Idyllwild and the High San Jacintos

by Robert B. Smith, Idyllwild Area Historical Society

Overview

Southern California's hidden treasure lies in the San Jacinto Mountains. Capped by the last 10,000-foot peaks on the way to Mexico, these mountains have enriched human lives for centuries. Discovered by loggers in 1876, partially stripped of their trees during California's first population boom in the 1880s, then protected by federal edict in 1897, these mountains attracted a special breed of settler. The uncommon village of Idyllwild was created by common people who were enchanted by the surrounding forest wilderness. Isolated here, high above the chaos of modern life, they have preserved a vestige of mid-20th-century small-town America in the woods. This collection of around 200 previously unpublished photographs, including stunning images by the gifted photographers Avery Field and Harry Wendelken, offers glimpses of the paths along which village and wilderness have shaped each other.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780738559858
Publisher:	Arcadia Publishing SC
Publication date:	04/20/2009
Series:	Images of America Series
Pages:	128
Sales rank:	1,055,684
Product dimensions:	8.92(w) x 6.30(h) x 0.48(d)

About the Author

Robert B. Smith has forged a deep connection with the high San Jacintos over the past 70 summers. Retired from an academic career, he moved to Idyllwild in 2001 and serves on the Idyllwild Area Historical Society's board of directors. With a unique background as scientist, administrator, nature writer, newspaper columnist, and amateur historian, he has mined chiefly the historical society's archive to create this book.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments 6

Introduction 7

1 Resource: The Mountains Exploited 9

2 Reserve: The Mountains Preserved 17

3 Resort: The Mountains Rediscovered 39

4 Residence: The Village Emerges 61

5 Refuge: Beyond the Village 97

6 Renaissance: The Village Evolves 111

About the Idyllwild Area Historical Society 127

Editorial Reviews

Title: Idyllwild Arts Featured in New Idyllwild Book
Author: Staff Writer
Publisher: Idyllwild Arts Foundation
Date: Spring 2009

The early days of Idyllwild Arts Academy, known as ISOMATA then, are among some 218 photos in the Idyllwild Historical Society's new book, "Idyllwild and the High San Jacintos," by local writer and Associates member Bob Smith. This collection of previously unpublished photographs from 1880 to 1960 has several pages of very early photos of our Idyllwild Arts Academy.

"An Afternoon of Vintage Idyllwild" was held at the Rustic Theatre on Friday, May 1st. The afternoon included rare restored photos of 1920s Idyllwild, a special preview of the new book, book signing by the author, and Erich von Stroheim's 1919 film "Blind Husbands," a silent film-melodrama shot in Idyllwild with some hair-raising shots of Lily Rock. This was von Stroheim's first film, and it made his career as actor, director, and producer.

Among the photos: ISOMATA'S opening day in summer 1950, with Lora Steere's outdoor sculpting class. Others depicted: Max Krone; composer Meredith Wilson, who wrote much of "The Music Man" on our campus, and choral conductor Roger Wagner with board member Ernie Maxwell, and an astonishing photo of photographer Alfred Eisenstadt photographing Ansel Adams! Also, Bella Lewitzky, Harry Sternberg, and a young Michael Tilson Thomas as clarinetist in the Idyllwild Youth Orchestra.

From the Publisher