Past Tense: February 12, 2015
65 years ago – 1950
By Feb. 15, the season’s total rainfall was 20 inches. Snow line was above 6,500 feet, and the weather was warm.
60 years ago – 1955
An Idyllwild Inn cabin was badly damaged in a fire. A bucket of cleaning fluid and a throw rug, left near a floor heater, ignited starting the fire.
50 years ago – 1965
The building of two miles of new streets started for a 40-acre Pine Cove subdivision that would contain 130 homes.
45 years ago – 1970
In an economy move, the local post office discontinued Saturday window service.
40 years ago – 1975
Loggers started clearing the land behind the former post office to make way for the shopping center planned along Strawberry Creek.
35 years ago – 1980
Idyllwild Fire Chief Bud Hunt volunteered to make a free inspection of any Idyllwild home to determine the proper location for a smoke detector.
30 years ago – 1985
About 30 people representing a variety of special interest groups attended a U.S. Forest Service workshop to express their views about off-highway vehicle (use in the National Forest. Among the concerns raise were the lack of OHV opportunities and the need for limiting OHVs.
20 years ago – 1995
Parents, teachers and administrators at Idyllwild School were finishing plans for a fundraising campaign to provide the school’s playground with new equipment. At the time, the playground had only one swing set.
15 years ago – 2000
Jazz legend and film star Herb Jeffries performed at a special concert held at the Tyrol Mansion in Pine Cove to benefit jazz pianist Harry Pickens who was struggling with serious health issues.
5 years ago – 2010
Saturday’s torrential rain’s final drops broke and washed out a 30- to 40-foot section of Highway 74 in the area of the Cottonwood Fire burn just as the final straw once broke the proverbial camel’s back.
1 year ago – 2014
The father of one of the victims in a 2006 triple homicide in Pinyon Pines remains unsatisfied with the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department investigation of the crime.
