Is there a hole in the staircase?
Hotel Eastin owners Maryann and Walt Van Lue recently visited with Shirley and Duane Johnson of Lafayette, Colorado.
Ninety years young, Shirley fondly recalls her time spent at the Hotel Eastin as a teenager. Shirley is the niece of Lum and Marie Eastin who purchased the Hotel Eastin building in 1937 and added on to it making it a modern hotel with 28 rooms.
During the summers, Shirley worked for her aunt and uncle at the hotel and would then work at the pharmacy around the corner as a soda jerk.
One of her most vivid memories was the summer of the bank robbery. She recalls Sheriff Chancy Van Pelt bringing bags of money into the lobby of the hotel and his gun going off accidentally, shooting the second or third step of the staircase leading upstairs. Shirley assures everyone they will find a bullet hole under the carpet. Van Lues have not yet confirmed the story, but Walt is eagerly waiting for Maryann’s permission to pull up the carpet to verify facts.
Shirley and Duane stayed at the Hotel Eastin on a previous visit, and Shirley thanked the VanLues for all they had done to “bring the Hotel Eastin back to its original glory.”
