Big Bear & Arrowhead’s New : INN CROWD : A New Generation of Comfortable B&Bs; Has Arrived in the San Bernardino Mountains

Five years ago a small, personally managed inn was a rarity in these mountains of vanilla-scented Jeffrey pine, fir, cedar and spruce. In fact, the town of Lake Arrowhead andthe county of San Bernardino have only recently figured out how to license and regulate bed and breakfast inns.

Our family has been weekending in the San Bernardino Mountains for years now, winter and summer, and for spur-of-the-moment trips, when it didn’t seem practical to rent a private cabin, we endured the motels.

At best we found unattractively decorated, cheaply furnished motel cabins located near major highways, not deep in the piney woods of our dreams. In years gone by, at least the room rates in these deteriorating post-World-War-II-era establishments were low. (No more.) At worst, in both Big Bear and Lake Arrowhead, we have endured inconveniences that were like the exaggerated experiences of Saturday-morning cartoon characters: sagging mattresses, malfunctioning heaters in freezing winter temperatures, windows painted shut in summer.

Like the thousands of visitors to the area each year, we put up with the discomfort as the downside of otherwise pleasant, easy-to-get-to weekends. In the meantime, we tried to mark at least a couple of seasons a year with mountain visits: spring and the white surprise of dogwood trees in bloom, summer on a boat in Big Bear Lake under the bright blue sky, fall through the show of yellow leaves among the evergreens, and winter, if we were lucky, with snow, icicles and the still, frozen expanse of the lake.

We have now been rewarded for our patience and faith in the area. Just when we were getting too old to put up with funky accommodations, the bed and breakfast inn has come to the mountains. In the past five years or so, a disparate but determined group of innkeepers--most escapees from suburban Southern California--has made it possible to enjoy comfortable, affordable and in some cases beautiful accommodations in Big Bear, Arrowhead and the communities nearby.

Although the travel guidebooks don’t know it yet, a few dozen people with energy and vision have given in to their real estate fantasies and brought hospitality to the mountains.

The weekend after Thanksgiving marks the official beginning of the winter season in Big Bear and the other San Bernardino Mountain resort towns, and the first snow is even now eagerly awaited. But even if it doesn’t snow until March, as was the case in the 1990-91 season, for the Big Bear side of the San Bernardino Mountain area, especially, the new season marks a time of renewal after a summer of post-earthquake rebuilding, a long-scheduled widening of Big Bear Boulevard near the ski resorts and the completion (finally) of a village spruce-up 12 years in the planning.

Visitors to the area this winter will have to really look--past the new brick sidewalks, decorative lamp posts and landscaping--to see any lingering signs of damage from the June 28 Big Bear earthquake. Although over 1,500 chimneys toppled in the quake, that and other more serious rebuilding has been quickly taken care of in this image-conscious town. And so much construction activity took place over the summer that the local economy is enjoying a surge.

Lake Arrowhead, the other big San Bernardino mountain resort town, is actually over 30 miles away from Big Bear and many residents there say they didn’t even feel the spring quake.

*

All the resort towns are hoping for another good season of snow (last year’s snowfall was 149 inches; average is 128 on the Big Bear Lake side), but both Snow Summit and Bear Mountain, the two largest ski resorts in the Big Bear area, have improved their artificial snow-making capacities. There are new eateries at both ski centers; Snow Summit has added a chairlift and there’s a snowboard park at Bear Mountain. A popular Big Bear commercial snow play area, Magic Mountain, makes snow when the temperature hits 32 or below, so that weekenders can enjoy inner-tubing down a snow-covered hill (and being rope-towed up) no matter what the weather forecast.

*

But for those looking first for comfortable accommodations, the big news is little inns. More intimate and personal than the Hilton or a condo, far more comfortable than the bare-bones motel cabin of yesteryear, bed and breakfast inns have emerged as the weekender’s best bet from Arrowhead to Big Bear.

What follows is an opinionated survey of as many of the new mountain inns as I could tour on two visits--one in late spring, the other weekend before last. Mountain B&Bs; are as varied as their owners or managers, because they so fully reflect the innkeeper’s personality and taste. I saw a range of styles, from an inn that provided a sophisticated setting for a wonderful collection of art to a homey, cozy cabin in the woods with rocking chairs and trestle tables in the public rooms.

Although I am recommending many of the recently-opened establishments, not every B&B; is better than the old-style accommodations. I did tour and do mention some bed and breakfast inns that were as uncomfortable as some of the motels.

The San Bernardino Mountain resort region is roughly divided into two areas, Big Bear to the east and Lake Arrowhead to the west. Often just minutes away from these two largest mountain towns there are a number of tiny villages: Fawnskin, Sky Forest, Blue Jay and others. The inns described below are found in several towns, but I have grouped them according to whether they’re nearest Big Bear or Arrowhead, or in between.

Rates quoted are approximate and vary by season. In most cases, the rate spread given reflects the price of the least expensive single room in the off season, some without private baths, to the cost of the most luxurious room or suite in high season. Always check about cancellation policies before making reservations (most B&Bs; have few rooms and can’t overbook). There are some minimum stay requirements, additional charges for more than two people in a room, etc. Ask about mid-week rates. Some inns reduce their rates by almost half from Sunday through Thursday. Many have no-smoking or restricted smoking area policies.

Big Bear Area

The Big Bear side of the “hill” is the best for casual two- or three-day visits, especially for families. In the summer, you can rent boats for water skiing or fishing on 8-mile-long Big Bear Lake; in the winter there’s skiing, both downhill and cross country, and snowplay--sledding and “tube-bogganing” (inner-tubing down a sledding run). The national park areas on the north side of Big Bear Lake have serious trails for serious hikers as well as several one-mile interpretive nature trails that our kids, 6 and 10, enjoy.

In the town of Big Bear Lake, the village on the lake’s south shore, there’s a small movie theater, a games arcade (with skee ball and the like), shops with names such as Bear Mountain Trading Company, Sleeping Bear Furniture and Gretel’s Attic, and restaurants such as Boo Bear’s Den and the Iron Squirrel. The little zoo, open summers only, houses injured or domesticated animals native to the area such as deer, foxes and eagles.

The Knickerbocker Mansion in Big Bear Lake was opened by owner Phyllis Knight about 10 years ago, making it the first of the new generation of mountain inns. In many ways, it’s the best, with comfort and hospitality offered in a professional, confident way. The mansion itself is impressive--a huge, four-story log cabin on a hill above the town. Big, open-air decks stretch the length of the building on the lake side so you can sit in a rocking chair or lie in a hammock and see only trees and hills stretching down to the lake a mile away.

The Knickerbocker was built in the ‘20s by the man who was the lake’s first dam keeper and his wife. They had five children and the old-fashioned, family proportions of the place are still respected. Downstairs, there’s a large living room with a stone fireplace, beamed ceiling and clubby leather chairs. Upstairs, there are five rooms (four that share baths, one with a private half-bath) as well as a “treetop suite” with a full bath and sitting room that occupies its own floor. In a separate former barn, there are four additional rooms, each with a private bath. Room rates run about $95 to $165. The mansion is furnished with antiques and reproductions in an unfussy but countrified style.

Families can be accommodated in some of the rooms. Young children will be enthusiastic about the closets that have been converted into shipshape sleeping alcoves. Breakfast is taken in the dining room next to the antique sideboard, or on the deck between the main house and the former barn, called “the lodge.” There’s a spa tub with a view on the deck as well.

Innkeeper Knight and her assistant Linda Ford keep hot coffee and tea as well as cookies and cinnamon crisps on hand in the kitchen for guests to help themselves. There are baskets of paperback books everywhere and, for those who haven’t fallen asleep on the veranda, croquet on the lawn.

The village is just a few blocks’ walk down the hill, and a fire road and trails into the national forest lead off the property in the other direction.

Further from the lake, in the town of Big Bear City on the lake’s eastern point, is Gold Mountain Manor. While Bill Knickerbocker was housing his presumably rollicking family, a wealthy industrialist was building a vacation home for his elegant wife. He hired a builder named Guy Maltby, who created a custom log cabin house in the rustic but substantial style popular with the rich weekenders of that era. Today, Gold Mountain Manor is the largest surviving Maltby building.

It’s a different sort of gem than the Knickerbocker. The Knickerbocker makes me think of Teddy Roosevelt; the Gold Mountain Manor has been used for filming Ralph Lauren and Eddie Bauer commercials.

*

Located in the residential area of Big Bear City, this inn’s in a good spot for skiers, close to the resorts, and it’s near the airport as well. Owners John and Conny Ridgway took over the inn three years ago and have furnished it with a pleasant array of early 20th-Century vintage furniture and antiques. Downstairs, there’s a game room with a billiard table and player piano, a more elegant living room, and a front porch with bent-willow furniture. The six bedrooms, with rates about $75 to $180, range in size from a suite with a river-rock fireplace and four-poster bed to a little nest that invites the occupant to simply sit in bed and look out the window all day. Six of the seven rooms have fireplaces or wood-burning stoves, most share baths. Most of the decor has woodsy, Western motifs.

*

Afternoon snacks are served and there’s coffee, tea and help-yourself snacks in the kitchen all day. Robes for guests hang in every closet. I wouldn’t recommend this inn for young children, but there are some nice rooms suitable for teens traveling with parents.

The southern shore of Big Bear Lake is thick with homes and vacation cabins. The northern shore is mostly federal land and tends to be less developed. Except for a campground, there has traditionally been little in the way of accommodations on the north shore, where the small settlement of Fawnskin is located.

The Inn at Fawnskin is proof that not all bed and breakfast inns are quaint, and it also makes a very good case for the elegance of contemporary country decor. When G.B. and Susan Sneed decided to pursue their innkeeping dream, they discovered a newly constructed but never occupied modern log cabin that had actually been built as an inn. They opened for business almost four years ago.

The Inn at Fawnskin has four guest rooms, one a suite with a high, slanted, beamed ceiling, private balcony, fireplace and private bath; rates run $75 to $155. The guest rooms make up the second floor of the building; three different public rooms offer variety downstairs, and the Sneeds have a cabin in the back.

The curved log walls downstairs and pine-panelled rooms upstairs provide a woodsy atmosphere, but this inn is anything but rustic. There’s a baby grand piano in the living room where the huge fireplace is kept burning all night long in winter. The game room is equipped with a pool table, big screen TV and a bar area. The Sneeds collect movies on video and boast an up-to-date library of over 200 films. There is also a library of books available to guests.

The breakfast room has a fireplace, too, and is a comfortable lounging area for those who enjoy the fragrance of a kitchen where homemade bread and cinnamon rolls are being baked.

This isn’t necessarily the place for kids, either--its charms are peace and quiet and other adult comforts. But it’s just right for family groups of adults and would make a lovely site for a special-occasion vacation for, say, adult siblings and their spouses. And the Sneeds offer a murder mystery game weekend package for four couples.

The most romantic room in the San Bernardino Mountains is the master suite at Windy Point Inn, also in Fawnskin. It is an irony of the Big Bear Lake resorts that so few restaurants or motels offer lake views, and fewer still are located right on the shore. Windy Point is not only right on shore, it is situated on one of the few sandy beaches (otherwise, rocks and boulders are the norm) and consequently has the best lakeside walks as well as the best views.

The inn was built and opened in 1990 by the late David R. Zimmerman on a site not far from the Caltech Solar Observatory, and celestial events are one of the many attractions of the inn’s master suite, available for $200 a night. Windows on three sides of the room make it possible to literally enjoy hours of sunrise through one window, sunset through another; the glittering passage of the full moon as reflected on the lake, and, finally, through skylights, the bright mountain stars.

It’s a room that’s very difficult to leave. The lake is spread before you as you lie in bed or on the sofa, enjoying your CDs (bring ‘em from home) through the built-in stereo system. A fire warms the art-filled room, and there are views even from the in-room steam sauna and spa. Innkeepers Val and Kent Kessler will bring exercise equipment to the suite if you must.

Two other smaller rooms offer less luxury, perhaps, but the same high quality of fixtures and furnishings and incomparable views of their own. Both have fireplaces and wet bars, and one has a separate ramp entrance, making it wheelchair accessible, unusual in a B&B.; The public rooms have walls of windows looking out over the water, and there’s an outdoor Jacuzzi available 24 hours a day.

Windy Point has its own boat dock and there’s a boat rental facility two blocks away. The Kesslers serve breakfast and afternoon snacks at an indoor breakfast table in winter, on the deck in summer, and will prepare picnic baskets upon request. Bikes are available on a complimentary basis and the inn, which is a nonsmoking facility, is near several excellent hiking trails. Rates are $90-$200.

Back on the south shore of Big Bear Lake, Janet Kay’s Bed and Breakfast, which opened in 1990, is beginning to show up in listings, but it’s an odd establishment. More a dormitory than an inn, it would be most suitable for young people on a ski (water or snow) trip. The building is squeaky-new with a suburban decor, and has a model home sort of feel about it. There isn’t, according to reservations clerks, a Janet Kay.

If you don’t require personality or charm, but rather are seeking a clean, well-lit alternative to the above-named motel nightmares, this place might be fine, and breakfast on the premises is very convenient for skiers. There are 13 rooms, mostly with shared baths, and five suites; some rooms have twin beds, some queens and some kings. The “fireplaces” are gas-burning except for one wood-burning one in a suite. There are large, airy, public rooms with somewhat silly pseudo-Victorian decor. Group and ski packages are offered. Rates: $59-$129.

In Between

Four bed and breakfast inns are really in between Big Bear and Arrowhead, one each in Green Valley and Running Springs and two in Sky Forest.

There’s a storybook quality to the Lodge at Green Valley Lake that derives from its being at the end of a road that winds through the mountains and past a little lake. We had passed the Green Valley turnoff from California 18 many times without taking it, and when I finally went exploring off the highway and came to Green Valley Lake, I was charmed. Where Big Bear Lake is miles wide, with water skiing and floating bathrooms, Green Valley Lake is a fairy-tale pond--people sit in lawn chairs on the banks and fish while other visitors go by in paddle boats.

The lodge is far from the night life of Arrowhead or the recreational activities of Big Bear, but it has a pleasant saloon where I’d like to while away some hours and a restaurant that was favorably reviewed this year in the San Bernardino papers, so it’s a destination for day visitors who come up from the San Bernardino area down the hill, especially on the weekends. There are five guest rooms and a separate one-bedroom cottage, all with private baths, some with their own entrances. An unusual arrangement of three communicating rooms in one wing makes it possible for a family of up to six to enjoy both shared space and privacy.

Innkeepers Gene and Margo Deshler renovated what was once a skiing hostel (the shuttle to the nearby Green Valley ski area boards right outside the lodge’s door and there’s a cross-country trail that begins from the adjacent meadow). Furnishings are vintage oak and pine with some handpainted ivy and floral embellishments on the walls.

Downstairs, the restaurant dining room and guest lobby blend into one another, a felicitous arrangement for the bed and breakfast guests who are served wine and cheese in the afternoons, and a three-course champagne brunch on Sundays.

A four-day, three-night family ski package at $25 per person per day (for family of four) or $38 per person per day (for family of three) includes lodging, a day at Santa’s Village in nearby Sky Forest, a day each of downhill and cross-country skiing, including skis, lessons, lift tickets and trail passes. Inn rates are $65-$95.

If you like to hike, and/or you’re a folk music fan, then the new and enterprising Spring Oaks Bed and Breakfast Inn in Running Springs should interest you. Innkeepers Bill Florian, a singer/songwriter formerly with the New Christy Minstrels, and Laura Florian, a therapeutic masseuse, have designed some intriguing packages that make use of their special talents.

The inn’s three guest rooms can be booked at rates ranging from $95 to $130, and you can add activities to your stay. Most unusual, perhaps, are the Sunday afternoon concerts at the inn, featuring big-name folk singers such as Ramblin’ Jack Elliott (coming up on Sunday, Nov. 22), and Dave Von Ronk, as well as Florian’s six-person group, the Mountain Folk Singers. Concert tickets are just $12, and if you stay for the night you won’t have to deal with the Sunday traffic headed down the mountain.

Other packages to consider include a half-day guided hike to Deep Creek for $28 per person including a picnic lunch, and an “Inn to Inn” hike package that features one night each at Spring Oaks and the above-mentioned Lodge at Green Valley Lake, a guided 12-mile, nine-hour hike between them, and meals. Or, you can book a weekend that includes two nights at Spring Oaks separated by a hike to a wilderness campsite and a night under the stars.

Live entertainment around the fire is almost always a part of your stay here; there’s a spa with a view on the outdoor deck, and massages can be scheduled to ease tired muscles after those hikes.

The community of Sky Forest, if it’s known for anything, is known as the site of the venerable Santa’s Village theme park. But Sky Forest Bed and Breakfast Inn, just a few minutes drive from Lake Arrowhead and a reindeer’s leap from Santa’s Village, seems very far away indeed from any kind of kitsch. A modern wood and glass chalet, the inn is run by Meta and Tom Morgan, former Santa Catalina Islanders, who took it over a year ago. Situated by a creek in a canyon, with a hill rising sharply behind, this inn is the most “foresty” of any in the mountains.

The public room is like an atrium, rising two stories with windows and skylights everywhere revealing pine branches and sky. Downstairs the focal point is a huge stone fireplace; upstairs a loft has been made into a reading area with its own wood-burning stove.

The five guest rooms have log walls on some sides, warm wallpaper on others, wood-beamed ceilings and lace curtains. Some have sloping roofs and skylights; three have private baths. There are decks facing the hill on both floors, with chairs positioned for wildlife-watching. Three different breakfast nooks offer views of various parts of the forest.

Although the Sky Forest Inn wouldn’t be a good choice for families with young children, it would be, along with the Knickerbocker, my preference were I traveling alone. The public rooms are arranged so that one can read while others watch TV (the only television is in the living room), and there are enough rooms so that you don’t feel either forced into intimacy or awkwardly apart.

The Morgans offer a ski package for the nearby Snow Valley ski area beginning at $65 per person, and they will book groups up to 12 people. Rates are $90 to $150.

One of the better known bed and breakfast inns of the area, Storybook Inn, is also in Sky Forest. If I’d had reservations there sight unseen, I’d have had a sinking heart as I pulled into the driveway--and my spirits wouldn’t have improved once inside. The Storybook has a policy by which “monies are forfeited” if guests depart “prior to the last day of the reservation.” One can’t help but imagine that this policy was a response to guests arriving with illustrated brochure in hand, seeing the reality, and changing their minds. What the brochure fails to show is that the Storybook Inn is located right on the highway and one’s first impression is of a wide dirt parking area. In the entryway, you’re greeted with an arrangement of what look like three large plastic petri dishes on columns. This may once have been a fountain.

Every available surface in the public rooms I saw seemed to be crammed with dolls and doilies. The decor was aggressively cute. The three-story ‘40s-era building is built on a bluff overlooking the Los Angeles basin so the walls of windows offer views of, too often, the blanket of smog that visitors hoped to leave behind.

There are nine rooms and suites, all with private baths, and a separate cabin. Rates range from $98 to $200. Continental breakfast, afternoon snacks and bedtime cookies are served.

Lake Arrowhead Area

Lake Arrowhead is more quickly reached from the bottom of the mountains than Big Bear Lake, and it has a shopping center right on the shore, so it’s popular for weekend drives from all over Southern California. There’s a fine children’s museum in the shopping center, and a peculiar indoor miniature golf course. And day trippers can take a one-hour boat tour of the lake. But to boat or ski on the lake you must own property or be staying at the Lake Arrowhead Hilton, which has its own lake front. There is no longer a public swim beach at Lake Arrowhead village.

Snowplay is difficult to arrange because most land in the Lake Arrowhead area is private property, but there is an indoor ice skating rink, the Ice Castle, in Blue Jay, on the southwest side of the lake.

Couples who want to combine hiking with shopping or a little night life would have reason to pick Lake Arrowhead, as would any adults who want some mountain time without a sense of isolation. Some of the B&Bs; mentioned below are very privately situated and offer a peaceful setting that is nevertheless within easy distance of restaurants and bars.

The grandest bed and breakfast inn in Arrowhead is the Chateau Du Lac, a large and luxuriously-appointed establishment with good lake views, phones and TVs in every room, afternoon tea and a sweetly eccentric “tower room” for Rapunzel wannabes.

The chateau is another recently-opened inn that was destined from the start to be a B&B; by owners Jody and Oscar Wilson. Accordingly there are conveniences like ample parking, some private entrances and mostly rooms with private baths. The chateau’s contemporary country decor has been featured on the annual Arrowhead home tour.

Honeymooners have discovered the Lakeview Room suite with its high wood-beamed ceiling, lake view windows and balcony extending the length of the room, fireplace, huge bath and dressing room with Jacuzzi tub. Several of the other five rooms have fireplaces and such features as window seats, terraces and Jacuzzi tubs. Two bedrooms with a shared bath on their own separate level (one with a terrace) make an ideal family suite (albeit for older families; children under 14 are not accommodated).

The public areas include a three-story living room, a large dining room with fireplace and lovely view of the lake, a smaller breakfast nook and outdoor decks and a gazebo. Rates are $95-$250.

The Bluebelle House, on the highway near Lake Arrowhead Village, is a disappointment. This inn, said to be for sale when I saw it, was weirdly intimate. A converted 1955 private residence, it felt like walking into someone’s maiden aunt’s overstuffed living room, if that living room had a cluttered reservations desk area. It’s the kind of place that brags about “Lila’s silk floral arrangements” and the theme for each guest room. There’s an outdoor deck, but again, you’re on a main road. Five rooms, three with private baths, cost $75-$95 per night.

On the other hand, the Carriage House, also converted from a private residence, is an inviting retreat and would be my choice if I wanted to be right in Arrowhead. It’s in a residential area, and indistinguishable from the houses around it. Because it’s a recently built private home, it has luxuries such as beautiful sunny decks surrounded by trees, but the innkeeper, Lee Karstens and her family, live next door, so you don’t feel like an interloper. In fact, although there are only three guest rooms, the large ground floor is the inn’s lounge area--meaning it’s a winter parlor where the fire roars in the fireplace, and a summer parlor opening out to the deck and its tables and chairs.

The Karstens have a clean, sleek style of decorating so that the inn demonstrates the simple elegance of early American antiques rather than the duck-infested decor some call country. Pine furniture is sometimes whitewashed and stenciled, a window seat is trimmed with lace curtains and a Victorian-style bathroom has a pink bathtub with gilt feet--so lovers of charming detail will have their fill. But there are firm mattresses under the featherbeds and down comforters; the quilts on display are bright and clean, and behind the antique wardrobe door there’s a VCR.

The Carriage House is close by a path that fronts Lake Arrowhead--a private path open only to property owners and their guests. As a guest of the inn one is permitted use of the path, and that might well be the extent of desired exercise once you’ve settled on a deck here to enjoy the fabulous views of treetops and mountainsides.

The rooms, which cost $95-$115 per night, all have private baths. Breakfast and afternoon hors d’oeuvres are offered.

The Lakeview Lodge is a well-meaning establishment with a location that is “convenient” in a way that is undesirable in the mountains. It’s situated on the road directly above the Lake Arrowhead village shopping center, and although it has views of the lake beyond that, there’s a more urban sense than most weekenders want. Still, if you’re on a day trip and make a hasty decision to spend the night, it’s a non-institutional alternative to the large village hotels, the Hilton and the Saddleback Inn.

Owners Chris and Linda Fischer and Megan Edrick took over this inn not long ago. The building was a lodge in the ‘20s, and then a newspaper office. The tiny lobby, where continental breakfast is taken, is intensely pinkish Victorian, but the guest rooms, offered at $65-$195, are a more congenial wallpaper-and-walnut mix of reproductions and antiques. The nine rooms all have private baths and three have daybeds appropriate for the kids.

The ideal cabin for two people might seem an unreasonable fantasy to those used to taking their chances with weekend cabin rentals but it can be found at Eagle’s Landing, a B&B; on Arrowhead’s north shore. The largest of four rooms at Dorothy and Jack Stone’s inn is a 900-square-foot suite with a view of the lake and treetops, furnished, as is the entire house, in a warm, woody version of early American and rustic mountain decor.

The result is a suite that feels like a separate cabin, with a large comfortable sitting area, wet bar/kitchenette, wood burning fireplace, private bath and large private deck.

Although Eagle’s Landing is on the corner of the main highway, its north shore (i.e. less traveled) location and its up-the-bluff situation neutralize the sense of auto traffic.

Some will prefer the cozy Woods Room to the cabiny suite, because its windows provide close-up squirrel watching and its location in the back of the house is so private. Other rooms have rocking chairs and all have collectibles and folk art everywhere.

Afternoon refreshments by the fireplace in the Hunt Room, a full breakfast under the pine-paneled cupola of the Tower Room. Rates are $95-$175. Children over 16 only.

I was unable to tour the Willow Creek Inn, also on the north shore of Arrowhead, but it’s quite new, is nicely situated in a woodsy meadow, has four rooms and was another stop on the local home tour. It also advertises boat rides with the owner, which is worth remembering, because the only way you’ll get on the lake at Arrowhead is with a property owner or on the one-hour commercial tour boat ride.

GUIDEBOOK: Relaxing Inn the Mountains

Getting there: To Big Bear: From Los Angeles, take the San Bernardino Freeway (Interstate 10) east toward San Bernardino. Turn north on Interstate 215, then east on California 30, which dead-ends at a stoplight for Highland Avenue. Turn east onto Highland, then north up California 330. About halfway up the mountain, 330 becomes California 18. It’s at least a 45-minute drive up 330/18 to the top of the mountain, from where you can see Big Bear Lake.

To Arrowhead: Take I-10 east, then I-215 north toward San Bernardino. In San Bernardino, stay in right-hand lanes following the signs that say “Mountain Resorts.” Exit the freeway at Waterman Avenue, which is also California 18; follow 18 north to the Lake Arrowhead turnoff.

The inns: Knickerbocker Mansion, P.O. Box 3661, 869 S. Knickerbocker Road, Big Bear Lake 92315, telephone (714) 866-8221. Rates: $95-$165.

Gold Mountain Manor, P.O. Box 2027, 1117 Anita Ave., Big Bear City 92314, (714) 585-6997. Rates: $75-$180.

The Inn at Fawnskin, P.O. Box 378, 880 Canyon Road, Fawnskin 92333, (714) 866-3200. Rates: $75-$155.

Windy Point Inn, P.O. Box 375, 39263 Northshore Drive, Fawnskin 92333, (714) 866-2746. Rates: $90-$200.

Janet Kay’s Bed and Breakfast, P.O. Box 3874, 695 Paine Road, Big Bear Lake 92315, (800) 243-7031. Rates: $59-$129.

The Lodge at Green Valley Lake, P.O. Box 8275, 33655 Green Valley Lake Road, Green Valley 92341, (714) 867-4281. Rates: $65-$95.

Spring Oaks Bed and Breakfast Inn, P.O. Box 2918, 2465 Spring Oak Drive, Running Springs 92382, (714) 867-9636. Rates: $95-$130.

Sky Forest Bed and Breakfast Inn, P.O. Box 482, 760 Kuffel Canyon Road, Sky Forest 92385, (714) 337-4680. Rates: $90-$150.

Storybook Inn, 28717 Highway 18, P.O. Box 362, Sky Forest 92385, (714) 336-1483. Rates: $98-$200.

Chateau Du Lac, P.O. Box 1098, 911 Hospital Road, Lake Arrowhead 93252, (714) 337-6488. Rates: $95-$250.

Bluebelle House, P.O. Box 2177, 263 S. Highway 173, Lake Arrowhead 92352, (714) 336-3292. Rates: $75-$95.

Carriage House, P.O. Box 982, 472 Emerald Drive, Lake Arrowhead 92352-0982, (714) 336-1400. Rates: $95-$120.

Lakeview Lodge, P.O. Box 128, 28051 Highway 189, Lake Arrowhead 92352, (714) 337-6633. Rates: $65-$195.

Eagle’s Landing, P.O. Box 1510, 27406 Cedarwood, Lake Arrowhead 92317, (714) 336-2642. Rates: $95-$175.

Willow Creek Inn, P.O. Box 479, 1176 Highway 173, Lake Arrowhead 92352, (714) 336-2008. Rates: $105-$185.

For more information: Call or write the Big Bear Chamber of Commerce, P.O. Box 2860, Big Bear Lake 92315, (714) 866-7000, for recorded information on lodging, dining and events in the area. The chamber building, at 630 Bartlett Road, is also the Big Bear Lake Visitors Center.

Call or write the Arrowhead Chamber of Commerce, P.O. Box 219, Lake Arrowhead 92352, (714) 337-3715, or (800) 545-5784 for recorded information on lodging. The Lake Arrowhead Chamber, which operates as a visitor center Monday-Friday, is at the entrance to Lower Lake Arrowhead Village in the Vineyard Bank Building.