At least once or twice a year a big coffee table sized book on Palm Springs lands on my desk for review. Sometimes these books concern the unique architecture of the resort town while others focus on its celebrity past. Sometimes they're a combination of the two. Rarely haven't any impressed.
Recently, however, a new book by Peter Moruzzi, 'Palm Springs Holiday—A Vintage Tour from Palm Springs to the Salton Sea', came my way. I tossed it in the 'to read someday—maybe' pile and forgot about it. The other day, I picked it up and found myself delighted with it. Totally without pretension, the book cleverly and whimsically takes a look at the history, development and golden age of Palm Springs and its neighbors through vintage photographer, illustrations and artifacts. The author's text—if it can be called that—is a couple dozen funny lines here and there along with extended captions.
I think one of the reasons I was so captivated by Moruzzi's book is that it took me back to a period of six months when I lived in Palm Springs in the early nineties. A friend had offered to have me caretake her family's estate in the Las Palmas section of town. It was a magnificent, old Spanish house and grounds which her father—an early Hollywood pionee—had acquired in the forties. The house was filled with memoribilia of the golden age of Palm Springs, a time when celebrity, glamor, golf, tennis and dude ranches all went hand in hand in the Coachella Valley. Of course, by the time I did my stint in PS, the town was withering on the vine. It seemed like half the stores on once-prestigous North Palm Canyon Drive were empty and shuttered. Even my neighborhood—once the most coveted—was nearly deserted and 'For Sale' signs (most of which looked like they'd been standing for years) lined the streets.
At the time, it was the perfect place for me. I needed to work on a book, and thought the sleepy (dying) atmosphere was the perfect non-distraction. There would be nothing to do but work and maybe play the odd game of tennis.
Yet, despite the fact that the town had not yet been 'rediscovered', I managed tof find way too many distractions. Days began to fill up with golf, tennis, hiking and cycling around to photograph the great examples of mid century architecture. Friends seemed to arrive every weekend. The book languised, but I had a great time and spent one of the most relaxing six months of my life.
Even though I sometimes go back and spend time with my friend who owns the estate, I rarely venture beyond its walls except to play a round at my favorite golf course, or visit a couple of my favorite watering holes. Palm Springs' renewed hipness has sort of got me down.
But then Moruzzi's book reawakened my affection for the town. The book is cleverly divided into chapters such as Early History, the Original Hotels, The Desert's Gambling Dens, The Postwar Tourist Boom, Shopping, The Palm Springs Hotel Explosion, Desert Dining, Desert Modern and several others. My favorites were hotels, dining and architecture. The estate at which I stayed was only two blocks from where the original Don the Beachcomber's served up the infamously lethal Zombie cocktail along with that mysterious postwar, exotic appetizer: the Pupu platter. Alas, Don's was already shuttered when I hit town, as were such famous joints as Rudy's, Chi Chi, the Doll House and Diamond's Steak House. However, I did manage a couple meals at the waning Banducci's Bit of Italy before it closed in 2004, and I still make it a point to go have a couple gibsons and the prime rib (King Henry cut) at Lyon's English Grille when I'm visiting. Ok, the kitsch factor outweighs the quality of the meal, but where else but Palm Springs are you greeted by a full suit of armor as you enter and where the ghosts of the rat pack line the bar?
Though I thought I had thoroughly investigated the mid century architecture of Palm Springs during my sojurn there, Moruzzi's book made me realize that I had focused on the residential and neglected to study some of the signifcant public and commerical buildings. In particular, I must have passed by the Palm Springs City National Bank (now, I believe, a Bank of America) dozens of times without really appreciating its modernist design which Moruzzi says was inspired by Le Corbusier's design of the Chapel of Notre Dame du Haut in Ronchamp, France. Who knew?
To be sure, Moruzzi's book is not an exhaustive portrait of the town, and anyone who is intimate, even familiar, with PS can easily point out some glaring omissions. But I don't believe this is the author's intentions. Instead, he is simply giving us a collection of vintage postcards and snapshots of a Time That Was. For instance, one of my favorite parts of the book are the 13 pages devoted to Desert Air, a resort in the then wilderness of Palm Desert in the south valley. During the fifties and sixties, the resort's patrons were encouraged to arrive in their private airplanes where they could taxi right up to the door of their cottages. Moruzzi illustrates this section with vintage photographs, matchbooks, brochures, illustrations and business cards. I especially yearned to go back in time and attend one of the resort's elaborate luaus (some thousand people would attencd) where sometimes that matriarch of Hawaiiana, Hilo Hattie, would preside. I could almost taste the singapore sling and roast pork and canned pineapple.
Ok, so it's pointless to yearn for a Palm Springs that has been replaced by a landscape littered with mid century antique shops, tee shirt emporiums and disposable theme restaurants. Still, there are vestiges of the old Palm Springs around—there are a few of my picks:
LYONS ENGLISH GRILLE
233 E Palm Canyon Dr
Palm Springs, Ca 92262
760 327 1551
It's got to be continental and sophisticated because they put an 'e' at the end of Grill, right? I've got a real soft spot for the bar. Alot of elbows have polished that mahogany. One of the first times I was in there, I ordered a Gibson and who should be standing at my side, approving my choice of beverage? Mr. Red Buttons, that's who. 'Nuff said.
Ok, so the good isn't quite up to the quality of the clientale or the high kitsch, so you might want to avoid the steak and kidney pie or the Chicken Kensingston, but if you're feeling particuarly peckish and carniverous, you have to try the prime rid, King Henry cut. It's an obscenely large slab of beef on which you will be dining for days afterwards.
O'DONNELL GOLF CLUB
301 North Belardo Road,
Palm Springs, Ca 92262
Phone: (760)325-2259
Specs: 2,655, par 35
Architect: Tom O'Donnell; founded in 1925.
Playing: Members with guests; Sponsored guests are permitted. Cart is required. Tee times: bookings required 2 days in advance. Reciprocal.
Membership Fees/Dues: $6,000 initiation, $3,300 annual.
9 holes with two sets of tees. Flat and fairly open. Well maintained. Bent-grass greens. Beautiful scenic historic course. Palm Springs Oldest course. It also abuts the original Palm Springs cemetary where more than a few local legends permanently reside.
PSMODERNTOURS
Sneak a peek at the architecure and design that evokes the fabulous lifestyle of mid-century Palm Springs... from homes with soaring rooflines and walls of glass to monuments of commerce and industry in dramatic gasoline stations and banks and more, PSMODERNTOURS takes you on a fun and educational two-and-a-half hour journey through the architecture and neighborhoods that defined mid-century Palm Springs. In a comfy mini-van and coveriing more than thirty miles, your comprehensive tour looks at all types of buildings of the innovative, award-winning local architects of the era (residential, commercial, civic, hotels, religious) and the world acclaimed masters who had extraordinary commissions here...learn about the architects, their clients, the materials and the creative flourish of the times that has made Palm Springs today one of the world's most important collections of mid-century modern architecture.
Advance reservations are strongly recommended
$75.00 per person, payable by check or cash at tour's completion
PSMODERNTOURS are exterior tours with one stop
For more information, email psmoderntours@aol.com or call (760) 318-6118
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