Business Changes

Openings, closings, movers and shakers, changes of all sorts in Idyllwild’s business community can be found here …

New Café Aroma owners bring wealth of background
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New Café Aroma owners bring wealth of background

This week the Crier sat down with the new owners of Café Aroma, Eric and Adrienne Edmunds. The couple take over the storied “Café, Bistro and Social Club” from Erica and Stewart Klair, who made a lot of friends in their brief tour of duty here, and, like Aroma’s many guests, the Edmunds have only…

Art Department offers much — for nonartists, too
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Art Department offers much — for nonartists, too

This week, the Crier met Marla Sparks, proprietor of Art Department, which shares with Mountain Pottery the newly remodeled building at the corner of Pine Crest Avenue and Maranatha Drive, one of local developer Shane Stewart’s projects. Together, the two businesses make up a “creative corner” where locals and visitors alike will find the unexpected,…

From science teacher to potter, Helen Hixon at Mountain Pottery
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From science teacher to potter, Helen Hixon at Mountain Pottery

Helen Hixon is the proprietor of Mountain Pottery. Locals may have noticed that the shop and studio moved from upper North Circle to the newly refurbished building next to Forest Lumber and Idyllwild Laundry Service in May of last year. Hixon seems happy in her new surroundings: “I loved the old space with its forest…

Panchals are new owners of Silver Pines Lodge
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Panchals are new owners of Silver Pines Lodge

This Monday, the new owners of Silver Pines Lodge held a ribbon cutting with the help of Idyllwild Rotary and a special appearance by former owner Chris Perault. Anjali and Rajiv Panchal, or “Raj and Anji” as Idyllwilders have come to know them, created a festive atmosphere combining traditional fall colors with hints of Diwali,…

Bike rental business pops up next to monument
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Bike rental business pops up next to monument

Dominique Valenzuela is co-owner, with her fiáncé Kevin Hernandez, of Wild Rides, also known as Idy Wild Rides. They have a small office downtown just north of Harmony Monument where they rent electric bicycles and have been doing a lot of that in the few weeks they have been operating. TC: “When did you open?”…

Meet the new owners at the Fork and Spoon
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Meet the new owners at the Fork and Spoon

Locals may have noticed some changes around the Mountain Center Cafe, now known as the Fork and Spoon. This is the work of new owners Jerri Anne Miller and Brad O’Donahue. They are taking over from Martha Pearson, who is moving on to other projects. When you enter the restaurant, the front room has been…

PNC responds to local customer concerns

David Jerome Correspondent Local banking customers know the bank has changed ownership from BBVA Compass to PNC. Last October, at the beginning of this transition, a slew of newspapers, especially in Texas and Arizona, reported retail and business customers being locked out of their accounts, or being unable to find them. Some Idyllwild customers experienced…

Idyllwild Town Crier celebrates 75 years of continuous publication
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Idyllwild Town Crier celebrates 75 years of continuous publication

The Idyllwild Town Crier has been serving the San Jacinto Mountains (“the Hill”) continuously for 75 years — since its first issue was published on Nov. 1, 1946. Ernie and Betty Maxwell founded the paper in the attic of their home, using a typewriter and a table-top mimeograph machine. The first issue, pictured here, was…