Past Tense: April 4, 2013
Chess and bridge were favorite features of evenings at Idyllwild Inn.
60 years ago – 1953
Nearly 30 members had signed up for the newly organized Rifle and Pistol Club sponsored by the American Legion Post 800.
55 years ago – 1958
The Sikkings were about to open their new shop called The Grey Squirrel, featuring ceramics made in their studio.
50 years ago – 1963
The biggest social event of the season was the opening of the Tirol Restaurant. Two hundred guests were present for the event.
45 years ago – 1968
Idyllwild real estate brokers agreed not to post “For Sale” signs on property they were handling.
40 years ago – 1973
The Fern Valley Corners Restaurant offered a breakfast of three buttermilk hotcakes and two eggs for 69 cents.
35 years ago – 1978
Traces of bubonic plague were found in the Dark Canyon campground. The area was quarantined by U.S. Department of Health officials while animal burrows were treated with pesticides to kill infected fleas.
30 years ago – 1983
The Easter Bunny would be the grand marshal of the Idyllwild Easter Parade sponsored by the Idyllwild Chamber of Commerce.
25 years ago – 1988
An unusually warm and dry winter prompted fire officials to open fire season 45 days early.
20 years ago – 1993
A snowstorm interrupted work on the Strawberry Creek Bridge replacement project.
15 years ago – 1998
Two Riverside Mountain Rescue Unit (RMRU) members, Lee Arnson and Bob Baker, were awarded the Medal of Valor for bravery and heroism by the San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department. They had risked their lives to save another rescue worker who had been severely injured after falling 1,000 feet down a steep, icy slope.
10 years ago – 2003
Town Crier columnist Bill Lumsden was memorialized in a new book. A collection of his essays and other works was released in a book titled “Natura Doceri.” Proceeds from the sale of it would go to the Idyllwild Scholarship Fund.
5 years ago – 2008
Policy changes by national insurer Allstate were causing some problems for local homeowners.
1 year ago – 2012
A sheriff’s raid at a home on Highway 243 near Idyllwild School netted two drug related arrests.
