The Big Apple. Tinseltown. Mile High City. You probably automatically know those names are synonymous with New York City, Hollywood and Denver.
That’s why this Colorado Wonders question seemed simple enough: Why is Boulder referred to as “The People’s Republic of Boulder”?
But I ran into some problems right off the bat. First, Boulder’s nickname isn’t as well-known, or at least as official.
“I am a resident of Boulder for the last 35 years, and no, I do not know the nickname,” said Greg Mulligan. When I told him, it was as if a lightbulb had gone off. “Oh, well, yes.”
And that’s how it went for a while as I stopped people in downtown Boulder to ask if they knew its nickname. I even popped into the visitor’s information desk on Pearl Street to ask the person behind the desk about the nickname and even she didn’t know. “I haven't personally ever heard someone call it that, but I've heard people call it the Hippie Town and stuff like that,” said Petra Rutherford.
The nickname is unofficial, to say the least.
“I think it’s something that we laugh about,” said Boulder resident of 33 years Suzanne Lainson. She added it seems to go hand-in-hand with other monikers for the city — the ‘Boulder Bubble’ or ‘25 square miles surrounded by reality.’ “The People's Republic of Boulder is to imply our politics. We are a very liberal community.”
But when, and how, did Boulder get that moniker? I went to the Museum of Boulder to try and find some answers.
“I looked up People's Republic of Boulder, and when I looked it up in our database, it doesn't appear. I could not find any references to it,” said curator Elizabeth Nosek. But she did come across nods to it. “Then I started finding the People's Parking Spot, which is now a patio at the St. Julian's Hotel. There is the People's Grocery … So it may not be ‘the People's Republic’, but it's the people's such and such.”
Boulder was incorporated in 1859 as a mining town, but the nickname People’s Republic is rooted firmly in the 20th century. Sitting in front of a panel titled “Social Change and Social Justice,” which includes a fringe vest and patchwork jeans, Nosek said the People’s Republic nickname stems from the counterculture and the hippie era.
“It started with when the flower children came in the late 1960s, and then the next wave of protestors came,” Nosek said. “And the next thing was people who grew up in that area, who helped start our natural food businesses.”
Think of companies such as Celestial Seasonings, Rudi’s Organic Bakery, Justin’s, Bobo’s and Horizon Organic — all household names from the natural foods aisle with their roots in Boulder.
“We have hung onto that nickname for a number of years because we've been really proud of being hippies, of thinking outside of the box, of being the people who put organic foods in the grocery stores, of being … proud to be more inclusive,” said Nosek.
But Boulder isn't the only people's republic out there. The nicknames also been applied to cities like Cambridge, Berkeley and Madison — other college towns with a decidedly liberal bent.
And the phrase, “The People's Republic,” brings up different connotations, both positive and negative, for different people.
“It sounds kind of like North Korea a little bit, doesn't it? When you say People's Republic, that reminds you of Communist countries,” said Texas resident Rob Petersen, who was visiting Boulder. “That's all I got to say about it.”
But Sophie Fan, who came to Boulder recently, said the phrase made her think of community engagement.
“On the first weekend I went to Resource Central, where they were selling native plants and people could get their knives sharpened, also, their clothing fixed, and also buy used doors, washing machines and dishwashers and garden tools,” she explained. “I thought it was a cool community initiative to be more sustainable. So I guess that makes sense, that there's a nickname that there's a People's Republic, kind of people come together.”
Cyndy Levy went to school at CU Boulder during the hippie era, graduating in the early 1970s. She's not a fan of the nickname and the way it seems to set Boulder apart.
“It says like … ‘don't worry, we are different from all of you.’ And I think there's some truth in that, but I don't think that's a message,” she explained.
For her, Boulder was, and is, an inclusive city and that’s the message she wants its nickname to send.
But when it comes to this Colorado Wonders question, perhaps the final message is that regardless of its roots, Boulder’s nickname and its meaning are in the eye of the beholder.
Colorado Wonders
This story is part of our Colorado Wonders series, where we answer your burning questions about Colorado. Curious about something? Go to our Colorado Wonders page to ask your question or view other questions we've answered.
