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Palm Springs Eternal
By Marc Lallanilla
January 2002
Out & About
Ah, Palm Springs. The Babylonian excess, the sun-splashed splendor. But in recent years all this
wretched decadence has given way to, well, even more Babylonian excess and sun-splashed splendor. Will it ever stop?
Apparently
not. When the Agua Caliente band of Cahuilla Indians settled in the region over 2,000 years ago, they knew a good thing when
they saw it. That good thing, the natural mineral water of the local hot springs, is still available to the public at the
Spa Resort Casino (and still owned by the Agua Caliente Indians).
But even they could not have envisioned the region as a playground for the international glitterati. Escaping the paternal
oversight and morality clauses of early Hollywood's studio system, movie stars like Clark Gable, Errol Flynn, Bette Davis
and Carole Lombard turned Palm Springs into a haven for hedonism. The trend continued after WWII, and Rat-Pack partiers like
Frank Sinatra, Elizabeth Taylor, the Gabor sisters and Dean Martin found a sunny, martini-soaked hideaway at the foot of Mount
San Jacinto.
Other, more serious post-war visitors found in Palm Springs the perfect environment to experiment with
cutting-edge design. Modernist architects like Richard Neutra, John Lautner and Albert Frey turned the city into a full-scale
laboratory by constructing some of the 20th Century's most avant-garde buildings, and outfitting them with furniture now considered
design classics. The trend continues to this day, and the residential neighborhoods of Palm Springs are dotted with new homes
using innovative forms and materials.
The popularity of the area waned in the 1970's, and the only thing "hip" about Palm Springs was "surgery." This lack
of economic growth had an ironic result; the homes and businesses that were once too corny and old school to even register
as a blip on the cultural radar screen were preserved by neglect, and priced accordingly.
Then in the 1980's, a fondness for cocktail culture crept back into our consciousness; when out-of-town hipsters stumbled
upon still-intact Tiki lounges, surfboard coffee tables and budget-priced modernist architectural gems, it set off a feeding
frenzy that continues unabated today.
Of course, someone (and you know who you are) told the rest of the world, and now Robert Downey Jr., Tom Ford, artist
Dale Chihuly, Bruce Weber, Jennifer Anniston, Brad Pitt and a host of other celebs are frequent visitors or home owners. (Okay,
I guess we can forgive you for telling Brad.) Though prices on everything from real estate to boomerang ashtrays have risen,
Palm Springs is still a bargain compared to L.A. or New York.
For more, go to Out & About
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