Books, Boots and a Big Sky

BOZEMAN, an old Montana cowboy town known for long views and a vast sky, is in the throes of development, with big-box stores expanding around its perimeter. But business owners in the city's downtown are steadfastly trying to maintain the history of the area and the character of their shops.

Main Street has an atmosphere that is both homespun and hip. Lined with buildings dating from the 1890s, most have old brick facades, others have a sprinkling of Art Deco or Art Moderne details. These architecturally intact buildings house shops, restaurants, galleries and cafes.

With a large street reconstruction project now complete — new streetlights and brick crosswalks installed — a seven-block area from Grand Avenue and West Main Street to Rouse Avenue and East Main Street makes up the historical district. It is ideal for walking.

For coffee lovers, Bozeman's cafes are something of a revelation. Baristas take their steamed milk very seriously.

The staff at the brick-walled Leaf and Bean (35 West Main Street; 406-587-1580; www.leaf-bean.com) grinds espresso for each drink as it is ordered, and the aroma of chocolate and coffee mingle in the air outside the shop, luring passers-by. An extensive menu includes specialty coffee drinks, like the Big Sky Milky Way — espresso, chocolate, caramel, steamed milk and whipped cream ($3 for 12 ounces).

Across the street, Wild Joe's Organic Coffee and Tea House (18 West Main; 406-586-1212; www.wildjoescoffee.com) has vintage saddles in its windows. A creamy cappuccino ($2.25 for 12 ounces) with a lavender lemon scone makes a delicious late-morning snack.

Few independent booksellers can survive anywhere these days, yet Bozeman's Main Street has two. Country Bookshelf (28 West Main; 406-587-0166), there for 35 years, specializes in mysteries, literary fiction and cowboy poetry.

At Vargo's (6 West Main; 406-587-5383) it is easy to spend an hour lingering, while Francis Vargo, the proprietor, plays jazz CDs. In addition to a varied selection of secondhand and new books, there is a large black-and-white photography postcard collection with images from many decades ($1.50 each).

F11 Photographic Supplies (16 East Main; 406-586-3281) is worth checking out, not only for equipment (with the bonus of no state sales tax in Montana, buying there is appealing) but for the Yellowstone Park photography workshops, among other classes, listed on its Web site, www.f11photo.com. To view paintings of the West by artists like Tom Gilleon and Joe Wayne, visit Montana Trails Gallery (219 East Main; 406-586-2166; www.montanatrails.com).

Then head across the street to Carter's Boots (234 East Main; 877-585-8607; www.carterscobblershoppe.com) for custom-made boots available in 50 colors, from fuchsia or mint green leather to traditional buck tan, along with a variety of hides, toe styles and heights. Prices start at $350; turnaround time can be up to four months.

Other shops, like the Bent Lens (23 West Main; 406-586-4359), provide services that one never thinks about needing while traveling. That is, until you find, as I did, an empty eyeglass case. I was not the first. It is common for visiting fishermen to lose their glasses in the area's rivers. The choices were surprisingly sophisticated. I had new Prada frames, with prescription lenses, within 24 hours.

Plonk (29 East Main; 406-587-2170; www.plonkwine.com), a wine bar, serves lunch and dinner. On warm days, large windows open to a sidewalk terrace.

For a robust breakfast, stop at Starky's Delicatessen (229 East Main, 406-556-1111; www.starkysdeli.com), where the menu puts its own spin on a New York deli: Montana corned beef hash with a bagel and over-easy eggs, for $7.25.

Bozeman among top retirement cities

Word about Bozeman's great lifestyle is getting out today - as U.S. News & World Report publishes profiles on its 10 favorite retirement cities and Retirement Living TV readies a special segment on each.

The national magazine's report -- available on newsstands today -- lists Bozeman among the editor's top 10 favorites along with Concord, N.H.; Fayetteville, Ark.; Hillsboro, Ore.; Lawrence, Kan.; Peachtree City, Ga.; Prescott, Ariz.; San Francisco, Calif.; Smyrna, Tenn.; and Venice, Fla.

The magazine cites Bozeman's proximity to Yellowstone National Park, three fly-fishing rivers, ski areas and miles of hiking trails as popular amenities. Also listed as chief attractants are the Emerson Center for the Arts and Culture and the Museum of the Rockies.

The magazine also published the list and profiles of the cities on its Web site, www.usnews.com.

To choose the best places for retirement, the magazine started with a pool of 2,000 cities with a population of 15,000 or more, according to an explanation on its Web site. Then it applied a series of criteria including the cost of living, climate, crime rates, healthcare access, educational opportunities, and cultural and recreational amenities.

The television segment on Bozeman, by the independent cable station Retirement Living, is being produced in partnership with the U.S. News stories. Retirement Living plans to do a video profile on each of the 10 communities selected by the magazine, and was in Bozeman last week filming for the segment on this outdoor-oriented college town. An air date was not available.

Best Places to Retire: Bozeman, Montana

The people of Bozeman, Mont., don't want this story to be published. They want the writers and photographers out, and they want the media to forget that their beautiful, once little town exists. "There's the idea that 'foreigners,' as we call them, are going to destroy old-time Montana," says Connie Lord, a longtime Bozeman resident and native of the state. When Lord returned to Big Sky Country after moving away for work, she discovered a transformed city. "What happened to my sleepy little town?" she wondered.

Partners Connie Lord and Shon Wedde try out salsa steps at Wild Joe's Organic Coffee & Tea House in Bozeman.

(Kevin Horan–Aurora for USN&WR)

Bozeman—an outdoorsy sanctuary tucked within the Rocky Mountains, just 93 miles north of Yellowstone National Park—anchors Montana's fastest-growing county. Bozeman is home to Montana State University, but it has also become a mecca to vacationers and tech-industry workers, along with retirees looking for peace, quiet, culture, community, and the great outdoors.

Winters in Bozeman offer excellent skiing at the nearby glitzy Big Sky Ski Resort and local favorite Bridger Bowl Ski Area. For the warmer months, hiking trails snake through the foothills and canyons in every direction, while the Gallatin, Yellowstone, and Madison rivers, less than an hour's drive away, are teeming with avid fly fishers (fish, too).

A historic downtown boasts cafes and boutiques and serves as the venue for a seemingly endless number of art fairs and music festivals. Opportunities abound for horseback riding, and dude ranches outside town attract tourists and sometimes even locals. The university, the Emerson Center for the Arts and Culture, and the Museum of the Rockies add their own energy, culture, and academic pedigree to the scene.

For Lord, who works at the university as a research technician, life revolves around ballroom dancing and the active two-step scene in Bozeman. She meets with her partner and other dancers from all over the county several times a week to practice, a time when sprightly senior citizens can mambo with 14-year-olds.

Outsiders have found the area hard to resist, and fewer and fewer do. Bozeman has attracted plenty of wealthy retirees who gravitate toward pricey real estate on the outskirts of the city. And the influx of all those well-heeled seniors has made living in what some have jokingly renamed "Boz Angeles" nearly unaffordable. New, reasonably priced housing does exist—a three-bedroom house could go for $275,000—but for natives whose wages have not increased to match, the transformation is often startling.

Change at the Bozeman Hot Springs mirrors the town's metamorphosis. The once dingy gathering spot has recently been transformed into a ritzy spa featuring nine pools filled with hot springs water, a fitness center, and a sauna.

Yet as corners of the town are upgraded and reimagined to the chagrin of some locals, Bozeman's core appeal remains the same: a sense of community that's obvious in the city's many groups and meetups dedicated to skiing, hiking, painting, and knitting, to name a few. And as long as newcomers respect Bozeman's natural beauty and small-town feel, they're sure to feel welcome. The locals are a very nice bunch, really. Just don't tell them you're a reporter.