Mile-high Idyllwild, in the San Jacinto Mountains, is only about an hour’s drive from most Coachella Valley cities, yet it can seem light years away. The unique mountain community, originally established by loggers in the 1800s, still remains a charming and rustic village.
Idyllwild, at an elevation of 5,400 feet, attracts tourists and locals seeking cooler climes, as well as artists and outdoors adventurers. Adjacent to the Pacific Crest Trail, the area is a welcoming destination for hikers, rock climbers and mountain bikers.
Idyllwild was once the summer home of the Cahuilla people, who for at least 2,500 years camped there to escape the heat of the lower-elevation desert. Each summer and fall, they gathered acorns and hunted small game to bolster their winter food supplies. The Cahuilla’s grinding slabs and pictographs can still be found in the Idyllwild area. According to former Cahuilla Chief Francisco Patencio, there are numerous legends regarding the mountainous Idyllwild area.
One of the first outsiders to arrive in the area was Charles Thomas, a rancher from the Temecula area who arrived in 1861. Seeking a place for his cattle to graze in the summer, he arrived in what is now known as Garner Valley, about 10 miles south of Idyllwild. In the 1860s, other ranchers began to drive sheep and cattle into the Idyllwild area—then called Strawberry Valley. In the 1870s, logging crews arrived in the Strawberry Valley area and established sawmills. The substantial amounts of lumber produced helped supply the railroad construction going through the Coachella Valley at the time.
Early Idyllwild settlers included the Domenigoni family, who had been ranching and farming in San Jacinto since 1879, when patriarch Angelo Domenigoni emigrated from Switzerland. In the early 1880s, they homesteaded land near what is now the Idyllwild Arts Academy. The Domenigoni family has now been involved in farming and ranching in the area for at least five generations.
An early developer of Idyllwild was Michigan-born George B. Hannahs, who with his wife, Sarah, arrived in Strawberry Valley in 1889 and built a sawmill. In 1890, the Hannahs opened a tent resort next to their sawmill, just west of Strawberry Creek, and called it Camp Idylwilde. The camp was located near where the Idyllwild Monument stands in the center of town today. They charged campers nothing, but sold amenities to generate income. Those amenities included a grocery store, a bath house, a laundry facility and furnished tent cottages; later, they added a hotel and dining room with croquet and tennis courts. Their tent resort became one of the earliest permanent settlements.
George Hannahs also opened a general store in lower Strawberry Valley, near where Tollgate Road crosses Strawberry Creek today. In 1893, a post office was established there with Hannahs as the initial postmaster. The town was named Rayneta, after his son Raymond.
A road built from Hemet in the 1890s brought more settlers, more logging activity, and eventually tourists. In 1897, President Grover Cleveland established the San Jacinto Forest Reserve, which effectively ended logging in the mountains around the small settlement.
In 1901, the town’s name was changed to Idyllwild. The Hemet News of June 28, 1901, reported, “The name of Rayneta post office will be changed to Idyllwild,” adding that the post office would be located in the sanatorium. The Idyllwild post office opened on Sept. 26, 1901.
That aforementioned Idyllwild Sanatorium, built in 1901 by Dr. Walter Lindley, was an early attraction. Initially established to treat tuberculosis patients, it was remodeled as a resort called Idyllwild Among the Pines, and later just Idyllwild. After the structure burned down in 1904, it was reborn as the Idyllwild Inn in 1905, and remained for 40 years.
From the 1930s through the 1950s, one of the area’s industries was producing and marketing rustic knotty pine furniture—but with the automobile, Idyllwild became a weekend tourist attraction. For many years, the town had an alpine village look, and many of the hotels and businesses had German-sounding names—until World War II.
The Idyllwild Arts Foundation was born in 1946 when Dr. Max Krone and his wife, Beatrice, both lecturers at the USC Music Department, bought land in Idyllwild. In 1950, the school opened, and soon, about 100 students were attending summer classes in the arts.
Originally called the Idyllwild School of Music and the Arts, the foundation today offers training via the Idyllwild Arts Academy and the Idyllwild Arts Summer Program. Offering schooling in music, dance, theater, creative writing and visual arts training, the Idyllwild Arts Academy is one of the most respected residential arts high schools in the country.
In the 1930s, Sierra Club rock climbers arrived, and in 1937, members Dick Jones and Glen Dawson climbed Tahquitz Rock via the “Mechanic’s Route.” It was considered America’s most difficult climb at the time.
The large, imposing monolith Tahquitz Rock (also called Lily Rock) stands sentinel over the town. Another large stone formation, Suicide Rock, is just across Fern Valley from Idyllwild.
In the 1930s, Sierra Club rock climbers arrived, and in 1937, members Dick Jones and Glen Dawson climbed Tahquitz Rock via the “Mechanic’s Route.” It was considered America’s most difficult climb at the time. In the 1950s, the Los Angeles Chapter of the Sierra Club, using Tahquitz as a guideline, established the numerical system for gauging climbing difficulty; it became the discipline’s worldwide standard. Today, there are some 500 named routes up Tahquitz Rock and Suicide Rock.
Hollywood productions have had a presence in the area. Idyllwild, Garner Valley and nearby Lake Hemet have been used for filming since the silent film era, beginning with scenes of Cecil B. DeMille’s The Squaw Man (1914). Through the years, many Westerns were filmed in the area. In 1961 and 1962, the Elvis Presley musical Kid Galahad was filmed in the vicinity.
In the late 1960s and 1970s, an influx of hippies made their way to Idyllwild, and counterculture icon Timothy Leary lived on a ranch in Garner Valley.
Today, the unincorporated area consists of three adjacent communities—Idyllwild, Pine Cove and Fern Valley—with a total population of 4,163 as of the 2020 census. Locals take pride in keeping their community unique—and it’srefreshing to visitors who encounter no traffic lights, no chain stores, and no fast-food outlets.
During a fundraising event for Animal Rescue Friends of Idyllwild (ARF) in 2012, a golden retriever named Max was “elected” mayor of Idyllwild. Mayor Max died, but other Mayor Maxes have assumed the position; Mayor Max III has been in office since 2022.
Idyllwild is more than an escape from the heat; it’s an escape from the sameness that defines much of America.
Sources for this article include Legends and History of the San Jacinto Mountains by K.P. Frederick (1926); the Idyllwild Area Historical Society (www.idyllwildhistory.org); The San Jacintos by John W. Robinson and Bruce D. Risher (1993); Afoot & Afield: Inland Empire by David and Jennifer Money Harris (Wilderness Press, 2009); Idyllwild Town Crier; and The Hemet News.
