Past Tense: July 19, 2018
File photo
70 years ago – 1948
Ernie Maxwell, in a demur bathing suit of the 1890s complete with black stockings, limped into third place in the Businessman’s Committee’s bearded bathing beauty contest.
65 years ago – 1953
The first thunder shower of the season left 0.35 inches of moisture and started four forest fires.
60 years ago – 1958
County supervisors urged the State Highway Commission to consider a four-lane highway from Hemet to Mountain Center.
55 years ago – 1963
Excitement ran high as 35 children and 12 chaperones prepared to leave for Europe. John Pargmann was underwriting the tour for the Idyllwild Elementary School band.
50 years ago – 1968
Dean Martin and Elke Sommer were in town filming scenes for “House of Seven Days” at the Tirol, Lake Hemet and the dump.
45 years ago – 1973
Residents of Coulter Pines trailer park appeared before the Pine Cove Water District board complaining of “pounding” water pipes. Tom Wick, district maintenance manager, said the problem was air in the pipes due to a “rinky-dink water system.”
40 years ago – 1978
In the wake of Proposition 13, County Service Area 36 faced budget cutbacks that forced suspension of the Town Hall summer recreation program.
35 years ago – 1983
The University of Southern California announced it would sever ties with the Idyllwild campus of ISOMATA after the summer session.
30 years ago – 1988
Anxious Hill residents got updates about the progress of the Chimney Fire from the new Idyllwild emergency radio station, WNKI. The blaze came within 2 miles of Idyllwild.
25 years ago – 1993
A group of Hill residents returned from Mexico after they helped people left homeless because of floods.
20 years ago – 1998
The Fort suffered vandalism. Three of the carved wooden animals were torn from the roof where they were bolted and then tossed to the ground.
15 years ago – 2003
The build-up of slash — green waste — at the Idyllwild Transfer Station was becoming a big problem and officials were in the process of hiring a contractor to grind it.
10 years ago – 2008
Idyllwild resident Mary Collier, 29, completed the 2,711-mile American Cycling Association’s Tour Divide, atop the spine of the Continental Divide, in under 30 days. Out of 17 starters, Collier was the only woman. At press time, nine, including Collier, had completed the course.
5 years ago – 2013
The Mountain Fire that burned more than 27,000 acres, destroyed numerous homes and forced the evacuation of Idyllwild started at about 1:45 p.m. Monday, July 15, on private property in Mountain Center.
1 year ago – 2017
An experienced climber, George Wu, 51, of Newport Beach, lost his life in an apparent climbing fall on Tahquitz Rock.
