Grandpa, tell me about the rain!

    In the middle of a lingering drought, when it seems it may never rain again, I thought I'd tell a few stories about the times we had more rain and snow than we could handle.
     When we first started coming to PMC 40+ years ago, California (at least the southern half of California) was in the middle of a "dry spell" -- not really a drought, but significantly less rainfall than average. The overall precipitation for the whole region had been below average for a time, but the greater Frazier Park/Pine Mountain Club area got enough snow and rainfall to keep the lakes and ponds near full year-round, and the creeks and streams running all year as well. The small lake in Cuddy Valley always had plenty of water in it; Cuddy Creek ran all year from Lake of the Woods through Frazier Park and Lebec, all the way to Castac (now Tejon) Lake, which rarely ran dry, even in late summer--without supplements from the California Water Project. Bernina and Woodland Creeks ran full enough to make a white-water waterfall at the bottom of Woodland Drive at Mil Potrero Highway. The pinion pines from the top of the S-curves all the way to the "Y' had long strands of Spanish moss on their north-facing sides. Water flowed on the west side of Lampkin Park, and the area where the new Fire Station is was a swamp. The creek flowed under Mil Potrero Highway into the upper pond on the golf course, out to the second pond, and into Fern's Lake. The creek flowed over the dam, and then spread out into the lower pasture, much of which was like a grassy bog. By the time the creek passed the gate at the entrance to the canyon trail, it was usually too big (wide) to jump across without getting wet (except in the latest months of summer.) The area to the north of Mil Potrero Highway at the turnout past Yellowstone that is now a grassy area used to be a swamp, as well.
     But the winters even then were far from "wet". Most of the precipitation came in the form of snow, and usually in one or two big storms. In March, 1974, we got 4-5 feet of snow in 36 hours (at the Clubhouse elevation), and in January 1976, we got 6+ feet in 48 hours. It snowed all the way down to Castaic and Wheeler Ridge on I-5. The Interstate was closed for four days. Cuddy Valley Road was snowed over at Lake of the Woods (by Mike's Pizza), with drifts higher than a jacked-up 4x4. Three guys in their trucks almost froze to death when they ran into the wall of snow and got stuck. It was a white-out, and they tried to keep warm in their stalled trucks, not being able to see the occupied homes just a few yards away.
     County Roads Department was able to make Cuddy Valley Rd. passable after 4 days by requisitioning a snow-blower from eastern Kern County. After that storm, the weather got extremely dry for several months, well into 1977. The climatologists predicted a long-lasting, cold, period of drought, that could last as long as twenty years or more. (!) The "New Ice-Age" they called it. (!)
     This is why so many of us old-timers ☺ scoff at "climate-change" or whatever. After the weather gurus had predicted an extended period of drought, in October, 1977, a new weather phenomenon reared it's infantile head: :EL NIÑO !!!  It rained, and RAINED, and R-A-I-N-E-D. Over 12 inches in two and a half days (at 5500 feet), then a few days with showers, then more storms--for weeks. The creeks flooded, the highways had mud slides and rock slides. San Emigdio Creek flooded the canyon almost wall-to-wall, and the ensuing rush of water washed out Highway 166 west of Interstate 5- miles and miles to the north. By Spring, the water (mostly from the Kern River) had flooded all the fields east of Highway 99 almost to Mettler. At that time, you could have taken a small boat from Sandrini Road north and sailed through to the remains of Tulare Lake, and on to the San Joaquin River out to the San Francisco Bay!
     In the middle of this first El Niño, in December, 1977, a terrible windstorm struck Kern County. A cold, dry East wind blew down off the desert, trying to fill a huge low-pressure cell off the western coast. Gathering speed and tons of dust as it headed west, in places it topped 200 miles-per-hour as it crossed the hills at the base of the Grapevine, stripping the topsoil from the northeast faces of the hills. (If you look at the hillsides near the top of the hills on both sides of the highway just before you get to Grapevine going south, you can still see the lateral streaks on the land where the soil was stripped away). The choking dust trapped many drivers in their vehicles on the Interstate, and on the highways to the west towards Maricopa--some for almost two days. The dust choked the engines and stopped the cars and trucks in their tracks. To my knowledge, no one died, but in the aftermath of the windstorm, more El Niño rain caused the barren hillsides to turn to mudflows, and a woman driving on the freeway was swept to her death as her car was trapped in a huge mudflow and crammed into a huge drainpipe. (The vertical gullies from those flows are also still visible today on those same hillsides, and in the lower parts of Grapevine Canyon.)
      The rainy weather had another effect that winter-- it didn't snow--or at least it didn't stick-- in and around PMC. What snow fell was so wet that it melted right away. There was a small accumulation of snow on the very highest streets, but hardly enough to require a snowplow. On top of the mountain was a different story: more than 26 FEET of snow accumulated on the upper slopes of Mount Pinos, Sawmill Mountain, and Cerro Noroeste.
      El Niño-type weather patterns occurred in the early eighties and again in the early nineties, with similar results--flooding, mud/rock slides, downed trees, etc. Frazier Park and Lake of the Woods had to shore up the banks of Cuddy Creek through those communities with the use of "gabions" --large rocks enclosed in heavy wire cages that held them in place against the flowing water. Otherwise, the rushing water would so undermine the creek banks causing their collapse, and the structures above would end up in the creek. (some did). The remaining gabions can be seen at the edge of the creek, on the north side, just after crossing the most western bridge in Frazier Park. Cuddy Creek has been dry for so long, it's hard to believe that that much water ever flowed there. For a perspective on extreme rainfall and streamflows: Piru Creek, which drains some of the area directly to the south of PMC, on the south side of  Mt. Pinos (primarily Lockwood Valley), has some historical streamflow data available (1938 to 1969). In 1969, which was a wet year, but not near as wet as 1977-78, the peak stream flow of Piru Creek was over 35,000 cubic feet per second. That's about 262 thousand gallons per second.
     When will the next wet period happen? If I knew, I'd say so. The climatologists were predicting an El Niño for this winter-- In May, they gave it better than a 70% chance. The last I looked, the chance was under 50 % (a weak bet at best), so time will tell. Historically, 20- and even 50-year droughts were not unheard-of in this region. (Let's hope not.)
     We could always ask the Chumash to do a traditional rain dance. I've been told it was always 100% effective--- they didn't stop dancing until it rained.☺
     

Famous? or Infamous?

    Having lived in PMC for almost 40 years, and having been in business here for almost that long, you meet an awful lot of people. All of them are unique in their own way, and most (but not all, unfortunately) are interesting characters for a whole encyclopedia of reasons. That said, the one question about people that I get asked the most by other people is something like:
"I've heard there are a lot of "celebrities" (my quotes) who come up here--do you know of any??"
     Short answer: Well, yes.
     This area has been known to Hollywood/show business types for many years--many years before PMC was even a gleam in Tenneco's jaundiced eye.
The Lebec Hotel was a notorious hangout just after the turn of the last century for the likes of Rudolf Valentino and other silent film stars, and Frazier Park and Lockwood Valley were chosen as "getaway" places to stay for many people in the movie industry (both in-front-of and behind the camera). The Palm Springs area enjoyed the same popularity--for a time, the studios required their stars under contract to stay within a couple of hours' travel time of their workplace so they could start work on very short notice. The open spaces of this area made excellent locations for movies, and later TV shows (still do), and many people in the "industry" visited here on location, and then came back to vacation, and ultimately buy a piece of property (cheap!). Oscar-winning screenwriter Dalton Trumbo (Spartacus, Roman Holiday) owned a beautiful large ranch in Lockwood Valley for many, many years, until he was forced to sell it to pay his legal bills when he was investigated by Senator Joe McCarthy as one of the "Hollywood Ten". John Schneider (Dukes of Hazard), Lance LeGault (a ton of westerns), and John Doe (Roadhouse) were long-time residents of the Frazier Park/Lake of the Woods area.
      But for PMC it was a whole other story. For a time it seemed like most of the people here were involved with movies/TV/entertainment. We affectionately referred to them as "ST's" (Studio Trash). From grips and electricians, props people, costumers, directors, producers, film and video editors, stunt people, agents, publicists, business managers, singers, musicians, dancers, and many well-known stars --they were here--some as permanent residents, most when their work-schedules allowed.
     From about 1980 until 2004, we had a video store inside the Auto Center. (People in the entertainment industry are the BEST video and DVD customers!)
It seemed they ALL came by to rent movies when they had time off to spend in PMC. And some just came in for repairs, or to buy gas, and catch up on local happenings. I'll never remember them all-- but I'll take a shot at it.
    If some of the names are unfamiliar, just check www.imdb.com . This is in no particular order, but just one memory prompting yet another. Many of these people have their own story for me to tell, but that will have to wait for another time, when I have more time, and space to write.
     Dom DeLuise (& Carol, Michael, Peter, and David), Ray Wise, Rod & Charlene Amateau, Gino Vannelli, Mel Brooks & Anne Bancroft, Janis Paige, Talia Shire, Belinda Montgomery, Diane McBain, Parker Stevenson, Gene LeBell, Sia and Shane Barbi & Ken Wahl, Perry King, Heather Locklear & Scott Baio, Nina Simone, Spencer Milligan, Britt Leach, Roy Dotrice, Patrick Macnee, Frankie Valli, William Lucking, Dennis Howard, John R. Moore, Julianna (McCarthy) Constantine, Larry David, Richard Lewis, Lindsay Frost, Warren Frost, Perry Barndt, Kurt Bryant, Val McCallum, Christopher Walken, Rick Dees, Wink Martindale, Dave (the Hullabalooer) Hull, Julie Newmar, June Lockhart, Clayton (the Lone Ranger) Moore, Wally (NHRA) Parks, Thomas Ian Nicholas, John Behring, Joe Higgins, Jamie Farr, Nora Ephron, Delia Ephron, Dylan (Charlie) Walsh, Ritch Brinkley, Chuck McCann, Red Buttons, Georgia Holt, Kathleen Lloyd, Charles Martin Smith, Molly Hagan, Burt Reynolds & Loni Anderson, and I'm sure many more I'll remember after I post this!




     

The 800-Pound Gorilla (Part II)

     Some of the grandest mistakes made by past Boards and management were funny (maybe not at the time, but in hindsight), and some were almost tragic.
      A former manager made a deal to sell a quantity of decomposed granite from what was a small quarry behind the Maintenance Yard (past where the transfer station (trash) is now). The contractor re-engineering, re-aligning, and paving the section of Mil Potrero Highway from Cedarwood Drive west to the intersection of Cerro Noroeste (Mt. Abel) Road needed the decomposed granite (DG) as a suitable base for the roadway. PMCPOA was paid a reasonable sum for the material, but no one in management seemed to realize HOW MUCH DG they (the road contractors) really needed. The result was the huge pit behind the Maintenance Yard (past the #4 green on the golf course). Many homes on the south slope of PMC have a spectacular view of that pit (scar). PMCPOA has spent thousands and thousands of dollars (much more than they were paid for the DG) to try to get something to grow in that steep slope, even Hydro-seeding it at least twice, but to no avail. It's just dirt.
     Over the years, the Clubhouse has been "remodeled" and expanded several times. (The original structure was just the Condor Room space, plus about 40% of the Lounge space; downstairs was just a small snack bar and a storage room). During one of the more extensive expansions, it was decided to use "in-house talent" instead of licensed tradesmen to do the plumbing and electrical work (ostensibly to save money). Consequently, one night the Clubhouse caught fire, and only because it was discovered soon enough, it didn't burn to the ground. Luckily, insurance paid for the damages, and no one was hurt. Faulty electrical work was the reported cause.
      I got a call one New Year's Eve afternoon from the then-GM, Mike Duffy. He said the electrical outlets behind the bar in the Lounge had stopped working, all the maintenance guys had gone home (holiday) and they needed the bar working 100% for the New Year's Eve party that night. (Note: I am neither an electrician nor a plumber). Under the bar, I found the sink drain was cobbled together with a piece of radiator hose and a coat-hanger, and it was leaking into an open electrical junction box. I asked where the electrical panel was to shut off the power, went to it (down stairs), and shut off all the breakers. A couple of circuits behind the bar were still on. I found another panel a couple of rooms away, and shut all those breakers off, too. Now, all the circuits were dead. I went back to the first panel to turn it back on, so the rest of the building would have power back, and the circuits were live again (!!) The bar outlets and lights were being powered by two sources. A real electrician was called, and as far as I know, that mess was fixed. Don't even ask about the plumbing problems in that building!
     ****
     Anyone who has been to the Transfer Site (trash dump) can see that it's neat, well-kept, and rarely smells bad. That hasn't always been the case. That same area used to have 15 or 20 regular "dumpsters" -- the dirty, smelly, banged-up boxes with the  metal lids that banged--that would smash your fingers if you weren't careful. Each business in the Village had its own dumpster or two, as well. Southside Disposal Company would come once (or twice) a week, and dump each bin individually. The PMC Board of Directors at that time decided that Southside was charging too much for their services, and also decided that PMC could collect and haul its own trash for "much less". (file under "Best-Laid Plans). A used trash-hauling truck was purchased (thousands $$$), and two or three "roll-off" bins (big huge bins) were also purchased (more thousands $$$). Southside was notified by PMC management that their services were no longer needed. Southside promptly came up and hauled all their dumpsters away---including the dozen or so that were being used by the Pine Mountain General Store, 3 restaurants, and a few other businesses. Immediately, the Kern County Health Department notified the General Store and the restaurants that they were in violation of their Health Permits which required those types of business to have a dumpster (trash bin) immediately adjacent to their business (food waste, which couldn't be stored inside the business, also couldn't be placed in small cans or bags--it had to be in a proper trash bin -- on the premises.) Southside was contacted, asking why they removed ALL the dumpsters, not just those being used by Pine Mountain Club. Their reply was that the remaining number was too few to make a trip with the big truck that had the equipment necessary to dump the bins into itself. They WOULD bring up two of the BIG roll-off bins and put them at two locations in the Village. One was placed in the alley behind what is now La Lena Mexican Restaurant, and on was placed in the open area across from what is now Pine Mountain Realty. (where the cut-out figures are). The Health Department was persuaded to consider those locations as "on premises" for the General Store and the other restaurants. BUT (BIG BUT), the roll-offs cost $120 each to dump (they had to be loaded, hauled to the Lebec dump, emptied, and hauled back to PMC). Southside had only charged $7.00 a month (each) to empty the dumpsters. Because they were so big and obvious (and ugly), many people decided to skip the trip to the PMC dump, and dumped their household trash (and construction waste) in the Village bins. Then, warm weather brought the flies---and the smell...
     The situation seemed to be getting worse (and exceedingly more expen$ive) by the week, but an ultimate solution soon appeared seemingly out of nowhere. In their rush to "save the Association money", the Board (and management) had neglected to check the county regulations regarding franchises. In Kern County, and most other counties in California, certian businesses (like utilities) are granted franchises for certain areas, and they are the only ones allowed to conduct that business in a particular area. In Kern County, examples of this are cable companies, ambulance service, and trash hauling. Southside had an exclusive franchise to haul the trash ("garbage") in this part of Kern County. Pine Mountain Club didn't, and was violating the franchise rule, and so Southside sued. After lenghthy negotiations (lawyer$$), a plan was hammered out whereby PMC would provide a "Transfer Site", where the trash would be collected, and a portion of it recycled. Trash compactors were installed to compact the trash into special bins which Southside --now becoming "Mountainside Disposal"-- would haul to the Lebec dump to be emptied. Recycling of cardboard, glass, and plastic was required.  Kern County Health Department would allow the restaurants in the Village to take their trash to the Transfer Site, as long as it was not allowed to accumulate at the business, and they would be in compliance with the Health regulations. The PMCPOA trash truck and roll-off bins were sold (at a loss). I'm proud to admit that I helped to bring this particular happy ending to yet another "big, bad idea".

The 800-Pound Gorilla

     As mentioned before, the original developer of PMC was Tenneco. Once a particular number of properties were sold, Tenneco exited and turned the project over to the Pine Mountain Club Property Owners Association (PMCPOA). This process was all guided by the original Codes, Covenants and Restrictions (CC&R's) that Tenneco recorded when the project was begun. 
     Unfortunately, the new Association didn't come with an Owner's Manual.  (The Davis-Stirling Act, which laid down the rules and regulations for Common Interest Developments like Pine Mountain Club, didn't exist until 1985.). So, the foundations for the fledgling community were put in place by generally well-intentioned (not always!) but woefully uninformed and unprepared amateurs. The original CC&R's and Bylaws were lifted from State of California statutes and had no editing to make them fit the current or future needs of a year-round community. (Documents produced like this are often referred to as "boilerplate".) Governing documents prepared this way are always ambiguous because the regulations are designed to cover many different situations throughout the State. This ambiguity would prove to be very troublesome (and expensive) for Pine Mountain Club in the comimg years. 
     The first few years of the Association (PMCPOA) weren't too difficult-- the Board of Directors and General Managers hired by them basically winged it. Problems were small because there weren't a lot of people to deal with. Very few homes, hardly any permanent residents, (when we moved here permanently in 1976, there were 79 permanent residents!) the streets and signs, the stables, golf course and clubhouse were all brand new. The position of General Manager was a fairly low-responsibility, low-paying job--one of the main qualifications was a willingness to move yourself (and accompanying family usually) to 60 miles from nowhere. Realistically, it takes a while to really learn the ropes of a million-dollar-plus organization, certainly a year or more. During the first 3 decades of PMC's existence, the average tenure of a General Manager was about 18 months! So much for long-range planning.
     One early GM went around to all the PMC facilities and put padlocks on all the cabinets and storage areas. Everything had locks, and he had the only keys. Turned out he was stealing the Association blind---he just wanted to make sure nobody stole anything but him! Another managed to build a new house and let the Association foot a large portion of the bill for the materials, AND used Association employees to do some of the construction work. Another GM took it upon himself to enforce the Environmental rules himself: a property owner painted his house an "unapproved" color, and balked at changing it. The GM suspended his "Member" privileges (and those of his family) as a "penalty" for violating the CC&R's. When the member's little daughter wanted to go to the Brownie meeting at the Clubhouse, the GM refused to let her go in, because they (her family) were members "not-in-good-standing".
The settlement of THAT lawsuit cost us over 100,000 dollars. (to be continued)

What's In a Name?

     Many places and streets in PMC bear personal, as opposed to generic, names. You may ask "where did those names come from?" or "who were those people that these places were named for, or after?" I don't think I know ALL the sources for ALL the names, but here's what I know (or at least remember).
      The street names throughout PMC were chosen by the developer, Tenneco. Most of the names reflect the alpine or resort flavor that Tenneco was trying to sell. Obviously, they didn't have spell-check then, so there were (and are) some glaring errors: the signs for "Arctic Drive" were spelled "Artic" for many years. And of course "San Moritz" was spelled phonetically, instead of the correct "St. Moritz" (it's still that way!)
     Some main streets were given personal names, after Tenneco CEO's, or other VIP at the company. Thus we have Freeman Drive, Symonds Drive, and Askin Drive. Some of the lanes and access roads were given personal names, too, like Schroeder Place, (after Warren Schroeder, an early perennial Chairman of the POA Board), and Gotthard Place----I don't know WHERE this name came from, but knowing some of the antics that went on near there, it may not refer to a person.;--).
      Fern's Lake was named for Fern (Fernan) Olivier, who championed the cause of cleaning up what was known as the Lower Lake prior to his death. Lampkin Park was named for Larry Lampkin, one of the first team of salespeople who worked selling PMC property for Tenneco. Larry carried a longtime Pine Mountain tradition of serious partying a little too far, and expired at a young age at the Caravan Inn in Gorman.
      The streets in the Village all have names, too. Originally, the buildings in the Village all had addresses of either Mil Potrero Highway, or Askin Drive, but years ago, the KC Fire Department required that all streets and lanes and access roads in PMC had to have individual and distinctive names, so names were chosen. (If you don't like them, blame me). However, some building and business owners never got that memo, so some businesses still have Askin Drive or Mil Potrero addresses listed, even though the building is on Pine Valley Lane, etc.
     Prior to this change, many of the lanes and access roads throughout PMC had names that referred back to the street they connected to-- so you had Woodland Lane, Woodland Place, Woodland Court, etc. You can't blame the Fire Department for requiring a change.
      Symonds Drive had similar related names. Two of those were changed to "Ebony" and "Ivory". "Why such an odd choice?" you may ask. Someday I'll tell you. (I guess, in retrospect, it's not a lot "odder" than "Sand" and "Gravel" !
Part II    
  Then there's "Mil Potrero" Highway. I don't what's more difficult: spelling it, pronouncing it correctly, or trying to get someone on the phone to spell it correctly so you'll get your delivery on time (maybe!).
        I've seen many places that "Mil Potrero" translates to "thousand meadows (or pastures)" or whatever. It doesn't "translate" to anything, because it's not real Spanish. Correct Spanish would be "Mil Potreros" (plural) not "Potrero" (singular). But the "Mil" was really "Mill" from the "Mill Potrero"-- so named by the Sneddens-- early settlers of this area, who had a cattle ranch in Lockwood Valley, and used the meadow where PMC Golf Course is now to feed their stock in the summer, because it was cooler than the lower elevations. "Mill" referred to the sawmill that existed at the time (Sawmill Mountain took the name as well), and "Potrero" was taken from the Mexican vaqueros who used the word referring to a pasture-like meadow or field.
      Mount Pinos is from the Spanish for pine (pino), prounounced "pee-no", the plural being "pee-nos". There is no tilde above the "n" in Pinos. because there's none in pino. However, if pronounced correctly, it comes out "Mount Penis", so most people say "Mount Pie-nos" to avoid embarrassing explanations! To locals, using the words "Mount Piños" is always wrong.
     Mount Abel is also called "Cerro Noroeste" (another of those almost unpronounceable Spanish names). Abel is a lot easier to say, but like so many things around here, there's an underlying set of facts:

 "Cerro Noroeste, which means northwest hill in Spanish, lies several miles west of Mt. Pinos. It is far more than a hill, since it is nearly as high as Mt. Pinos. Contrary to its official name, it is often referred to as Mt. Abel after Stanley Abel, who was a Kern County supervisor instrumental in having the first road built to the top of Cerro Noroeste in the 1930 and also construction of Highway 33 between Ventura and Maricopa. As a consequence many locals began calling the peak Mt. Abel, maybe because it was easier to pronounce. Among other things Abel is remembered as a member of the Ku Klux Klan and also as the county official who attempted unsuccessfully to have John Steinbeck’s book The Grapes of Wrath banned from county libraries. The controversy over what Cerro Noroeste should be named was resolved in 1990 when the Board of Geographical Names decided in favor of Cerro Noroeste."

Harry Nelson

Apache Saddle Part II

     Once the seasonal license issues were overcome, the Apache Saddle (or just "The Saddle") became a full-fledged bar. Food in the restaurant was good or it wasn't, but the bar kept on. 
      Over the years, like many similar establishments, it acquired its cast of characters. The Tidwells, Chuck & Marge, the original owners, and their children Tommy and Patty Tidwell Shirley, ran the restaurant for the first few years, hiring staff to do all the work, and then hiring managers to manage the staff. Some of those managers were as colorful as their customers.
      One such manager was a guy named Bill Marsh. He started in the middle of summer one year, and his first big weekend was Labor Day (Oktoberfest). I warned him prior to the weekend that he was going to be really busy -- "human car wash" busy. I saw him on Labor Day Monday afternoon, and asked him how it went. "Man, this place is half-full of a$$holes", he declared. "Yeah, and it's only half-full," was my (tongue-in-cheek) answer.
     Since PMC was growing at a rapid pace in those early years, many of The Saddle's "characters" were in the construction business. Jerry Kiger, Bullet ('cause he moves so fast! ;-)  
Pee-Wee the Roofer, Cecil Chambers, Chuck Hartley, Lance Hartley, Dick Murphy, to name but a few, all helped build Pine Mountain Club from a resort into a community. Del Archer Construction started in Malibu building mansions, and then Del and his crew came to Pine Mountain Club and built some "mountain mansions". Del's crew all hung out at The Saddle after work and on weekends, and some are part of legend. Some of those stories I'll tell later, but I'll just list a few names now: Norm Jessel, Buck & BJ Sawyer, Black Bart (who won a Silver Medal at the Olympics), and of course, Del & Barb. 
       One of the best stories is as much legend as truth. I can't vouch for the story because I wasn't ever there (how'd that happen??). Her name shall be kept confidential, but she came to be known as "Bootsie". The name came from her occasional habit of (when well-inebriated, and in the company of an equally inebriated crowd of onlookers) dancing on the top of the bar in go-go boots... That's all --- just boots. If those wall could talk! -- and a lot of us old-timers are relieved they can't. (It wasn't really me and JW that used all the disco records as Frisbees off the upper deck that night, when most of them made it all the way over the golf course fence---those guys just looked like us!)

Apache Saddle, Part 1

     The third oldest building in the Village is the gambrel-shaped center portion of what is now Madd Bailey's Pub. In 1975, Dave Peters and Chuck Tidwell, both of Pine Mountain Real Estate, and Fred Westlund of Westlund Construction, decided to build a bar/restaurant an the commercial lot next to the Pine Mountain General Store. Who owned what or what portion I don't know, but ultimately full ownership of the property belonged to Dave Peters. 
    The viability of such a venture was unknown at the time, so to hedge their bets, the building was constructed in a gambrel shape, with a large ridge beam that could be attached to a crane, allowing the whole structure to be lifted up, and moved to a residential lot. That was Fred Westlund's theory, anyway. Luckily, it never had to be tested. 
     The business was give the name "Apache Saddle"-- a nice Western-sounding name. The name was taken from the area just west of Pine Mountain Club, where Mil Potrero Highway meets Cerro Noroeste Road. 

     A saddle is a dip or low point between two areas of higher ground. A saddle is not necessarily the lower ground between two hilltops; it may be simply a dip or break along a level ridge crest. If you are in a saddle, there is high ground in two opposite directions and lower ground in the other two directions. A saddle is normally represented as an hourglass.

     The original layout of the building was similar to the way it is now, except the addition on the east side wasn't there yet, nor the deck above. The dining room was upstairs along with the windowed bar, and downstairs was a sort of coffee-shop area with booths. In order to facilitate delivery of food to the dining room above, a dumb-waiter was installed in the kitchen that opened in the wall above. The kitchen staff would load the food on trays, and then, like an elevator, they would push a button and the food would rise to the floor above. Similarly, the dirty dishes could be sent below, descending magically to the kitchen below. In theory...
    In reality, if the load was too heavy, the dumb-waiter would just sit there, or if at the top, drop like a stone, crashing into the sink at the bottom. At least you don't have to wash broken dishes and glassware!
    Once opened, the Apache Saddle became the only place west of Lebec that sold hard liquor. The PMC Clubhouse had no bar at all at the time (more about that later), and the General Store only sold beer and wine. In fact, at first the Saddle only had a "seasonal" liquor license. If I recall correctly, 3 months a year they couldn't serve alcohol. After two or three years, it was upgraded to year round. During those "dry" months, we would drive on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday nights to Gorman, to the restaurant/bar at the Caravan Inn, to get a proper cocktail.
     Originally, the business was owned by the Tidwell family, and managed first by Tommy Tidwell, and then by his sister, Pat (Tidwell) Shirley. They (the Tidwells) didn't work there, their source of income was local real estate, but rather they employed local residents to cook, serve, bar-tend, etc. Later, they advertised for managers to run the entire place. Some of the most colorful characters ever to inhabit Pine Mountain Club first came here to work at the Apache Saddle. For a long time it seemed that the qualifications for working in the Apache Saddle kitchen were (among others): a pulse, mostly-sober (at least before noon), can find the stove/oven, knows the difference between raw chicken and frozen hamburger, etc. You didn't need to know how to order supplies--when an order came into the kitchen from the dining room, you just walked next door to the Pine Mt. General Store, got what you needed, and put it on the Saddle's account. Some very "interesting" dishes came out of that kitchen. 
     The original "ventilation" system for the kitchen consisted of a little exhaust fan like you would put in a normal home kitchen-- not nearly adequate for a commercial cook-top and a flat-top grille. Consequently, even in the cold months, the kitchen would get unbearably hot, even with the back door wide open to the cold. One day I walked by the open kitchen door and the "cook" was standing at the stove in his boxer shorts!
     All that aside, some very good food did emerge from the kitchen on occasion. Uly Paz,  a crazy, hot-tempered Filipino, made chicken adobo and duck a l'orange that were truly memorable. George Crane, who originally came from New York and New Jersey, cooked smoked pork chops, sauteed pasta, and prime rib to die for. But in reality, for those early years, neither the food nor the cocktails had to be that good, because there was virtually no competetion.
(to be continued...)