Break Out The Smoking Jackets, Playboy Recognizes Aspen

June 24th, 2007 at 06:04am Keith Hemstreet 8

This week Playboy announced its Top 10 Poolside Bars and our very own 39 Degrees made the list. I agree, the scene is noteworthy, but lets take a minute to analyze what it is that 39 Degrees offers the readers of Playboy magazine. (In case you were wondering, Playboy targets the “sophisticated pervert.”)

I can’t say I frequent the bar, but I do know a thing or two about what goes on there. I walk by this pool each day on my way to and from work.

Some mornings I’ve passed the pool at sunrise and the techno music still thumping from the speakers has caused flashbacks of adolescent benders. Such a moment puts me in a state of depression and that old regret comes rushing up to the surface. “I wonder if I’ll ever fully recover from this one,” I almost say to myself, reciting that all to frequent query of youth.

In my daily passing of 39 Degrees I’ve observed lots of drunks, a few topless swimmers, lots of groping couples frolicking in the water and a Hooter’s photo shoot.

Okay, that all sounds pretty damn good. So what’s there to complain about?

Unfortunately, I am older now. I see things differently, and what I see in 39 Degrees is a misplaced watering hole.

On any given day you’ll encounter Aspen’s local substance abusers, the superficial “I won’t talk to you unless you have Hollywood connections” coked up LA set, a group of bleached blondes with tats in suggestive places, lurking perverts whose eyes wander inappropriately behind dark sunglasses, and a troupe of white boys wearing Shaq or Kobe jerseys and baggy pants that hang two inches below their ass crack.

I’ve come up with a slogan for 39 Degrees that I think captures its true essence. “All the cheesiness of LA without the smog, murder, or drugs…well, without the smog and murder, at least.”

Despite its deficiencies, I do concur with Playboy. There is no better place in Aspen to observe the human form in its curviest manifestation.

Entry Filed under: Hotels, Media, Aspen, Nightlife