MILEPOSTS #1078

By Ken Brafman, Image from ROWHS Collection

TITLE: LURING PINES IN RUNNING SPRINGS: Among the many early developers, entrepreneurs and visionaries that made their marks there is Raymond Luring. With a couple partners he formed the Luring Development Company in 1931, at a time when many companies were succumbing to the Great Depression. The company stated that they would engage in any form of building or road construction and further carry on ‘the business of hotel, apartment house, pleasure or health resort, restaurant, café, aeroplane, airport or transportation business, and any other business permitted by law.’ Luring’s first development was the Luring Pines Lodge, this week’s image circa 1940. The property extended to both sides of the Rim of the World Highway near City Creek Road and the main lodge was a log structure with a large stone chimney. An adept promoter, Luring managed to get the lodge, and Running Springs, placed in numerous advertising brochures as a prime mountain destination. The Luring resort included a manmade lake that was destroyed in 1938 by the same torrential storm that filled Lake Gregory in several days. The Luring Pines Stables opened in the early 1940s, advertising daily rates and ‘moonlight rides.’ The lodge and the stables were part of Luring’s plan for a larger resort, which he eventually opened in the mid-1950s as the Luring Pines Mountain Club. A pool was put in, along with a clubhouse with shower rooms for men and women. By the time Luring advertised the resort as ‘The Most Beautiful Spot in California’ the club boasted a tennis court, badminton, shuffleboard, ping pong, children’s play area, snack bar, picnic area and horseback riding. Soon, along with Luring Pines, he expanded his empire to include a desert development called Luring Sands in Palm Springs, being one of the first promoters to grasp the value of both mountain and desert development. His success enabled several generations of travelers to discover and appreciate the gifts the San Bernardino Mountains has to offer.

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