This is part of a series of interviews I did with various movers and shakers in Boulder in 1985 — S. Byron Gassaway (webmaster)

Fred Shelton

I would like to begin by assuming that the reader has never heard of Fred’s Restaurant on Pearl Street in Boulder. To help elucidate this part of the oral history, would you start out by telling a little bit of history about Fred’s Steakhouse?

It started in 1954. A very small place! It was Fred’s Columbine Café at the time. We took it over with absolutely no money. I borrowed $250.00 on an old ’51 Studebaker Champion in ’54. It had over a hundred thousand miles on it. We used it to make the first down payment, deposit on the gas meter, and that kind of thing. So we just barely got started.

To give and idea of the problems we had starting, I don’t think you could start a restaurant today like we started then. We only had enough money to buy enough food to go partially through a meal, so when we sold something, my wife, Lucy, would run out immediately to the store and buy some more – that kind of thing. Then, eventually, Watts-Hardy (dairy) gave us credit, and we didn’t have to pay cash for that. Then we developed a reputation for at least being partially reputable. Eventually we had credit, which we maintained until the day we quit.

What was the competition like when you started? My mother grew up here and she told me that, up until a certain point, Boulder really didn’t have any good restaurants.”

Well, I came to Boulder primarily looking for a place to settle. And one of the reasons I came to Boulder was because people who had gone to school here from Highland Park, Illinois, where I was from originally, said that there weren’t any good restaurants out here. We had a restaurant back there . . . Shelton’s Grill was the name of our restaurant back there, and people said if I opened a restaurant out here like Shelton’s Grill, it would just go gang-busters.

So I came out here with this little two-wheeled trailer and all my earthly belongings behind this ’51 Studebaker, which, by the way, I had to get out and push over Raton Pass. We were out visiting my folks in Arizona, and we were going 4 miles per hour, my wife had her foot on the gas, holding the steering wheel. But we did make it, and got started.

What types of people were your typical clientele? How would you describe them?

Well, our clientele. Well, first recognize the flavor of downtown, which was the major business center for Boulder. The University Hill was the secondary business center. We had J.C. Penney’s downtown and that sort of thing. Walgreens, and so forth, and so we had a lot of the shopkeepers, the people who worked in the stores, and a lot of families would come in. So we had a mostly family oriented business.

The clientele were rather straight. Then the hippies came in here there was a great rift between straights and hippies. The hippies thought that they had to . . . well, they were the great unwashed, undisciplined, “society owes me a living” generation, the flower child. You don’t have to till the soil – you just pick the daisies.

They would steal milk. The milkman would deliver milk in front of the houses. They would come around after the milkman and grab the milk – that kind of thing. The horrible smell of patchouli, which makes me gag to this day, was part of their thing, because they may have wanted to be clean, but they didn’t have the facilities to be clean, so as a result they were unwashed. So they used patchouli oil in quantities to camouflage the fact that they had horrible B.O.

Anyhow, I tried to keep the middle ground. And I lost some of my business because of that. Like, for example, one day a man who moved his business to Longmont primarily because of the hippies, was making some irresponsible statements about getting a machine gun and shooting the lot of them because of their long hair. So I said, “How about your wife, she has long hair?” I was trying to point out how ridiculous it was. And he said, “I draw the line. You’re ridiculous, Fred.” He got out and left and never came back. But that was just an indication of how emotionally charged this was.

The straight generation, the responsible, entrenched, status quo society, they were being threatened by these people who didn’t give a damn about anybody or anything, it seemed like. Their value system was being threatened. Everything was being threatened by these people. So they became very defensive, a lot of them. I guess my restaurant was one of the few places where both straights and hippies . . . they would come in and cohabit and not actually wind up trying to kill each other.

I talked to this woman who said that there were actually two classes of hippies. She felt there were the university students who were into the spiritual kind of hippie thing, kind of like Mo Siegel – and then there was this other class that was hedonistic, you know – the street hippie. Did you notice that at all?

As Oliver Wendell Homes said, “No generalization is worth a damn, including this one.” And so the lady has made a generalization that is partly valid. I’d say mostly valid. There were as may different kinds of hippies as there were hippies.

I think you can make the generalization that there were two classes. The thing is, it was like when I was in the Service. All servicemen tend to get lumped (together). You are overseas and the serviceman has done somebody a bad deal. They were ugly or mean – so all servicemen were to be avoided, that sort of thing. It’s very hard after awhile. You’re hitting at one of the real problems, though. There is a tendency to generalize, because you physically don’t have the time, if you’re making a living, to find out about each individual person.

Anytime you get away from that, you have injustice, anytime you stop treating people as individuals. I tried to do that. I tried to allow people to come in if they respected the other people. I tended to let hippies come in – or straights. If a straight created problems by being unreasonable, I’d ask him to leave, too.

The STP Gang, they were a real dangerous element. They wore chains and knives. They lived up in Nederland, or the Nederland area, not necessarily in town. They killed themselves off eventually by overdosing on drugs, by fighting and killing each other, that kind of thing. They were very, very dirty . . . an unwashed, ugly group of people. The dregs of any kind of society . . . they were lost people, really. When I was away from the restaurant one tie, they came in the room in the corner and they were about to order some breakfast. I would not have allowed them to come in had I been on duty at the door at the time. They were dirty – very, very dirty in fact. I felt it fair to tell them this time they could eat here, but they could not come back again unless they were cleaner. One of them took offense to this and asked if I wanted them to leave immediately, and I said that would be a very good idea. They got up to leave and started to swear copious amounts of swear words, things that I would rather not try to remember. They started to go out, and I’m walking right in back of them, mainly to make sure they didn’t take anything because they don’t respect property rights at all.

The were leaving, not very peacefully, making all their ugly comments and so forth, which are unprintable, actually. We had quite a few other customers in the place and these comments were meant to create a scene they loved to create. They really didn’t care. So as they were leaving the door, I was the last person, I wasn’t about to go out in the street with them, this last person turned around and he spit in my face. They had chains and knives and all sorts of stuff, and I was unarmed, so not that pugilistically inclined, anyhow. As I turned to come back into the restaurant, I don’t know the exact number, I’m guessing about ten or fifteen of my customers, the men folks in there had followed me, to back me up in case there was trouble. It was a great feeling for me. I really felt good about that. Luckily, we didn’t have any need for it. Maybe, but maybe, I wasn’t aware of it, but maybe the STP Gang was aware of it and they saved me from some problems by backing me up. I really appreciated their support, moral and physical.

Judge Dana said he had what he called the “Wyatt Earp solution to the transient problem. When he had one that had repeatedly broken the law, hew would tell them, “It looks like you’re not going to behave yourself in our town. So I’m going to have to give you a long sentence. I’m going to give you 90 days.” A lot of these people wanted to go to jail overnight or for a week. They could rest up, get good food, be able to clean up and all that nice stuff. Their clothes would get washed for them, and they’d actually, in fact . . . I’d had this happen several times, they’d come into my restaurant and eat and tell me, “I don’t have any money. Call the police. I want to go to jail.”

And I’d say no. You’re not going to jail. It’s a cold, rainy night and you’re going to get out of my restaurant. Never come back. Go out and freeze to death.

Judge Dana’s solution was to give them 90 days and tell them, “I want you to get your affairs in order. You have this weekend to get you affairs in order and report to jail on Monday morning.” They would then get their affairs in order and leave town. This is what he wanted, of course, in the first place. In other words, “Don’t let the sun set on you, stranger.” Only he had a nicer way of doing it. He didn’t tell them to leave town. If you’re caught in town on Monday, you’re going to spend time in jail. It seemed to work for a lot of cases.

People would have objected strenuously if we had told them outright to leave town. But the fact is, they had chosen a lifestyle that destroyed our lifestyle in town. It costs a lot of money to incarcerate them and our jails are too full, anyhow. So we’d just give them long sentences and give them the option of showing up and serving the time or getting the hell out, which is what we really wanted in the first place.

During the ‘60s, when all the drugs were being used, sold, and manufacture, people were thinking this was a great thing. It was almost being treated like a religion by a lot of people. They thought that drugs were a great religious experience and they thought that it was related to this idea that maybe love can conquer all of the problems of the world. I was offered drugs at that time by many people, including one person who was, subsequently, a city councilman of the City of Boulder. (Tim Fuller).

I told him that I didn’t need marijuana to get high or have a religious experience and that it was against the law and that I didn’t see any need for it. I never did use marijuana or any of the hallucinogenic drugs. I wasn’t trying to be holier than thou. But a lot of people asked, “How can you know if you haven’t tried it?” I’ve never tried suicide, but I know I don’t want to do it.

Now that may seem simplistic, but there is something about mind-altering drugs, and I’ve talked to enough people and have had enough experience with enough people who have used drugs heavily. I’m not saying that your occasional user of marijuana is going to go crazy or anything like that. If people over-indulge — and there is a great tendency for people to over-indulge in mind altering substances, alcohol, or any other drug that alters your state of mind — when they do that, sometimes there is irreversible damage to their brain.

In my position as a restaurant owner and manager in Boulder, I have seen innumerable cases of kids who have just burned themselves out completely. I mean they are vegetables. And they’re a ward of society.

One of the things that was said repeatedly by so many people was that this was a victimless crime. Now that, in my opinion, is the greatest bull-shit statement ever to be made by mortal man. When I think of the victims that I have seen and known and talked to and tried to help or get out of the company of . . . because I couldn’t stand to be around their debilitated state any longer, when I have seen those people, then I know that we have some victims.

When I think of the greater victim – the greater victim is society. I think that illegal drug use – the effects of widespread, illegal drug use – destroyed the fabric of our society. Not completely, but to a great extent. And they’ve done it in so many different ways.

Laws were not made to repress people in this nation. Laws were made so that we could live together as a society, respecting the rights of each other, so that we could tax and create the schools, highways, and so that the society could live together successfully. The lack of law, and I think almost anyone could agree with me, is unthinkable.

Our laws are not perfect. They’re a long way from it. Our lawmakers are not perfect either. But at least we have some representation and we have a reasonable chance to change laws in our society. Here was a huge group of people who said the laws are wrong and (they) were going to break them. And they did break the law and they were not paying taxes on the drugs that they bought and sold. You didn’t have one school built on taxes on marijuana, cocaine, heroin, amphetamines, LSD, or any other illegal drug. It just doesn’t do anything positive for society. Not one!

This disrespect for law is the thing that erodes the fabric of society. Those people didn’t have the respect and there aren’t enough policemen in the world to support unpopular laws. We’ve got to respect laws in our society or we’re lost.

Drugs create large amounts of untaxed money that has to be disposed of in one way or another. Money is no good if you can’t use it. You’ve got to spend the money to get any good from it. You’ve got to invest it or do something with that money.

So what do they do with that illegal money? One Boulder drug dealer went into a local jewelry store and bought seventy thousand dollars worth of diamonds in one day. He paid for them in fifty and one hundred dollar bills. Other things they do is buy restaurants. One of the reasons I got out of the restaurant business is because of drugs.

There was unfair competition in the restaurant business. It has been estimated that as much as eighty percent of the downtown Boulder restaurants were funded directly or indirectly, partially or wholly by drug money. Now that’s pretty tough competition! They can afford the latest equipment. They can afford to change the décor in the restaurant every month if they want to. They’ve got the money to do it.

So these restaurants were laundering drug money?

(They were) laundering drug money. Right! They could afford to do those things. They can have a very successful business and create a climate in downtown Boulder that says unless you have a restaurant that has brand-new décor every year, unless you have a restaurant that serves top-notch everything – unless your restaurant meets these standards or specifications – you’re a poor businessman.

Well, the average businessman who was not funded by drug-money was put in the position of being called a poor businessman . . . or a man who couldn’t cope . . . a man who can’t handle the business. Because he’s up against such unfair competition, it creates in the mind of the consumer the expectation that they can go in and get this and it will cost so much. They expect that everything will be beautiful with oak trim and everything will just be great. We couldn’t afford that! I had the same carpet in my place for four or five years. I couldn’t afford to clean it as often as I wanted to.

Was this true of other businesses besides restaurants?

I have a feeling that it is, but I have no hard facts or evidence. I can’t say. I know that in the restaurant business, it has been estimated . . . I say fifty percent. I talked to a couple of policemen in Boulder and they said it was closer to eighty percent. I’m not saying that my (estimates) are ironclad. I can’t prove a damn thing!

It’s important to me that our society not be eroded. My grandchildren are going to grow up in this society. It isn’t just Boulder. It’s all over the nation! Boulder has more of it than a lot of other places. Boulder was in the vanguard of it. And a lot of people think that Boulder is better than other places, which is, again, a crock of crap. Excuse me!

There’s all of this underground money. Think of the large, underground organization that it takes to grow marijuana or to process heroin . . . and to distribute all these drugs across the nation. Some people think that the Mafia had control. Other people were proud of the fact that the Mafia didn’t have control of certain of the profits. In my opinion it doesn’t matter one damn bit of difference whether the Mafia was in control or not. Drug dealers that were dealing mindlessness to young children, that were dealing a future that was really clouded, that were dealing destruction to their own society through the erosion of the fabric of society. I don’t think there is such a thing as a good drug dealer.

And I’ve heard that term used before – that this dealer was a good dealer because he only sold “clean stuff.” How can you be proud of selling “clean stuff” that destroys your society? That just doesn’t make sense to me. All of this (drug) money and this organization makes it possible to subvert various levels of government. We’re seeing this in Miami, I’m sure. They’re able to buy things and people and governments. We don’t even know what’s happening now in the Iran-Contra thing. There were drugs dealed by our own government there. It’s frightening to me! It isn’t just the loss of a restaurant — it’s the loss of a nation that bothers me.

Aren’t there parallels between drugs in the ‘60s and bootleg liquor during Prohibition? Didn’t the Kennedys make their fortune in bootleg whiskey?

Joe Kennedy probably did make his money in illegal booze. But they weren’t having the same problems because they weren’t selling booze to kids in junior high school. They weren’t selling booze to kids in grade school. They weren’t doing things like that. It wasn’t affecting anywhere near as much of society as this does. It wasn’t as widespread.

The only thin similar was that it was an unpopular law and it was being subverted. In that case, the Mafia probably got its huge control over the United States by that. Instead of going ahead and trying to change that law, people said, “We’re going to go ahead and make booze and sell it.” There are similarities. I think over at Norlin Library it says on the building: “Those who don’t learn from history are forced to repeat it.” We can learn some things.

What that does is take power away from the electorate. When you have all of this money and all this power in this organization that is nation-wide. . . I’m not saying it’s a monolith. It’s not. It’s a whole bunch of different organizations. But it does take power away from the electorate. It does take power away from the people who are trying to be legal and do their job and run their business in a sensible and law-abiding way.

The inflationary pressures that it caused were also intense. There were many homes bought in Boulder and the surrounding area for cash. That was before the government decided that you had to report all of those things. Drug dealers would pay the (home) price. One of the reasons homes are as expensive as they are in this area is because of the drug dealers. They bought homes here.

We had the <redacted>s, who made a fortune in marijuana, and now they’re “respected business people.” There’s been talk about Mo <redacted> being involved in the drug business. Instead of getting found out and prosecuted, they’re lionized and idolized. I guess what I am really upset about is that throughout the ‘60s a lot of people looked up to the drug dealers and said these guys are bringing us “good stuff,” and “They’re being honest with us.” And, “They’re not ripping us off.” And they didn’t realize the import of what they were helping to do. I think drug use has become prevalent across the nation and I think it’s one of the reasons that we can’t compete on many levels with the Japanese and Germans.

For years S.A.T. scores among high school students have been declining. I don’t think I’ve ever heard that attributed to drugs. You never hear that mentioned. You just hear that American kids seem to be getting stupider. I’ve never heard it said that ever since drugs became part of the culture and were available to kids that you can see that they don’t score as highly on standardized tests.

I read about LSD in the late ‘50s or early ‘60s, before the kids were using it. Psychiatrists were using it as a tool of the last resort, to blast (and they used these terms), to blast the minds of the people that they saw no hope for, like using dynamite. It was for people for whom there was no other way.

And then these kids were taking LSD, and my first experience with it, reading about it, was that it was mental dynamite. And I heard about high school kids taking it and college kids taking it. What are we doing to our whole society?

Very, very few people have addressed what drugs have done to our society and what we can do to change it. And I think it is the number one problem in our entire country. I’d like to see something done about it. I’d like to see people educating people . . . or we’re going to continue on down the road to rack and ruin as far as I can see. There’s no way out of it.

Could you describe how Pearl Street changed from the ‘50s into the ‘60s?

Downtown Boulder was straight, very straight in 1954. It was the shopping area. Penny’s was on one corner. Walgreens was on the other. Valentine Hardware was the place to go and get hardware. The theaters were all downtown. There was parking on Pearl Street and it was the business area. And it was thriving!

In ’60 or ’62 Crossroads opened up. Penney’s and Walgreens moved out of Pearl Street and business diminished downtown. Then they decided to create a mall downtown. And somewhere, I get my dates confused, the hippie invasion happened. That’s when the drugs first started flowing freely. At first drugs were sold almost exclusively on the Hill. But as the use of drugs became more widespread, then you could buy it downtown.

Restaurant employees, and I don’t mean this in a derogatory fashion, are second-class citizens. When other people were working a six day workweek, the restaurant people were working a seven day workweek. When other people started working a five day workweek, the restaurant people were working a six day workweek. Their wages have always been low. That’s traditionally been the way. People take it as an “until” job, something that they do until they graduate or until they get a job in their field. So

So there are a lot of itinerant restaurant people. They move around a lot. There was also a lot of widespread use of marijuana among restaurant employees. If I had an employee who used dope, I’d warn them the first time. The second time they were fired. I didn’t try to dictate what they did on their own time, but in that restaurant I didn’t want any illegal drugs. I didn’t want anybody busted in my restaurant for selling or smoking dope or anything else. I was very open about letting anyone come in the restaurant that wanted to. But if you were working there and representing the restaurant, you didn’t smoke pot while you were working.

In 1954, when I started the restaurant, I think restaurant employees were harder working, more dedicated, worked longer hours, and they cared more about their job. It seemed like all they wanted to do in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s was to work long enough to by some more drugs.

I’m not talking about all restaurant people. But a large percentage of them, people who weren’t career restaurant people, would work for just a little while. They didn’t want to work too many hours. They didn’t want to be capitalists. They just wanted to work a few hours to pay their rent and get some pot or whatever drug they had to have in order to survive . . . cigarettes or whatever. And that was it!

During the last few years, I spent a lot of time watching people on the (Pearl Street) Mall from inside my restaurant. There was a Black dude with gray hair who used to deal drugs all the time on the Mall. He used the pay telephone as his office there, and he had runners. People would come from blocks around and they would walk up to him. He would hang out with the transients. This gave him anonymity and a sort of reason for being there. As soon as he’d see one of his runners coming, he’d disengage himself from the transients and they would talk and he’d make a phone call.

And then he’d go back to the transients again. He was dealing drugs right in front of my place on a regular, sustaining basis. They were using drugs, selling them to kids, and it was just remarkable to me that it wasn’t more vigorously policed. After awhile you wonder if the police were involved in it, or the police chief, or a city councilman.