The Famous Christmas Tree, Denver, CO, 1956
Clearly somebody needs help! They didn’t measure the how high the ceiling was!
This slide was marked “4000 ornaments, 1000 lights, 350 birds; 16 trees to make this one and Mr. and Mrs. Gano Senter’s famous Christmas tree.” With all this info I thought perhaps I could Google the name and find out about this “famous Christmas tree.” But what I found out on Google was a bit more than I bargained for.
Mr. And Mrs Gano Senter, were residents of Denver Colorado. Mr. Senter wrote a book called Kawoo of Alaska and owned a restaurant called Kool Kozy Kafe, which according to the legend, served fish everyday but Friday. Hmmm, Mr. Gano doesn’t sound too friendly to me. Neither does his wife. According to Time Magazine, in 1951, Mrs. Gano called for total castration of all male sex offenders. I found out nothing about their famous tree….until I went to Denver.
While in the mile high city last December to do my retro holiday slide show I was a guest on the live local morning news. I showed this slide on the air. Before the segment was even over a lady called the TV station and said that her mother had the “famous Senter tree” and she would love for me to see it. Was I actually going to see thee tree more than fifty years after the slide was taken!? I was on my way.
A few minutes later half lost in a suburban Denver rat maze of streets lined with huge 80s mansions, I found the house. Before even ringing the fancy doorbell I was greeted by several plug-in Christmas Carolers. The door opened and there stood an older man and a lady smiling from ear to ear and inviting me in. Before I could even introduce myself I was in the door and standing in the living room in awe. Everywhere I looked there were Christmas trees and decorations.
As I was led from room to room getting the “grand tour,” I gasped at elaborate displays of collectable holiday miniatures, decorations, and figurines in every room from floor to ceiling no surface left uncovered. I was even treated to the “off limits this time of year” Easter room on the third floor. After about an hour long tour of the charming but never ending seasonal displays and decor I’d practically forgotten what I had come for.
As impressed as I was overwhelmed, I graciously asked “where’s the famous tree?” She said “It’s right here” as she handed me a vintage scrapbook explaining it came with the tree when she purchased it from the Senter family in 1974 to be on display in her local gift shop.” I thumbed through old newspaper clippings noting the celebrated tree and the thousands that toured the Senter Family home each year to see it during the 50s and 60s.
I didn’t recognize the tree at all. It didn’t have anywhere near 4000 ornaments. I said “what happened to all the ornaments?” She said, “They got broken over the years.”
Even with more like 400 than 4000 ornaments it was a thrill to catch up with the famous Christmas tree .
Here’s to the famous Christmas tree, all the broken ornaments and YOU!
Hi, Gano Senter family! I miss you all and the gatherings at Christmas, and the mechanical birds that chirped sweetly in the living room (some in cages, some not) and the weird electronic instrument in the basement that played a tune by waving your hands around it in precise ways, and the 4 man electro-mechanical band, the player piano, Laurena playing the piano and singing, the phones on 100 foot cords, the museum of memorabilia from his Alaska days, the many stories of his trip when intentionally “Shanghaied” to get to see more of the world. The Gano Senters had much more of interest than just the tree, although the tree was perhaps the most spectacular single item. To answer some questions, the tree limbs were removed from the other trees and holes were drilled into a thick main trunk and the tree limbs added so that ornaments could be hung virtually at every spot on the outside of the tree, until the limbs were nearly impossible to see. But you could still smell them and see a few needles here and there with tinsel and angel hair hiding much of the rest. Lorena was a no nonsense woman, an accomplished parliamentarian, and likely brooked no nonsense from others. I can imagine that she would have gladly performed the first castration herself as a warning not to mess with anyone in a dress. Gano was also capable of expressing himself quite well, and loved to hunt and fish with his Inuit friends (Gano was “adopted” by an Inuit tribe when a tribal leader found Gano asleep in the sun after he fled the ship; with long blond hair he was evidently thought to be a sun god or gift from same). If his shop did not serve fish on Friday it was probably because all the other restaurants did, so why be ordinary? That was not his style. The question needs to be asked, what did his cafe serve on Friday, mountain apples and wild geese? Whatever it was, I am sure it was interesting. Gano was my grandfather Clive Lyon Senter’s brother and they both shared adventurous lifestyles, being able to recite beautiful long poems, and fully able to entertain children and adults with no notice required, as smoothly as a magician. Colorful and talented brothers. I’m proud to remember them at this time. Merry Christmas.
I lived in Gano’s house for 3 years proir to its demolition in 2005 and found the cast iron Christmas tree stand used for the tree in the pic. If anyone is interested in the tree stand, please let me know. I have hundreds of items that belonged to Gano and Laurena Senter.
Thanks – vauntmedia@gmail.com
Tracey (comment on 11/16/2010) is my daughter and Gano and Laurena Senter were my grandparents. I am named after my grandfather i.e. Gano Senter Evans. Robin (comment on 12/2/2009) will no doubt enjoy the fact that I, my two sisters, and cousin were all born in the house that where she had her son and so enjoyed.
For about 50 years, my grandmother decorated that tree (s) alone, family would bring down boxes and do support work, but she placed each of the 4-5.000 ornaments on the tree. Family members were allowed to work on the take-down project.
The tree was open to the public every night from just after Thanksgiving to early January (held open for the Denver Stock Show in January) The logistics of running 10,000 people a year through the house to get an oral presentation along with a light show in the living room were an amazing feat considering that the whole family was on call every night. We would often have people show up on our porch on Xmas morning and request to see the tree. No one was ever turned away.
As the fame grew, the Senters’ received ornaments from all over the world. Sometimes, they arrived from the post office with the only address being “Senter Christmas Tree, Denver CO.
There is, of course, a long history of what caused my grandmother to want to collect such a massive array of ornaments and have such a large Xmas tree, but that’s beside the point. It’s true that the Senters’ led an interesting and colorful life.
Thats my family. In looking for info on the tree I was directed here. Not quite sure what your intrest is? Any how, it once was a fabulous tree that many enjoyed. It was a tradition for my family. A great memory!
I was so happy to find this photo! I have been doing research on the Senters. After the Senters died in 1986 their house was sold to Gates Rubber company. I was fortunate to be able to rent their 5,ooo sq. ft. house where my son was born. Unfortunately it was torn down about 5 years ago to make room for new construction. Seeing a photo of this beautiful tree in what was my living room is amazing. Thanks for sharing and Merry Christmas!
So wait – did you see the actual tree? Or was the scrap book all she had?? I would’ve been a little miffed, myself….!
I love your site and all those incredible period pictures. How I wish I could have grown up in mid century California.
I saw this tree when I moved to Denver in the early 70s. It was in a gift shop in Englewood CO called Kathy’s Import Chalet. When I saw it the frame was made out of chicken wire and the ornaments hung or laid on it. It was all enclosed behind a glass box and smo of the ornaments were broken just because of the age.
The tree is holding up the house.
Holy COW! I LIKE it.
That is the Christmas tree to end all Christmas trees!
I read that Debbie Reynolds keeps XMAS trees – all year – in her Beverly Hills home.
Wow!!! That is quite a tree. My grandfather used to get a REAL tree too tall for his 12 foot ceiling from his cabin in Willits, California. He would cut the top off the tree and decorate it beautifully in his living room — overly decorate it, and it was stunning. The best part is, he would tell us kids that the tree grew through the ceiling, and we would run upstairs to his bedroom above the living room to see that yes, indeed, it DID!!! (He placed the top there.) Also one Christmas the best gift us kids ever got were these really weird plastic wigs, a la early 1960′s beehives. The boys and the girls ran all around wearing those goofy wig helmets. That was such a great Christmas, I wish we had pictures!!!
Agree with Tim!! Please!
OMGosh. That’s simply outrageous.
Charles-
Thanks again for another great picture and another wonderful story.
I was wondering…
You have such great pictures and I always want to see the detail—especially true with the famous Christmas tree. Is there anyway you can make the picture on your webpage link to a larger size file? I have been to sites where you click on the picture and it links to a larger size picture on another page.
Not being a tech guy, I don’t know how that complicates your site or affects your bandwidth. Still, it would be great so I thought I would throw it out there.
Or maybe I am missing out on some existing functionality on your site?
Thanks.
Love the story even more than the tree pic!
Clearly, when it comes to Christmas, too much is never enough!
That’s a looloo of a story. I would have passed out on that tour. I have an ornamental allergy.
Good Grief! Where are the branches?