By Rhea-Frances Tetley
The Lake Arrowhead Home Tour was a spectacular celebration of its 50th year, which was enjoyed by over 1,000 folks on Sept. 20, a beautiful chamber of commerce Day.
Two of the homes sat next to each other on the lake shore and were approached by boat shuttles. The other two, in neighborhoods on opposite sides of the lake, were approached by bus shuttles arranged by the chamber, so those neighborhoods were not impacted by hundreds of cars descending on them, since street parking is not often available in mountain residential areas.
The houses on the lakeshore were the Chateau des Quatre Saisons and Whispering Pines. Every home on the home tour has docents in each room from the many mountain nonprofit groups and their friends, greeting the guests and answering questions about each home.
Erin Zhou entertained guests as they arrived at the Chateau des Quatre Saisons.
The Chateau had a magnificent approach from the lake shore up through a grassy hillside garden with many copper and brass statues, most imported from France. When approaching the home, various Arrowhead Arts Association musicians, including Erin Zhou, were performing beautiful music that wafted through the trees.
The owners of the Chateau are attorneys who do significant amount of pro-bono work and live at the home part-time. The theme is French with most rooms having individual French name plaques on the doors. The home itself is spacious, with lovely views of the lake from most of the rooms with a wine cellar, a unique almost circular library, which seemed it could be a creative location for a writer, a pool table room. Most rooms had their own level of the home, distinctively decorated, with beautiful patios for indoor-outdoor living. The home seemed designed for relaxing living, in a spacious setting. The guest rooms, especially the special upstairs isolated guest room, were well designed and inviting.
Whispering Pines was next door; because of the rains the previous day, the guests walked up to the street and entered through the beautiful driveway entrance, which would have been missed had the guests just walked across the grass between the homes as originally envisioned.
Whispering Pines is well over 9,000 square feet in size, with a pure Lake Arrowhead design, with a large stone fireplace and multi-story prow windows facing the lake. The home felt warm and friendly despite the large scale of the home. The Pittson family has owned the home, which was originally built in 1979, for a decade and they have remodeled it extensively, while retaining the classical Lake Arrowhead elements.
The wonderful master bedroom has a four-poster bed with comfortable looking purple chairs at the foot of the bed and a fireplace in the room, which made the room seem so romantic, plus it overlooks the lake. The dining room also had a direct view of the lake and is next to the well-pointed kitchen which made the home seem very livable. The children’s bedroom has four beds with an adjoining bathroom with a small-sized tub. This is in comparison with most of the many bathrooms in this and the other homes, which are spacious with all the amenities.
The lakeside yard is quite spectacular and has hosted many events, including music from James playing his violin this day. The garden has been totally reimagined and relandscaped from a straight walkway to the lake to many leveled areas, with casual sitting areas leading to the dock area.
Casa Blanca in the gated Cedar Ridge neighborhood overlooking Lake Arrowhead above Cedar Glen has a fantastic backyard that has been landscaped by the property owner who was there greeting the guests. The music in the garden by Cheech Willie playing music from the 1970’s encouraged visitors to sit and relax under the shadow of the tall trees. The home is a reflection of the community as many local businesses provided interiors, including Moonshine Lighting fixtures from Running Springs, with the various lighting features throughout the home making quite a statement, especially in the multi-storied kitchen area, next to the stairway. The courtyard with double garage doors was quite impressive when entering the home, passing by the water fountain. Upon entering to the right is a bar and TV room, with an elk head supervising the room and guarding the stairs to the wine cellar. The home has a friendly welcoming feel with many local artisans contributing to the ambiance of the home, with its owner greeting the guests.
Guests took a boat shuttle to two of this year’s homes.
Overlooking the golf course the Bakers’ home, “Timberstone,” represents five years of rebuilding, creating a custom smart home filled with all aspects of wood and stone. Contractor John Radleigh was at the home, answering questions about all the “specs” of the home from the unique lighted ceiling skylights over the kitchen, the many hand-crafted wood beams, the beautiful wood-tree base dining glass dining table, and all the surprises in the home at every turn. The backyard koi pond overlooks the golf course; the home has decks on all levels for a true indoor-outdoor living experience. The golf theme was throughout the lower level of the home with large photos of golfing and trophies and other sports stars photos in the home, giving a relaxing feeling to the home, along with a nice lighted wine rack and fire pit. The home has been built to last multi-generations.
At the Arrowhead Lake Association’s Burnt Mill Beach Club during the day was a wine and cheese reception for the tour guests; it was partially coordinated and managed by Lake Arrowhead chamber board member Sandra Koos and a crew of helpers.
That evening the Lake Arrowhead Communities Chamber of Commerce held a dinner for the hundreds of volunteers, docents and others who made this 50th anniversary Home Tour such a success. Shout-outs were given to Tricia DuFour who coordinated the magazine and so many other aspects of the Home Tour. The Home Tour magazine highlighted the homes, the contractors, the craftsmen, designers, landscapers, realtors, businesses and the many individuals who made these homes so fabulous. The magazine also spotlighted the new book Images of America – Architecture of Lake Arrowhead by local author and architect Diane Wilk.
Several of the volunteers, many who serve as docents in the homes year after year, agreed this year went very smoothly, and they had a wonderful time with lovely people taking the tour this year. They look forward to next year.
The night before the Home Tour a special 50th anniversary VIP event was held at the home of Brian Cohen in Cedar Ridge where about 100 guests sipped delicious wines, had a delectable dinner from RB’s Steakhouse in Cedar Glen and heard from several of the home designers and contractors describing unique aspects of the various homes. A beautiful one-of-a-kind hand-blown distinctive presentation award with an individualized plaque was given to each homeowner, honoring their home for being chosen to be in the home tour.
“This evening is a great event and going so well,” said Cohen. He also pointed out that the Jewish community women in attendance lit the Shabbot candles as it was the final Shabbot of the Jewish year, with the new year 5186 beginning on the following Monday.
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