Past Tense: October 7, 2021

65 years ago – 1956
The Riverside County Board of Supervisors denied two liquor license applications from Idyllwild businessmen who sought to break the barrier against sales of alcoholic beverages on the Hill. It was not the first time the supervisors had denied a liquor license to a Hill business.

60 years ago – 1961
Local folk were all shook up at the announcement that a film starring Elvis Presley would be made in Idyllwild. “Kid Galahad” crews would arrive in just a few weeks, using the Idyllwild Inn for their headquarters.
55 years ago – 1966
The Rustic Theatre was showing “Wild Angels” starring Peter Fonda and Nancy Sinatra.

50 years ago – 1971
The California Scenic Highway Advisory Committee approved most of Highway 74 as a state scenic highway. Final approval would still be needed by the state Department of Public Works.

45 years ago – 1976
Dedication services and an open house for the newly completed Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses on Pine Crest Avenue were held. Members of the congregation built the structure over a four-month period.

40 years ago – 1981
Hillcrest Market in Strawberry Creek Square advertised food at the following prices: A pound of MJB Coffee for $1.89, a pound of carrots for 15 cents, a pound of avocados for 25 cents and 10 pounds of potatoes for 89 cents.
35 years ago – 1986
Construction began on a replacement building for the U.S. Forest Service Keenwild Guard Station that was destroyed by fire in June 1985. It was suspected that the fire was caused by arson, but no final determination was reached.

30 years ago – 1991
A favorite Idyllwild restaurant, Chef in the Forest, closed down when owner Kitty Thomas, 71, put out a sign that said it all — “Gone Fishin’ … Indefinitely!” Thomas’ first restaurant in Idyllwild was the Alpine Pantry, which she purchased in 1963.

25 years ago – 1996
Help Center volunteers embarked on a project to honor one of the nonprofit organization’s founders, the late Jack Sarvela, by planting a memorial rose garden and making benches for it.

20 years ago – 2001
Construction of the new gymnasium at Idyllwild School was coming along.
15 years ago – 2006
Nearly 80 alums of HiLo, an alternative high school created in the early 1970s, gathered for a reunion at the Rainbow Inn.

10 years ago – 2011
A four-man Riverside Mountain Rescue Unit team headed by locals Lee Arnson and Chad Marler fought their way down steep terrain and rugged brush to rescue a first-time deer hunter who had become stranded in the Rouse Ridge area near Anza on Saturday, Oct. 1.

5 years ago – 2016
Alarmed at the occurrence of hundreds of earthquakes the prior week, only three greater than 4.0 in magnitude near the Salton Sea, state and federal geologists and seismologists issued a warning of an increased possibility of a bigger quake on the San Andreas Fault.

1 year ago – 2020
Miss Sunshine’s Container & Shipping Supplies opened its doors. The expansion of Miss Sunshine’s General Store was located at the former Idyllwild Town Crier office on North Circle Drive.