The Idyllwild Area Historical Society will host their annual Home Tour this Saturday, September 13. This is the Society’s most important fundraising event of the year, and a rare chance to tour some of Idyllwild’s most interesting homes.

IAHS President Ed Warner provided a preview of the five unique homes that will be open that day. He noted at a recent IAHS meeting that several of the properties are “expansive,” and there is even more to see than usual. Be sure to wear safe and comfortable shoes, as many of the homes include stairs and rough footing outside.

Two of the homes are the work of local architect David Lillieholm. In the first “his signature walls of windows welcome the clear sunlit days and starry nights, providing sweeping views of mountains and valleys.” The other features “a spectacular and unusual eastern view of monolithic Tahquitz Rock through windows rising 30-feet, and an oversize fireplace that still isn’t able to dwarf a beloved grandmother’s antique andirons…”

The lodge that served as a location for Elvis Presley’s Kid Galahad is also among this year’s homes. It was built in 1947, one of several attempts to build ski lodges to compete with Big Bear. It still has the original long wooden bar and dance floor. Legend has it that it served as a “speakeasy” during Idyllwild’s long post-prohibition period as a “dry” town.

Several of the homes showcase the creativity and pursuits of their occupants. One has a green house where the resident horticulturist tends rare and beautiful plants, another an entry garden of stone-fruit trees. One features rail stiles made form twisted Manzanita branches, another a “tiny” bathroom transformed by a trompe L’oeil mural. Some of the residents are art collectors, others artists themselves.

Online ticket sales are closed as of Wednesday night, September 10, and tickets are only available at the Will Call Booth next to the Harmony Monument on Village Center Drive Saturday Morning 9/13, the day of the event.