Did you know there was a time when Kings & Queens ruled Park City – as well as cleaned, cooked and staffed the front desk at the Chateaux Après Lodge?
This is Hope Woodside with your weekly Park City History Bit.
Back in the 1970s and ‘80s the owners of Chateaux Après, Ed and Sue Hosenfeld, ran ads throughout the United States to recruit kids to help them run the lodge with their eight children. To boost response, they nicknamed the positions “Kings” and “Queens.”
At the start of each season, local boys would scramble to the lodge to check out the arrival of the newest Chateaux Queens! Despite the attention, these royals worked hard for their room, board and free ski pass.
KPCW’s Leslie Thatcher came to Park City to be a Chateaux Queen, and Teri Whitney, who now runs the Snowflower Lodge, saw the ad in her local paper in Fullerton, California. Teri immediately wanted to go, but her mom insisted on meeting the Hosenfelds first, to be sure it wasn’t a prostitution ring.
Riding on a small bus to Park City on December 7, 1980, Teri sat next to a surfer, nicknamed “Lad”, who was also hired to be a Chateaux King. His real name turned out to be Doug, and the chance encounter turned into a real storybook romance and 34-years-and-running marriage.
This Park City History Bit is brought to you by the Park City Museum, and their newest exhibit, “Miners to Moguls: 50 Years of Park City Skiing”, and is sponsored by Julie Hopkins of Keller Williams Real Estate.
