A lake like a movie set, California cool

Lake Arrowhead Village looks more Swiss than Californian in the snow. At 5,106 feet above sea level and less than 2 hours from Hollywood, the lake created in 1891 is a popular movie location. (LESLIE SAINT MCLELLAN (ABOVE); MICHAEL BLANCHOT/LAKESIDE STUDIO)

LAKE ARROWHEAD, Calif. - A Hollywood producer's dream, Lake Arrowhead begs comparison to the Swiss Alps, Shangri-La, or Brigadoon. Art imitates life in the 1952 melodrama "The Bad and the Beautiful," when the lake serves as the backdrop for Kirk Douglas's producer character to snag a little R & R in a rented rowboat, while Dick Powell's scriptwriter character is glued to his typewriter in a cozy cabin for three days.

The locale for nearly 100 films, such as "A Magnificent Obsession" and more recently "Next" and "The American President," this man-made lake 5,106 feet above sea level and only a 90-minute drive from Los Angeles combines Alpine charm, postcard vistas, and nostalgic neighborliness. It's seasoned with 14 miles of lakefront estates, all without a traffic light in sight. With pristine air quality, a smorgasbord of seasonal festivities, and snow-capped mountains, it is a one-of-a-kind Southern California destination spot.

Rest and recuperation - a tradition started for servicemen in World War II - is what Arrowhead does best, and what started long ago as a near-colossal mistake has grown into a tourist haven. Once a bowl of lush grazing land, the lake was born of entrepreneurial imagination. In 1891, a Cincinnati business syndicate flooded the valley with water impounded from nearby streams to develop hydroelectric power and irrigate orange groves to the south. Not so fast, said the California courts, which determined that diverting northbound waters to the south was illegal. The syndicate lost a bundle. Eventually new developers rewrote the script, and Lake Arrowhead, the resort and recreational paradise, was born in the early 1920s.

After several reincarnations, what remains is a 784-acre, privately owned, family-oriented lakeside community of custom-built homes and multimillion-dollar estates, with a population of 50,000 that doubles in summer. Its specialty shops, Norman-style village, numerous lodges, bed-and-breakfasts, cabins, inns, private rentals, and resort and spa host some 3 million day-trippers and vacationers annually.

"One-quarter to one-third of these are fall to winter arrivals," says Lewis Murray, president of the Lake Arrowhead Chamber of Commerce. "Next to July 4th, Thanksgiving is our busiest weekend, kicking off the Christmas to New Year's season. We attract people from all over the world here who arrive in LA or San Diego or Palm Springs and want something a little unusual. It's like a mini-Switzerland."

While the high tourist season of summer capitalizes on waterskiing, swimming, boating, and fishing, the less frenzied fall and winter offer the chance to savor lake life and commune with nature on hiking trails and at the 40-acre Heap's Peak Arboretum.

After Labor Day the village starts prepping for the largest free Oktoberfest in Southern California, a seven-week affair where the beer runneth over, grilled bratwurst scents the air, and locals and visitors vie in apple-bobbing and beer-chugging contests. This year the event runs every weekend, noon to 5 p.m., through Oct. 26, capped by a costume party and rock concert on Halloween.

Lake Arrowhead Village also houses some factory outlets, like Coach, Pendleton, Izod, Harry and David, Geoffrey Beene, and Van Heusen, along with 25 other specialty shops offering indigenous arts and crafts, jewelry, fine wines, boutique clothing, and more.

One of the village's must-dos is a 50-minute, narrated tour on the Arrowhead Queen, a 60-passenger paddle-wheeler that runs year-round, weather permitting. Captain Bill Wilson is a font of celebrity lore, with tales of Hollywood stars new and old who vacationed at the lake. He might point out the former estate of Beach Boy Brian Wilson, and the boat he christened California Girls, still docked lakeside, or tell about the time a teenage June Lockhart ferried a reporter by motorboat to the wedding of Cary Grant and Barbara Hutton.

Defying the stereotype of balmy Southern California, a brisk Thanksgiving weekend kicks off holiday fare with a tree lighting in the village Nov. 28, strolling carolers, carriage rides, hot refreshments, and a meet-and-greet with Santa. The first Saturday in December, the nearby village of Blue Jay hosts its annual Christmas parade.

Perhaps the sweetest offering happens two weekends in December when Wildhaven Ranch, a wildlife sanctuary and animal rehab center, celebrates the season with a Nativity pageant starring its residents.

Within a 45-minute four-wheel drive, the more athletically inclined can go from sunny, 50-degree temperatures at the bottom of Rim of the World Highway 18, a nationally designated scenic byway, to Snow Valley outside of Arrowhead for some cross-country skiing, snowboarding, and mountain biking as early as December. Big Bear Ski Resort is another 45-minute drive from the village. The renowned Ice Castle International Training Center, where Olympic figure skaters Michelle Kwan and Nicole Bobek spent several winters training, is open to the public for lessons and recreational skating.

The cosmopolitan Lake Arrowhead Resort and Spa is this community's crown jewel. With a recent $20 million renovation, it has 173 rooms, all with flat-screen televisions, grand-scale beds, and ultramodern baths, including 11 suites with deep-soaking tubs, and several with fireplaces. The decor is as unobtrusive as the staff, using subdued earth tones and a rustic simplicity mirroring the Serrano Indian and mountain motif. The resort offers activities from stargazing with an astronomer to private lake excursions and fishing charters from May through November. BIN189 is its four-star, California cuisine restaurant.

Schooled at the Elizabeth Grady School of Aesthetics in Medford, Monique Michaud directs the resort's full-service Spa of the Pines. The spa offers signature "journey" treatments, including a private suite for couples or friends to share extended time, massage, and lunch by a fireplace. Services range from $60 to $350.

Jeanne Umana can be reached at rkatsb@aol.com.