Past Tense: March 25, 2021
70 years ago – 1951
Hazel Cress raised more than $60 for the Mountain Branch of the American Red Cross going door-to-door in a single-day campaign.
65 years ago – 1956
The Idyllwild Inn was growing more mountainy every minute. In addition to the Native motif, mountain-made Pinecraft furniture had been added to the lobby and a pine reservation desk, also by Pinecraft, had been installed.
60 years ago – 1961
A plaque, purchased and inscribed by local school children, was presented to Edna Price and the Idyllwild Fire Department in memory of Bill Price, Idyllwild’s first fire chief.
55 years ago – 1966
Nancy Sinatra and Peter Fonda were in Idyllwild for the filming of “All the Fallen Angels” — about the Hell’s Angels.
50 years ago – 1971
Steve Boggs, 23, of Pasadena, suffered a fractured ankle while preparing to scale Tahquitz Rock with a party of climbers. The accident occured when he fell through snow crust at the base of the giant rock.
45 years ago – 1976
A General Telephone spokesperson announced that underground phone cables would soon be installed in Idyllwild, but that a direct-dialing system would have to wait for another year or two.
40 years ago – 1981
“Wit and Humor” was the topic of the Idyllwild Literary Society meeting. Actor Richard Dysart read a short, humorous story.
35 years ago – 1986
Pine Cove resident and founder of Jazzercise Judi Sheppard Missett started Jazzercise classes on the Hill.
30 years ago – 1991
The annual outdoor Easter egg hunt was still a “go” even though the Hill was buried under almost 3 feet of snow from a series of storms.
25 years ago – 1996
Idyllwild School Middle School teacher Patty Carratello announced that a record number of “Hillbillies” — students who had attended the school from kindergarten through eighth grade — were being promoted. Nearly half of the class of 47 students had the distinction.
20 years ago – 2001
The presidents of the Pine Cove and Idyllwild water districts signed the deed to the Idyllwild-Pine Cove Community Center that transferred ownership to Riverside County for $1.
15 years ago – 2006
Dr. John Bredehoeft, hydrology consultant to the Idyllwild Environmental Conservancy and Pine Cove Water Distrct, did not have a state hydrologist license, raising a question of his recent study in this area.
10 years ago – 2011
The California Department of Public Health conducted a press conference in Sacramento to address potential health concerns raised by a run on drug stores’ stocks of potassium iodide (KI). Drug stores thoughout the state, including Idyllwild Pharmacy, were reporting depleted stocks of potassium iodide as customers rush to stock the radiation-combating pills as a precaution against spread of radioactivity from Japan’s growning nuclear crisis.
5 years ago – 2016
State Sen. Jeff Stone’s legislation was passed and renamed a portion of Highway 371 in Anza as “Special Deputy Frank Hamilton Memorial Highway.”
1 year ago – 2020
Life in Idyllwild-Pine Cove offered invaluable gifts at the start of the COVID-19 outbreak. Aside from the availability of open space, social isolation is something we know how to do.
