Rainpaper —The Idyllwild Town Crier has many uses, as Ernie Maxwell found out. You can read it, wrap fish in it or use it as a makeshift umbrella during an unexpected downpour. In 1983 a series of thunderstorms, caused by the downgraded Hurricane Ishmael, dropped more than 2 inches of rain on the Hill from Sunday evening to Tuesday. File photo

65 years ago – 1948
More than 100 people attended the town’s Old Time Dance.

60 years ago – 1953
An electrical storm roared through the night, starting eight fires and depositing .84 inches of rain that raised Strawberry Creek 2 feet.

55 years ago – 1958
Max and Bea Krone were collaborators on “The Together We Sing” book, just off the press.

50 years ago – 1963
Jackson Lemon of Long Beach, a retired contractor, was an Idyllwild visitor. Years before, he was the builder of the local Community Presbyterian Church.

45 years ago – 1968
The county’s Advisory Traffic Committee turned down a request by the Idyllwild Chamber of Commerce for angle parking at the Post Office and Town Hall.

40 years ago – 1973
The fire chief’s son, David Hunt, 14, got a ride to Hemet Valley Hospital in the fire department’s rescue vehicle after falling from his bicycle and breaking his shoulder.

35 years ago – 1978
The Town Crier had two foreign correspondents. Luther Weare was writing from northern Europe and Ernie Maxwell was sending reports from the Yukon.

30 years ago – 1983
Idyllwild Arts Foundation was to take over operating the Idyllwild School of Music and the Arts campus. Patricia Clark was to be the director.

25 years ago – 1988
Mike Bergstrom, a 17-year-old Idyllwild resident, spent a week as a citizen of Boys State on the California State University campus.

20 years ago – 1993
Target shooting was blamed for the 475-acre fire that started just north of the Cranston Fire Station at the upper end of Bee Canyon Road.

15 years ago – 1998
Workers repairing the ventilation system at Idyllwild School made a surprising discovery. In the crawl space below the roof were dozens of military cots, circa 1955, apparently stored for emergency situations and long forgotten.

10 years ago – 2003
Community activists cheered when Pine Cove resident Paul Black, who had been illegally selling water off his property, had his water tanks removed.

5 years ago – 2008
“Idyllwild’s pine forest could convert to chaparral,” said Anne Kelly, a University of California, Irvine researcher who, along with UCI researcher Michael Goulden, studied how climate change was affecting the area mountains with plant species moving toward higher elevations.

1 year ago – 2012
With 70 felony property crimes reported from Jan. 1 to Aug. 11 in Idyllwild and Pine Cove, concerned residents were rapidly convening to form Neighborhood Watch groups.

Similar Posts

  • Past Tense: July 31, 2014

    65 years ago – 1949 Reginald Pole, distinguished Shakespearean actor, was in Idyllwild for the summer. He was developing a cultural lecture series on the Hill. 60 years ago – 1954 A burn-the-mortgage campaign was underway to wipe out the remaining $1,500 indebtedness on Town Hall. 55 years ago – 1959 Ansel Adams, renowned photographer,…

  • Past Tense: Feb. 14, 2013

    65 years ago – 1948 Saturday was designated Idyllwild Day at the County Fair and Date Festival. Idyllwild had a booth containing a chukker partridge and a ring-necked pheasant, plus samples of Pinecraft furniture. 60 years ago – 1953 Emsy Dunn’s class, studying California history, went panning for gold in Strawberry Creek. All the students…

  • Past Tense: July 5, 2012

    60 years ago – 1952 Evie Kretsinger passed on a comment on TV: “Before the dawn of civilization, primitive man ate raw meat in dark caves and gazed at the pictographs he had painted on the walls. As man became civilized, he dined by candlelight and food became a social ritual. Now, man is right…

  • |

    Past Tense: June 16, 2016

    65 years ago – 1951 Gary Cooper was vacationing at the Idyllwild Inn. 60 years ago – 1956 “George the barber” at the Idyllwild Inn was advertising his services with the slogan, “All the latest krazy kuts, also something subdued for pops.” 55 years ago – 1961 Jon Gnagy, an artist known for giving televised…