In January 1942 my parents, Leonard “Skipper” and Margery Steimle purchased from Pacific Electric Company the PE employee vacation camp near Blue Jay, California. It consisted basically of 40 cabins, a lodge, swimming pool and several out buildings located on a beautifully wooded 20 acres between Blue Jay and Agua Fria on highway 89. The slogan was: Families with Children Preferred
The first name chosen for the camp was Beverly Pines. Skipper had taught several years at Beverly Hills High School. Around 1944 the name was changed to Pine View Lodge, by which it was known until our father died in 1974. It never operated again.
Everything is gone now (2008). All that remains is the lodge’s fireplace and chimney, remnants of the fire ring, and acres of magnificent trees. Pine View was an unusual resort…made so by two special energetic and talented people who encouraged their four children to get involved. If you were one of the many who remember the Steimles and Pine View Lodge, we would love to hear from you.
Larry Steimle lsteimle@altrionet.com
Winter of 1948
Cabins 15 & 16
New Pool, built about 1960
Thank you so much for the history. I often wondered what might have happened to the resort. Skipper was a very special man and Pine View Lodge provides me with some of my fondest memories of childhood. Some of the best experiences I had with my family were there.
I was 7 years old when my family came to visit Pine View Lodge! My math says it was around the summer of 1973. My dad passed away in 2004, and my mom died just 9 months ago. As I’ve spent the past few months going through their things, I came across a letter written by your father, “Skipper” as I remembered him, thanking us, “The Beecroft Family”, for visiting Pine View Lodge. It was like a whirlwind of memories flooded back, when I came across this letter from Skipper. Very good memories!
My memories of Pine View Lodge are vague, but at the same time, very vivid. We stayed in these small cabins, and there were Blue Jay birds everywhere! I remember being given the opportunity to help run the store. I guess we could sign up to help, perhaps? I just remember feeling so grown up and responsible at 7 years of age. I remember also making a leather key chain of some sort…and working with leather in general. I’m guessing these were craft classes, I don’t remember. I also was given an award for being the fastest 7 year old in a swim meet, and I still have that in my box of treasures from when I was a child.
These are all just “snapshots” of memories…but my fondest memory, is gathering in the large lodge at night, a huge circle of all of us guests, with Skipper leading us…and we would sing. I remember learning the song “Side by Side” on this vacation…was it at Pine View Lodge, maybe? I think we had a talent show one night, and my family sang this. There were my parents, and my 5 siblings and I. My oldest sister Debi at the time was 17, then my sister Julie was about 12, then my sister Pam was about 10, then I was 7, then my sister Jackie was 5, and my youngest brother was only 2 or 3. I also remember singing “Tell Me Why” in the large circle. It became one of our family favorites…and just before my dad’s death, we all gathered around in a circle around my dad’s bed, and our family sang this song.
I remember Skipper so well. He was just sooooo genuine, so fun. He made each one of us feel so welcomed, and I think as a 7 year old, I felt that he was an old family friend. I had no idea that my family had just met him that year on that vacation. I remember learning of his death the year later, and I cried and cried. My heart was broken that Skipper had died. I asked one of my sisters this past summer, after finding this letter from him, if she remembered Skipper from the Pine View Lodge. Her eyes lit up, and she said “Yes, I do!! Wow! That was such a long time ago!” We enjoyed sharing memories of that summer. Anyhow…I happened to google “Pine View Lodge” today, just out of curiosity I guess. I was hoping to see that it was still up and running, in hopes that I could bring my own family there to visit. I’m sad that it isn’t. It was a very happy time for our family, that summer!
I hope that you will hear from many guests as time passes.
Thanks for listening to my stroll down memory lane!
Lisa (Beecroft) Jackson
Wow…. thanks for all the memories! For many summers my family would load up our VW 411 and head up to Pine View Lodge. I spent many birthdays there as a child as we would often be there the last week of August. That must have been the late 1960’s to the early 1970’s. We almost came up a few times during the winter season to play in the snow.
I remember so much from Pine View Lodge. The swimming pool, the evening activites in the beatiful lodge, the every-present Skipper, the Hobo Hike (complete with song of course…)
“I’m a hobo, I’m a hobo. I’m a hobo till I die….”
I remember the archery compititions (I kept up with that as an adult), the diving for coins, the ping pong table, and of course all the blue jays that would beg at the back door of the cabins. I remember going down the hill a bit to eat at the Mexican restaurant. I remember the ice skating in Blue Jay and the sleding on the pine neddles. Somewhere in my memory box I have some documents from Pine View Lodge.
Everytime I drove up to the mountains I wonder what ever happened to Skipper and Pine View Lodge. Once, many years ago, I stopped and walked around the property. I saw the foundation of buildings, some of the stone walls, and the pool. So what ever happened to Pine View Lodge and the property.
Well, again, thanks for the memories.