By David Jerome
Contributing Editor
Press Enterprise journalist and author Carl Love will be speaking and signing books at two events this week in support of the release of his third book, Our Idyllwild. He will be at the Idyllwild Library at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, July 30, and at the Rustic Theater at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, August 2. Copies of the book will be available at both events.
Love lives and works in Murietta but has a cabin in Idyllwild as well. He first came here when he was working at the Desert Sun newspaper, at the invitation of a girlfriend who was teaching dance at ISOMATA. He welcomed the escape from the July heat. He later went to work for the Press enterprise in Banning, and was then transferred to Temecula/Murrieta.
With his wife and two children, he came up for a summer weekend around 1996, and the kids asked “Can we move here?” The adults had to explain why that was “not practical,” but a seed was planted.
“My wife Joanne and I, a decade ago, got the deal of the new millennium and bought a second home there, an hour from Murrieta. It sounds weird that I, a retired teacher and freelance journalist, could afford it, but that’s also the reason I still sub.”
Love’s first attempt to write a book about Idyllwild focused on Mayor Max and the people around him, but this never quite came together. “When that didn’t happen, I found an even better idea: the entire community.”
The Prologue to the book points to the sign on Highway 243 at South Circle Drive with the badges of local organizations like the Rotary Club, the American Legion, and the Soroptimists, and highlights the motto , “Welcome to Idyllwild. Home of Adventure, Music, Art, and Harmony.”
“This is my attempt to explain the people behind that message. It’s not intended to be a history book, though I’ll address that plenty. Instead, it’s a moment in time, about 24 months of Idyllwild time spread over 2023, 2024, and 2025. The book is “Our Idyllwild” on Amazon. The last chapter is “My Idyllwild,” my story that started in the 1980s. The last line, after telling my relationship to the community, is, “What’s your Idyllwild?”
The book is based on interviews with influential locals, and looks at the changes that have come to the community. There are chapters that treat the passage of famous characters that spent time here, but most of it is about those who have made this place their home.
“This is my third book, and like the previous two, photographer Carl Kravats and designer Robbie Adkins helped. Kravats took more than 100 color pictures. He has more than 50 years of experience and has worked with many famous people, including the cast of Saturday Night Live. He has been a food photographer in Temecula for 21 years and has shot 8 cookbooks. Adkins, who lives in Murrieta with two, as she put it, “doggies,” has designed about 200 books and has won awards. She said she loves helping people like me make books.” Love and Kravats were especially impressed by their encounter with the Idyll Beast, an encounter that produced some of their favorite images.
“My other two books are I’m Not Your Friend, I’m Your Teacher, a memoir about my 22 years plus of teaching elementary school in Murrieta, and From Two Lanes to the Fast Lane, what I call the ‘greatest hits’ of my Press Enterprise columns in Temecula and Murrieta.
Author Carl Love talks about his book Our Idyllwild, 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, July 30 at the Idyllwild Library, 54401 Village Center, and 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 2 at the Rustic Theatre, 54290 N. Circle Drive. Both events are free. Reach Carl Love at carllove4@yahoo.com
