Here's a couple hints: It's right outside Telluride. It was homesteaded in the 1880's, and purchased by this whale in 1982. It came with a turquoise 1948 Willy's Jeep, which added to the whale's famous collection of antique cars. He's kind of a big deal in fashion. And although he hadn't granted a TV interview in over 20 years, he did one on his ranch with Opray (who also has a house in the area) in the spring of 2011. And summer guests stay in one of three 28 foot-diameter teepees or a renovated Airstream trailer. Can you figure it out?
Double RL Ranch, as it's called, belongs to none other than iconic designer Ralph Lauren and his wife, Ricky. Parts of True Grit (the John Wayne version) were filmed there, and much of the house reflects an obsession with the "oldness" of that area. While he lamented not finding as much of the Old West as he had dreamed of when he first visited, he and his wife did his best to recreate it in every way. Almost every room is decorated with antique fixtures, there appears to be few TV's, no hot tubs, and the classic log cabin construction of Western homesteads. Did we mention the hand-painted guest teepees and the Airstream renovated with decor from Army-Navy stores?
Lauren still keeps the ranch in working order, with a crew of cowboys and dogs to run the livestock and maintain the horse corrals. While it is perhaps only through films like True Grit that Lauren had any image of the West, having grown up in the Bronx, he's managed to create a movie-quality paradise without a yuppie sporting his signature polo shirt in sight, and keeps up something of a living, fantasized version of Old Colorado alive today. Don't bother looking for the teepees on AirBnB, though.
· Tour Double L Ranch [Oprah.com]
· Ralph Lauren: The Designer's Double RL Ranch in Colorado [Architectural Digest]