65 years ago – 1948

Hollywood came to Idyllwild when the Rustic Theatre presented the first showing of “One Sunday Afternoon,” starring Dennis Morgan. Morgan made an appearance at each showing.

 

60 years ago – 1953

Idyllwild Rotary became an official club. The organization had been forming for about a year.

 

55 years ago – 1958

While driving his pickup, Walter Barker dropped a cigarette. As he reached for it, his car hit a telephone pole and Barker went through the windshield.

 

50 years ago – 1963

The town was hushed as residents hovered close to radios and televisions for the latest news. President Kennedy was dead from an assassin’s bullet.

 

45 years ago – 1968

Army Specialist 5 John Januik was awarded the Bronze Star for saving lives under fire during the Tet offensive during the Vietnam war.

 

40 years ago – 1973

Despite the gasoline  crisis and two snowstorms on the Hill, about 3,000 people attended the seventh-annual Harvest Festival held Thanksgiving weekend in Town Hall.

 

35 years ago – 1978

Ernie Maxwell was working on his goal of establishing the most complete high-elevation plant nursery in California at the USC-Idyllwild campus.

 

30 years ago – 1983

A new community Christmas tree was planted in the center of town because the old tree in Eleanor Park got too big for Idyllwild Firefighters Association members to safely decorate.

 

25 years ago – 1988

A storm blew through the Hill and left the first measurable snowfall of the season.

 

20 years ago – 1993

Officials of the Hemet station of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department were recruiting participants for an Idyllwild community service patrol.

 

15 years ago – 1998

Members of the children’s choir gave it their full voices at rehearsal for the annual Idyllwild Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony, which would be held over Thanksgiving weekend.

 

10 years ago – 2003

The Idyllwild Transfer Station’s green waste disposal area was staying open seven days a week because a dangerous amount of slash was accumulating from so many trees and bushes being cut down.

 

5 years ago – 2008

The call came late Saturday morning. Within another hour, Idyllwild Fire Protection District’s four-man crew was in the midst of the Freeway Complex Fire in Corona, near Highway 91. For more than four days it closed 12 miles of the highway and burned or damaged homes in three counties.

 

1 year ago – 2012

Since discovery of the invasive and dangerous Goldspotted oak borer in Idyllwild two weeks prior, scientists and professional responders from Cal Fire and the Forest Service met to devise steps to contain the spread of the destructive beetle.