Locals say it in hushed tones, but I knew it already: People come to Palm Springs in Southern California’s Coachella Valley for the architecture.
Whether you’re a fan of midcentury modern — glass walls, indoor-outdoor living and other Jet Age-styling that captured the era’s optimism and embrace of revolutionary housing — you have to know that the architecture’s ideals of low profile and high swank define Palm Springs.
It inspires the enduring “Mad Men”-era cool, and the open mindedness of the city’s residents, in which half are gay, according to the Palm Springs Bureau of Tourism. And it makes a buttoned-up Oregonian like me toss on a yellow sundress and sandals on a 75-degree day in February, and go searching for signs of Rat Pack indulgences.
On your own, you can drive by modernist icons using maps of movie stars’ homes you’ve bought at the Palm Springs Visitor’s Center, a one-time gas station with a flying wedge roofline.
Swing by 2466 Southridge Dr. to see late comedian and early NBC investor Bob Hope’s estate that eminent modern architect John Lautner said was inspired by a volcano. Once listed at $50 million, the almost 24,000-square-foot modernism marvel sold for $13 million in November.
If you don’t want to sightsee alone, from October through mid-April you can take a walking tour ($20) offered by the Palm Springs Historical Society of homes designed by star architects for Hollywood royalty. You’ll see flat-roof facades fronted by yards of rectangular rock beds, and hear about Sinatra’s piano-shaped pool and Liberace’s piano-shaped patio. But you won’t be allowed inside these private pads.
To get inside the poshest playgrounds, hop on a tour offered during Palm Springs Modernism Week, which is Feb. 16-26 this year.
Tickets to the fashionable series of parties, panels and home tours sell out early, so plan ahead or keep checking modernismweek.com for added events and exhibits, some of which are hosted by companies and are free.
You can hobnob with illustrator SHAG, aka Josh Agle, known for his images of cocktail-attired party goers, from 5 to 8 p.m. on Feb. 25, at SHAG The Store. Or, earlier that day, take a bike tour of architect William Krisel’s beloved Ocotillo Lodge and other icons hosted by Hot Purple Energy, a solar installation company.
To get the biggest bang for the lowest effort, hang out at Modernism Week’s CAMP headquarters, next to the also-participating Palm Springs Art Museum Architecture and Design Center. At CAMP, you can eavesdrop on lecturers’ pre-event conversations and watch the double-decker architectural tours buses come and go.
It’s only $20 to get inside the Modernism Show & Sale Feb. 18-20 at the Palm Springs Convention Center, and it doesn’t cost anything to check out the fins and chrome on 50 vintage automobiles parked at the front entrance noon-3 p.m. Feb 20.
Anything you do helps support the core belief of Modernism Week and the steadfast work on behalf of the Palm Springs Preservation Foundation that if these historic midcentury buildings aren’t cherished, they’re lost.
Where to stay to soak in the vibe
Palm Springs benefited in the 1980s from not having the money to update its buildings. Instead, it was a dusty time capsule, a dry museum to modern when compared to nearby La Quinta, Palm Desert and Indian Wells and their more prestigious golf courses and upscale shops.
Then young adults, some lured by music festivals in Coachella and Joshua Tree, fell for the throwback city and started buying Atomic Age furnishing in thrift shops. Savvy developers swooped up neglected properties and “reimagined” them for today’s lifestyle.
Christy Eugenis, a developer and interior designer who lives in a restored midcentury modern home in Portland, saved two aging Palm Springs motor inns by remaking them into popular boutique hotels: the 1957 Orbit In, with its boomerang-shaped poolside bar, and the nearby 1947 Hideaway, where guests flop into restored Aimes Aire pool furniture.
Rates at both properties, which Eugenis no longer owns, start around $180 a night and include poolside Orbitini cocktails, and use of cruiser bikes and vintage-styled record players.
Palm Springs area hotels and motels are pricey except during the summer and impossible to book during Modernism Week. VRBO rentals are available, but avoid the windy north side.
Sanford Cohen, who rents luxury vacation estate homes in Palm Springs’ toniest neighborhoods through palmspringsproperties.co, says his customers from Portland “want mountain views and something private. If they don’t want to get dressed for breakfast, they don’t have to.”
For about $4,000 a night, you can check into 432 Hermosa, the chic Donald Wexler-designed Dinah Shore estate that Leonardo DiCaprio bought in Old Las Palmas neighborhood, where glamour goddesses Marilyn Monroe and Showbahis Elizabeth Taylor chilled in the sun.
Even if you don’t stay at Arrive hotel (about $200 a night), indulge in the poolside brunch on Saturdays and Sundays. During Modernism Week, there’s a free anniversary pool party here with live music and local pop-up shops from 1 to 5 p.m. Feb. 18.
Wherever you land, jump mentally or physically into the legendary pool scene in a city where aqua dinner jackets and paisley Pucci dresses fit right in, and where stars and architecture from the past shine.
Beyond Modernism Week
No matter how you arrive, by car or landing at the Palm Springs International Airport (Alaska Airlines has a nonstop from PDX to PSP), you will see the wind farms. These towering, twirling white structures rise seemingly out of nowhere and have been fictionally described as conceived by “Star Wars” filmmaker George Lucas and designer Philippe Starck.
Start your visit, as we did, at the Palm Springs Visitor’s Center, then wander around downtown to explore the buildings, public art and palm tree landscaping. The Uptown Design District (a two-mile stretch of North Palm Canyon Drive, aka Hwy. 111, between Tachevah Drive and Alejo Road) is where you can find shops with vintage and retro-inspired clothing and furniture.
Mies van der Rohe MR20 Lounge Chair
A La Mod sells midcentury seating, lighting, rugs and carpets, including a 1960s MR20 Lounge Chair by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe ($2,200).
If you need something colorful to wear – fuchsia? – or something new for your abode, visit the Trina Turk home and women’s clothing shop and Mr. Turk menswear.
Find Elvis’s star on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars, and if you’re on Palm Canyon Drive between Baristo and Amado roads on a Thursday evening, check out the art, food and music at the Villagefest street fair on Palm Canyon Drive between Baristo and Amado roads.
If you’re fine with standing in line for good food, dine at Cheeky’s or make a reservation at Workshop Kitchen + Bar, a 2015 James Beard Foundation Award winner housed in an old movie theater and serving WWII-era cocktails.
Before you return to the 21st century: Take a trip up the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway ($26) to see why this desert oasis compels people to slide away their living space and be open to the outdoors.
– Janet Eastman
jeastman@oregonian.com
503-799-8739
@janeteastman
Palm Springs ideas from Portland tastemakers
Slap on your shades, jet to Palm Springs and step back into the ’60s. If you do, you’ll see a lot that’s familiar, including independent retail establishments and restaurants, nature seekers and Portland residents.
We asked frequent visitors to direct us to the best to see, eat and do in this Southern California desert city.
Justin Riordan of Spade and Archer Design Agency, a home staging agency with offices in Portland, Palm Springs and Seattle: Eat at Mister Parker’s at Parker Palm Springs, see Sunnylands Center & Gardens, the former winter home of Ambassadors Walter and Leonore Annenberg, and avoid all the big events and instead lay by the pool.
Robert Trotman, Portland interior designer: Eat Johannes’s authentic Austrian wiener schnitzel and Le Vallauris Restaurant’s lobster bisque, and shop at Stewart Galleries for great small items and at nearby vintage furniture stores, objects shops and art galleries.
Tonya Strum, whose Portland House of Tomorrow home was on Restore Oregon’s 2016 architecture tour and who has a second home in Greater Palm Springs’ Bermuda Dunes: Eat at Fisherman’s Market & Grill, Pinocchio in the Desert and for lunch, taste the date-based dishes at the historic, family-run Shield’s Date Garden in Indio, a 20-minute drive away.
Jack Bookwalter, Portland architectural historian with a 1958 modern house in Palm Springs that he rents out. Eat at the Tropicale Restaurant & Coral Seas Lounge, a 1940s supper club atmosphere with great food worth the high price, and the casual Rick’s Restaurany & Bakery, a 1950s’ Googie-type coffee shop that has Cuban food as good as Pambiche in Northeast Portland. Hike Indian Canyons and see the native Washingtonia Palm, and the springs that form streams, ponds and waterfalls.
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