,000 feet (2,400 m) above sea level. The Wheeler survived primarily by showing movies, as that medium emerged. After one of those shows, in 1912, a fire was discovered in the space between the stage floor and the dressing rooms (then located beneath). It

3560-524: The cable network's cameras on its stage. Among those who got early exposure at the festival were Bill Maher , Dave Chappelle , Lewis Black and Margaret Cho . Well-established names in comedy also played the Wheeler—in the late 1980s, Lily Tomlin previewed her one-woman show The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe there for six weeks before its Broadway opening. HBO later moved

3649-423: The car parks in at the edge of car-free cities, there are often bus stations, bicycle sharing stations, and the like. The term car-free development implies a physical change: either build-up or changes to an existing built area. Melia et al. (2010) define car-free developments as "residential or mixed use developments which: This definition (which they distinguish from the more common "low car development")

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3738-403: The center bays on the south are set in slight recesses that rise to an arched top on the third story. Those middle bays are set with three single windows in a larger recessed area. On the third story all the arches are blind with triple-hung single-pane sash, accentuated by contrasting lighter stone. On the west end of the south facade, and the second and third from the south on the east facade,

3827-518: The city due to tax default. Later in the century it was renovated several times, twice from designs by Herbert Bayer , to bring it back into full use. For a while the Pitkin County Library was located in the building as well. Today it houses retail space and a restaurant in addition to the auditorium space, and is one of Aspen's most prominent landmarks. The city funds its operations through a real estate transfer tax that has built up

3916-409: The city. Space for them to present remained limited. At one point during the 1970s the Pitkin County library was housed on the building's second floor. The wintertime restrictions on the auditorium remained in effect. It was apparent that the Wheeler, which would soon be a hundred years old, was in need of a comprehensive renovation that would address all the structural issues. The Music Festival led

4005-503: The comedy festival to Las Vegas, but the Wheeler has since replaced it with two other comedy festivals: the Aspen RooftopComedy Festival , cosponsored by RooftopComedy.com, and the newer Aspen Laff Fest, run by the Wheeler on its own. Prominent popular musicians also made appearances, two of which were recorded for live albums . Lyle Lovett played at least one show at the Wheeler every year. In February 1997,

4094-503: The day and night. In Buenos Aires , some stretches of Calle Florida have been pedestrianised since 1913, which makes it one of the oldest car-free thoroughfares in the world today. Pedestrianised Florida, Lavalle and other streets contribute to a vibrant shopping and restaurant scene where street performers and tango dancers abound, streets are crossed with vehicular traffic at chamfered corners . Paquetá Island in Rio de Janeiro

4183-722: The earliest modern implementation of the idea in cities seems to date from about 1800, when the first covered shopping arcade was opened in Paris . Separated shopping arcades were constructed throughout Europe in the 19th century, precursors of modern shopping malls. A number of architects and city planners, including Joseph Paxton , Ebenezer Howard , and Clarence Stein , in the 19th and early 20th centuries proposed plans to separate pedestrians from traffic in various new developments. The first "pedestrianisation" of an existing street seems to have taken place "around 1929" in Essen , Germany. This

4272-400: The early 1950s, with little landscaping or planning. By 1955 twenty-one German cities had closed at least one street to automobile traffic, although only four were "true" pedestrian streets, designed for the purpose. At this time pedestrianisation was not seen as a traffic restraint policy, but rather as a complement to customers who would arrive by car in a city centre. Pedestrianisation

4361-704: The early 1980s, the Alternative Liste für Demokratie und Umweltschutz (which later became part of Alliance 90/The Greens ) unsuccessfully campaigned to make West Berlin a car-free zone. In the Netherlands , the inner city of Arnhem has a pedestrian zone ( Dutch : voetgangersgebied ) within the boundaries of the following streets and squares: Nieuwe Plein, Willemsplein, Gele Rijdersplein, Looierstraat, Velperbinnensingel, Koningsplein, St. Catharinaplaats, Beekstraat, Walburgstraat, Turfstraat, Kleine Oord, and Nieuwe Oeverstraat. Rotterdam 's city center

4450-409: The effect of pedestrianization on their businesses. Reduced through traffic can lead to fewer customers using local businesses, depending on the environment and the area's dependence on the through traffic. A large number of European towns and cities have made part of their centres car-free since the early 1960s. These are often accompanied by car parks on the edge of the pedestrianised zone, and, in

4539-480: The festival with similar events, the Aspen RooftopComedy Festival and the Aspen Laff Festival. This article about an American film festival is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Wheeler Opera House The Wheeler Opera House is located at the corner of East Hyman Avenue and South Mill Street in Aspen , Colorado, United States. It is a stone building erected during

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4628-406: The first city west of the Divide to be wired for electricity, and the theater's chandelier took advantage of that with 36 separate lights. The anticipation of its opening was such that local milliners ran advertisements in Aspen's newspapers telling customers they were too overwhelmed to take new orders. Satin programs had been scented with rose water several days. The opening night production

4717-418: The first floor have round segmental arches, sandstone voussoirs and awnings . Above them a small continuous cornice sets off a plain frieze with the word "Bank" in relief above the door on the corner facade. Another, larger continuous cornice atop the frieze sets off the second story. Its windows are all trabeated single-pane double-hung sash with granite lintels and a broad plain surround; all except

4806-889: The first in the U.S. in 1959). Since then growth was rapid, such that by 1980 a study found that most British towns and cities had a pedestrian shopping precinct; 1,304 in total. In Istanbul , İstiklal Caddesi is a pedestrian street (except for a historic streetcar that runs along it) and a major tourist draw. Some Canadian examples are the Sparks Street Mall area of Ottawa , the Distillery District in Toronto , Scarth Street Mall in Regina , Stephen Avenue Mall in Calgary (with certain areas open to parking for permit holders) and part of Prince Arthur Street and

4895-466: The front facade as well. As a result of the Paepckes' efforts, Aspen continued to grow in popularity during the 1950s. The first renovations to the Wheeler were rapidly proving inadequate. Again, the couple commissioned a redesign from Bayer. This more comprehensive effort mixed elements of Bayer's Bauhaus background with the Victorian flourishes of Edbrooke's original design. The box seats next to

4984-651: The grand reopening in May of that year. Festivities kicked off with a week of free tours of the new building. Performers included pianist James Levine , cellist Lynn Harrell , the Denver Repertory Theatre Company and the MOMIX dance troupe. As a link to the building's past as Aspen's major movie house, the 1928 silent film classic The Wind was shown, with full orchestral accompaniment and its star, Lillian Gish , by then 90, in attendance. With

5073-556: The growing suburban shopping malls of the time. In the 1960s and 70s, over 200 towns in the United States adopted this approach. The Downtown Mall in Charlottesville, VA is one of the longest pedestrian malls in the United States , created in 1976 and spanning nine city blocks. A number of streets and malls in New York City are now pedestrian-only, including 6½ Avenue , Fulton Street , parts of Broadway , and

5162-435: The help of Chicago industrialist Walter Paepcke and his wife Elizabeth. The Paepckes, instrumental in the rebirth of the city, attracted major cultural figures to it with a 1949 festival to celebrate the bicentennial of the birth of German poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe . The couple also started the Aspen Music Festival the same year. This was part of what they called the "Aspen Idea": a community where residents could "earn

5251-684: The historic center within the Small Ring (the ring road built on the site of the 14th-century walls ), including the Grand-Place/Grote Markt , the Place de Brouckère/De Brouckèreplein , the Boulevard Anspach/Anspachlaan , and the Place de la Bourse/Beursplein . Central Copenhagen is one of the oldest and largest: it was converted from car traffic into a pedestrian zone in 1962 as an experiment, and

5340-619: The island, and numerous roads cover the interior. M-185 is the only highway in the United States without motorized vehicles. Fire Island in Suffolk County, New York is pedestrianised east of the Fire Island Lighthouse and west of Smith Point County Park (with the exception of emergency vehicles). Supai, Arizona , located within the Havasupai Indian Reservation is entirely car-free,

5429-514: The larger cases, park and ride schemes. Northern Avenue , located in the Kentron district of central Yerevan , is a large pedestrian avenue. The avenue was inaugurated in 2007 and is mainly home to residential buildings, offices, luxury shops and restaurants. In Belgium , Brussels implemented Europe's largest pedestrian zone (French: Le Piétonnier ), in phases starting in 2015 and will cover 50 hectares (120 acres). The area covers much of

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5518-530: The late 1870s he ran the department store chain after several major partners died. In 1883, the Wheelers moved to Manitou Springs, Colorado , to ease Mrs. Wheeler's ill health with mountain air. Jerome Wheeler heard about the silver strikes in Aspen, across the Continental Divide , and invested in four of the mines. By 1888 he was so involved in mining that he sold his Macy's interest and moved to

5607-404: The late 1970s. The area was then closed off to vehicles. In the United States , these zones are commonly called pedestrian malls or pedestrian streets and today are relatively rare, with a few notable exceptions. In 1959, Kalamazoo was the first American city to implement a "pedestrian mall" in its downtown core. This became a method that some cities applied for their downtowns to compete with

5696-403: The many groups lobbying for some way of financing the effort. In 1979 the city council levied an 0.5% real estate transfer tax on all transactions within the city to fund the renovations. It took effect at the beginning of the following year, to remain in effect until 2000. William Kessler & Associates received the commission for the $ 4.5 million project. In 1982 money from the transfer tax

5785-528: The much-desired removal of the fire escape. A restaurant, Bentley's, opened in the ground floor space where the Wheeler Bank had once been, with an art gallery in the corner space. Both businesses leased the space on an annual basis at below-market rates; the proceeds were used by the city to fund an annual arts grant program. Upon its completion in 1984, the rehabilitation was not as perfect as had originally been hoped. The lot next door remained vacant,

5874-415: The newly available spaces. In the United States, New York City closed up to 100 miles (160 km) of streets to cars across the city. In Madrid , Spain , the city pedestrianized 19 kilometres (12 miles) of streets and 235,000 square metres (58 acres) of spaces in total. The COVID-19 pandemic gave also birth to proposals for radical change in the organisation of the city, in particular Barcelona , being

5963-621: The night. It has grown in size from 15,800 square metres (3.9 acres) in 1962 to 95,750 square metres (23.66 acres) in 1996. A number of German islands ban or strictly limit the private use of motor vehicles. Heligoland , Hiddensee , and all but two of the East Frisian islands are car-free; Borkum and Norderney have car-free zones and strictly limit automobile use during the summer season and in certain areas, also forbidding travel at night. Some areas provide exceptions for police and emergency vehicles; Heligoland also bans bicycles. In

6052-802: The only community in the United States where mail is still carried out by mule. Supai is located eight miles from the nearest road, and is accessible only by foot, horse/mule, or helicopter. Culdesac Tempe , a 17-acre (0.069 square kilometers) car-free district in Tempe, Arizona , is intended to be the nation's first market-rate rental apartment district to ban its tenants from owning cars. Bikes and emergency vehicles are allowed. It has received significant investments from executives at Lyft and Opendoor . Argentina's big cities, Córdoba , Mendoza and Rosario , have lively pedestrianised street centers ( Spanish : peatonales ) combined with town squares and parks which are crowded with people walking at every hour of

6141-552: The pedestrian zone to other streets. As of 2018, Rotterdam featured three different types of pedestrian zones: "pedestrian zones", "pedestrian zones, cycling permitted outside of shopping hours", and "pedestrian zones, cycling permitted 24/7". Three exceptions to motor vehicles could apply to specific sections of these three zones, namely: "logistics allowed within window times (5 to 10:30 a.m)", "logistics allowed 24/7", and "commercial traffic allowed during market days". In Britain, shopping streets primarily for pedestrians date back to

6230-525: The pedestrianisation of the whole city and the proposal of an inversion of the concept of sidewalk two elements of the Manifesto for the Reorganisation of the city, written by architecture and urban theorist Massimo Paolini and signed by 160 academics and 300 architects. A pedestrian zone is often limited in scope: for example, a single square or a few streets reserved for pedestrians, within

6319-699: The rear is a fire stairway and elevator to make the theater accessible . A stairway with red carpeting and imitation wood balustrade leads from the entrance to the auditorium. On display is the walk-in safe Jerome Wheeler bought for the bank he had founded that once occupied the first floor. The 503-seat auditorium is located on the third story, which rises to twice the height of the other two. Renovated since its construction, it combines its original period design with some modernist elements. Seats are surfaced in Moroccan leather. The walls are decorated in an elaborate pattern of azure and teal and salmon rise to

6408-466: The stage were converted into side stages, the ceiling completely restored and the benches replaced with seats from an old movie theater. The walls were painted a deep red shade with a fleur de lys motif . Aspen's continued increase in popularity attracted more year-round residents, among whom were celebrities like John Denver and Goldie Hawn . Their presence, and the success of the music festival, attracted more artistic and cultural organizations to

6497-412: The theater now fully capable of hosting all types of performances year-round, it became a popular venue. The Music Festival continued to hold many of its annual performances there. Audiences at productions in the mid-1980s were among the first to hear lyric soprano Renée Fleming when she was a student in the Music Festival's opera program. John Denver, an Aspen resident, made many appearances whenever he

6586-472: The theater was used again. In 1918, an unpaid tax bill of $ 1,155 ($ 23,000 in contemporary dollars ) led to the city acquiring the building for that sum. It did not restore the theater, however, as most of the productions that visited the city could be accommodated in Armory Hall (now City Hall). In 1930 Aspen's population reached its all-time low of just over 500, less than 10% of what it had been when

6675-504: The thirteenth century. A 1981 study found that many Victorian and later arcades continued to be used. A third of London's 168 precincts at that time had been built before 1939, as were a tenth of the 1,304 precincts in the U.K. as a whole. Early post-1945 new towns carried on the tradition of providing some traffic-free shopping streets. However, in the conversion of traditional shopping streets to pedestrian precincts, Britain started only in 1967 (versus Germany's first conversion in 1929, or

6764-405: The upper window panes are blind as well. The northernmost bay on the east facade is set with a smaller oculus . The arches have smooth finishes. Another cornice above a plain frieze serves as the arches' springline. From it in the center of the south story rise three smaller round-arched windows, triple-hung with the lower panes blind. Their surrounds have keystones . On either side of the three,

6853-444: The venue for the next hundred years of its life. The Wheeler is governed by an eight-member board. Seven of those members are appointed by Aspen City Council to three-year terms; one member is an ex officio representative from Music Associates of Aspen, which runs the Aspen Music Festival and School . The current board chair is Chip Fuller. The executive director heads a paid staff of eleven. They are assisted by volunteers from

6942-582: Was The King's Fool , presented by the Conried Opera Company. The Aspen Daily Times praised the building as "a perfect little bijou of a theater." Aspen grew larger and more prosperous the following year when Congress passed the Sherman Silver Purchase Act , mandating federal purchases of the metal. The population swelled to almost 10,000, the greatest ever. The Wheeler became a stop on a popular touring route called

7031-621: Was almost completely destroyed by German bombing in May 1940. The city decided to build a central shopping street, for pedestrians only, the Lijnbaan , which became Europe's first purpose-built pedestrian street. The Lijnbaan served as a model for many other such streets in the early post- World War II era, such as Warsaw , Prague , Hamburg , and the UK's first pedestrianised shopping precinct in Stevenage in 1959. Rotterdam has since expanded

7120-459: Was also common in the United States during the 1950s and 60s as downtown businesses attempted to compete with new suburban shopping malls. However, most of these initiatives were not successful in the long term, and about 90% have been changed back to motorised areas. In the United States, several pedestrian zones in major tourist areas were successful, such as the renovation of the mall in Santa Monica on Los Angeles' Westside and its relaunch as

7209-454: Was also recorded at the Wheeler, within a year of his death. The Wheeler is located on the northwest corner of the intersection, located roughly in the center of Aspen. To the south and east Hyman and Mill have been closed to vehicular traffic; both are now planted with shade trees and serve as pedestrian malls . The surrounding neighborhood is densely developed with a mixture of modern and historic buildings, none taller than two stories, giving

7298-509: Was closed for most of the latter half of 2013 for long-needed renovations to its balcony area which will include a conversion of its movie technology from 35mm to full DCP (digital cinema projection), which was completed in time for its reopening in January 2014. In 2011, the venue executed a full remodel of its basement and two ground-floor lease spaces. Between these two projects, over $ 5 million will have been invested in renovating and preparing

7387-468: Was extinguished with minimal permanent damage and the theater was able to show another movie the following night. A week and a half later, another fire broke out in the early morning hours. Since it started in three different locations simultaneously, the cause was clearly arson . It was hot enough to melt the steel cables at the stage. The community decried the act, and the Wheeler was boarded up. The lower floors remained occupied, but it would be years before

7476-476: Was forced into bankruptcy . The theater he had built became a lot less busier. Aspen entered a period of its history known as the Silent or Quiet Years. The population declined quickly as silver mining retreated to a much smaller role in the local economy. Ranching and potato farming took on more importance, but could not make up for the prosperity silver had provided. Within the city many very new buildings from

7565-616: Was held in Las Vegas , Nevada , since 2006, in collaboration with the Anschutz Entertainment Group . The Aspen event folded in 2007 once HBO exited the festival business, considering the expenditures too high. American comedian Chris Fleming performed at the 2007 event. TBS picked up the Las Vegas event in 2008, and organized a follow-up edition that year, also arranging for other comedy festivals in collaboration with Just for Laughs . In turn, Aspen replaced

7654-544: Was in Limbecker Straße, a very narrow shopping street that could not accommodate both vehicular and pedestrian traffic. Two other German cities followed this model in the early 1930s, but the idea was not seen outside Germany. Following the devastation of the Second World War a number of European cities implemented plans to pedestrianise city streets, although usually on a largely ad hoc basis, through

7743-511: Was in town. The private Aspen Community School mounts its annual production there. In 1986 Goldie Hawn 's daughter Kate Hudson made her stage debut there in a production of Alice in Wonderland . Standup comedy , coming into its own in the 1980s, helped put the reborn Wheeler on the national map when HBO chose it as the location for its annual U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in 1985. For the next 13 years comics would do their routines before

7832-464: Was office space, used by the bank, a mining company, a lawyer and a dentist. On the tall third story, higher than any other building then in Aspen, was the theater. Denver architect Willoughby J. Edbrooke designed a building that combined a basic Romanesque Revival form with some Italianate decorative touches . It was built in ten months from June 1888 to April 1889 at a cost of $ 100,000 ($ 3.39 million in contemporary dollars ). Aspen had been

7921-446: Was used to purchase the adjacent vacant lot for a proposed expansion. Kessler's modernist design, however, was ridiculed as an incongruous and unsympathetic "waving flag" and later dropped amid much community opposition. Within the building, much was accomplished in addition to the structural restoration. The box seats, curtain and proscenium arch were restored to their original appearance. Actual dressing rooms were built, along with

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