60 years ago – 1956 Some Banning youngsters took a one-day outdoor education course at the Arts Foundation. One of them later wrote the instructor (Emax), “I enjoyed hiking with you. Your job was to make us hungry and you sure did it.” 55 years ago – 1961 Residents were grumbling as they received…
65 years ago – 1951 Building started on the new Idyllwild Motel, a 10-unit structure on Pine Crest behind La Cantina. 60 years ago – 1956 An Arabian horse show climaxed Palm Springs’ Western Week. Mary Nelson of Idyllwild was chair of the show, with Claire Woodmouse assisting. 55 years ago – 1961 The Alandale…
70 years ago – 1946 Ernie and Betty Maxwell founded the Town Crier in the attic of their home using a mimeograph and handwritten headlines. 60 years ago – 1956 Max and Bee Krone were featured in “The Instructor,” a teacher’s magazine. A section of their song arrangements appeared in several issues. 55 years ago…
60 years ago – 1956 The Town Crier threw a 10th-anniversary potluck celebration at Town Hall. Everyone was invited to come and “talk over old times and swap yarns about our beginnings on the Hill.” 55 years ago – 1961 The Town Crier reported it had been, “the driest year on record” and as a…
60 years ago – 1956 Hill Republicans and Independent voters turned out 134 strong to the Dwight Eisenhower birthday party at the Hillbilly Lodge. Featured speaker was Loyd Wright Sr., president of the American Bar Association. 55 years ago – 1961 The Tahquitz Lake Golf Club opened to capacity business. 50 years ago – 1966…
55 years ago – 1961 Bonnar Blong, local game manager, reported the extreme drought had caused a drastic drop in the number of coyotes, bobcats and lions in the local mountains. 50 years ago – 1966 U.S. Air Force Major Robert Krone was decorated with two awards of the Distinguished Flying Cross for action in…
60 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. 55 years ago – 1961…
60 years ago – 1956 Local Forest Service firefighters had a harrowing close call as they fought a 10,500-acre inferno after a jet crashed in the San Bernardino Mountains. A crew, trapped on a ridge as the fire roared from three sides, laid down in a ditch and sweated it out as searing flames leaped…
60 years ago – 1956 Nearly 400 county educators, administrators and groups concerned with education held an all-day meeting on the campus of the Arts Foundation (now Idyllwild Arts). 55 years ago – 1961 Idyllwild’s reputation as a creative center got a boost from a new art factory. Idyllwild resident and artist Jon Gnagy, with…
60 years ago – 1956 As summer was drawing to a close, many Idyllwild businesses went on a winter schedule, including the Town Crier, which published every two weeks in the winter. 55 years ago – 1961 Drought conditions, which led to an infestation of destructive insects, were causing trees to die at an alarming…
