Fawnskin Lodge

On a ride around the lake the other day I stopped to take a picture of a rather sad sight.  It's the Fawnskin Lodge Hotel.  Fawnskin is a little satellite village across the lake from the city of Big Bear.  It's extremely small and has about 10 businesses, four or five of which are no longer open.  Even the small park, which was generously donated by the singer Shirley Jones (Carousel) and her husband, is closed.  They live high up above the village.

I've been visiting the area since 1983, and the Fawnskin Lodge has never been open.  I'm not sure when it was closed, and the closure was due to some new building regulation which declared that the structure was too heavy for its foundations.  So it has sat empty for at least 28 years and there is nothing anyone can do.  I guess it will just fall down one of these days, which will add another bit of decrepitude to this otherwise pretty village.