Big Bear made the San Diego news in late 1978 with huge snowfalls. One family who had to see all this snow was Marvin Pool and his 21 year-old son Bob. Together with his wife Nancy, Bob’s new wife Kathy, and Bob’s three siblings, Marvin hit the slopes. Their first lodging experience left much to be desired, but skiing in Big Bear was a blast. So, the next fall, in 1979, with $30,000, Marvin and Bob began searching for real estate deals.

What they had in mind was the big old lodge from “The Snowball Express,” (a family Disney movie). What they found was six run down cabins called South Pines Cottages. $30k down was enough to make a deal so they bought it and moved in blindly, on January 22, 1980. It snowed heavily that day, Kathy was pregnant, and the utilities were not turned on. They unloaded all their boxes into a laundry room, moved into the most livable cabin and went to sleep on undesirable mattresses with no sheets, just some wool blankets they brought. At midnight, they heard the sound of running water. The previous owner had arrived late and turned on the water, which promptly poured out of the laundry faucet all over the Pool’s boxes of belongings. It may not have looked like Snowball Express, but the experience was the same.

A week later, they had cleaned up cabin 2 enough to rent it for $28 to a young couple. It was exciting. Nancy and Kathy had made new curtains and they left a fresh pot of stew on the stove. Bob’s sister, also named Kathy, moved in and helped for a few weeks before she left to marry Barry Spencer. The next month they opened cabin 5, then cabin 1, freshly painted in red and white. Later they opened cabin 3 with a major remodel of the electrical, plumbing and drywall, mostly done by Bob and his brother Tom. Their first son Matt was born in August. Kathy was cleaning cabins that day and Bob was out hanging drywall in town. Kathy left a note for a late arrival, “I’m going to have my baby today, and your key is under the door mat.” That guest still stays with the Pools to this day. Ask Marcus Dietz, (Big Bear Today Magazine), about her some time. By year-end, they finished the remodel of the last cabin, number 4, and Marvin and Nancy and the rest of the family spent Christmas in it.

The following year, Bob helped a neighbor, Fred, put out a chimney fire. Soon Fred and Suzie Turner became close friends and the Pools began renting their home along with the other cottages. Kathy was a Chambermaid, answering phone calls from tourists, and Bob got very involved with the Chamber of Commerce and the new Big Bear Lodging Association. Bob became a contractor, and began to manage more properties for other homeowners and even some other motel owners. Their second son, Josh, was born in March of 1983. In 1985, they purchased property on either side of the original cottages, expanding the lodge to 18 units. That was the year they built Big Bear’s first Jacuzzi Bath in Front of the Fireplace Honeymoon Suites. Those suites are still popular, though they have been redecorated quite a bit since. They are 206 and 207 at Sleepy Forest. The next year Bob’s younger brother Tim suggested a name change to Sleepy Forest Cottages, and Sleepy Forest Resorts was born.

In 1987, they purchased Cathy’s Cottages from good friends Chuck and Betty Bradley. Bob was now the President of the Tourist and Visitor Bureau and the Lodging Association, and a Chamber VP of marketing. By 1989, they owned a third motel, managed three others, and leased the Robin Hood Inn with an option to buy it. Tim Cohee, who started at Snow Summit, was running Bear Mountain. He and Bob developed Big Bear’s first ski packages together. Tim told Bob they were selling out every weekend, but needed to improve midweek business, and Bob took it to all the lodges who were excited to join in. All this happened in less than ten years. Big Bear certainly was a land of opportunity.

The Pools developed countless business friends and partners like Chuck and Christina from Oak Knoll Lodge, Clay Bales, and Eric Schwartz, just to name a few. They also made many great friends in the community as their boys grew up. The Co-op in the Pines Nursery School and the Community Church by the Lake brought them great lifelong friends like Scott and Jackie Heule, and so many others.

In 2003, their first Grandchild, Esme’, was born to their son Josh and his wife Andrea. Matt married Amber the next summer. Sleepy Forest Resorts is once again a small family operation, with Josh living next door and managing the main cottages, Bob and Kathy living near Cathy’s Cottages, and a very tight group of long-time staff, including Betty Bradley, Shari Hurley, Curtis Schwecke, Steve Kostolansky, and Luis and Eloisa Santana. Matt and Amber take breaks from school to come up and remodel cottages. Owen and Esme’ who like to help in the office, are the fourth generation of Pools at Sleepy Forest. The crazy-busy Christmas vacation this year saw Matt and Josh in the office every day, and Andrea and Amber cleaning private home rentals, so that the whole Pool family spent an entire week working and playing together. There were many years that the company seemed too big and impersonal, and they stopped meeting their guests face-to-face. They now find great enjoyment in serving their lodge guests as a family. In thirty years, they rode a roller-coaster economy from the Reaganomics boom to the 1992 Earthquake bust, and back up to record income in the 90s to a fire evacuation in 2003. Surprisingly, the worst economic hit came from the glut of rentals during the real estate bubble around 2004, and now that it has popped, they have learned to offer a better experience for less money and feel they can handle anything that comes, often on their knees praying. Bob and Kathy never thought they would be here this long, but now after going full circle from family to conglomerate, and back to family; thirty years may be just the beginning.

Meet the Pool family and staff and many of their guests on their website, www.sleepyforest.com, or on facebook.