Arlington Hotel
Blue Jay
Mr. Stoney L. DeMent founded the Blue Jay Resort in 1934 on the old Wixom ranch and homestead site. Mr. And Mrs. DeMent purchased this twenty-two acres of land with eight cabins, and from that beginning built a modern village, which is now the shopping center for the whole Lake Arrowhead area.
One of the novel recreational facilities here is the outdoor ice rink, where thousands of vacationers skate, not only in the winter but also on the warmest summer days.
Ice Skating in Blue Jay CA
Mr. DeMent has a picture of what is now Blue Jay, taken in the mid-1880’s, showing that the old sawmill once stood where the drug store is today. At that time, the surrounding mountainsides were completely denuded of timber, which of course, has since grown back.
Snow Valley
Snow Valley, one of the best-equipped popular skiing centers in San Bernardino Mountains, is located between Running Springs and Big Bear Lake on the “Rim of the World” highway.
Large parking areas have been provided and when the snow is deep, you will find thousands of people enjoying the skiing thrills at Snow Valley. An elaborate chair lift runs up the side of Slide Peak, capable of moving over four hundred skiers per hour.
Snow Valley lies between Running Springs and Big Bear Lake CA.
Running Springs
Running Springs is located at the junction of the new City Creek highway and the “Rim of the World” drive is a natural center for vacationers. Here we find a complete business section and several hundred rental units available to mountain lovers. Rainbow Lake was washed out by the 1951-52 storms.
Running Springs, CA
Cedar Glen
Back in the 1800’s, the late John Suverkrup, pioneer San Bernardino lumberman, started a sawmill at Cedar Glen on the shores of what is now Lake Arrowhead, and hauled his lumber into the Valley with x teams. Today Cedar Glen is a modern mountain resort, with its own business center, post office, and subdivisions where hundreds of people spend their vacations. The Cedar Glen Company is owned by the late John Suverkrup’s three sons, Herbert, Edward and Frank Suverkrup.
One of the largest riding stables in the Lake Arrowhead region is near Cedar Glen.
Cedar Glen
Dr. Baylis and Pinecrest
Dr. John Nathaniel Baylis, one of the charter members of the Squirrel Inn Club, founded Pinecrest in 1904 on the grounds of the old J. B. Smithson ranch, where the waters of Lake Gregory originate.
Of the original four San Bernardino Mountain resorts in operation at that time, only Pinecrest remains. Pinecrest has often been referred to as one of the most picturesque resorts in the whole mountain area. It is located just off the “Rim of the World” highway, midway between Crestline and Lake Arrowhead.
The fabulous career of Dr. Baylis is one that may never be equaled again. For sixty-five years, he was an outstanding medical and community leader, and for fifty-seven years, physician and surgeon for the Santa Fe Railroad. Yet he found time to father the program that made the San Bernardino Mountains one of the nation’s most popular resort areas.
Because he loved the mountains, he established Pinecrest that he might share this love with others. He fought and won the battle for better mountain roads, and he gave the “Rim of the World” its name. Baylis Park and the great Baylis Oak were named in his honor. Even when eighty-seven years of age, he continued his medical practice; his one desire above all others was to die ”in the harness.” On Saturday morning of June 14, 1952, he spent two hours at his San Bernardino office. Death overtook him that evening as he stood on his front porch facing the mountains he loved so well. Only a few weeks before that, the winter storms had toppled the great Baylis Oak, which for centuries had so majestically overlooked the valley from its vantage point just below Crestline.
As the years roll by, there will be more and more memorials to Dr. John Nathaniel Baylis.
Pinecrest was between Lake Arrowhead and Crestline in the San Bernardino Mountains.
