We woke today to a tap on our sliding glass doors at 8am sharp. We slid back the curtains to a wash of gorgeous morning sunlight. This was our first sight of Palm Springs in the day. WOW! So cool. Looking out over our patio brekkie, to the pool and the mountains beyond - awesome.
We headed into town to check out the main streets, sim was kinda hoping there would be a cool mid century vibe about the place, las if we had travelled back in time; we hadn't. Apart from the buildings and multitude of modern furniture and art stores, Palm Springs is pretty normal. In saying that it's a really cool place.
The desert and mountains surround this palm filled Oasis making it a really interesting environment. It's shielded from the wind and bad weather so it's mostly hot and sunny! It kinda is like paradise in a way (needs a bit more water for my liking tho)
We then headed over to the Museum of Art which was actually a really high quality art gallery. Really good stuff there and the two temporary exhibits were really good. One in particular was on the work of local Desert Modern architect Donald Wexler. Was really enjoyable!
We headed back to the hotel as we had booked a tour for 1pm. We were going to visit lots of the modern homes in Palm Springs. I had my heart set on a few in particular so here's hoping.
We got picked up by this guy Michael Stern who had collaborated with the famous photographer Julius Shulman. He seemed a pretty connected guy so was excited we would see some cool things. First place we visited was up in this private rich gated community in the hills. The house, by William Cody, was ok, but its view was stunning! We were teased however when he drove us by one of John Lautners amazing houses, the Elrod House which you cant see much of from the street and we could only slightly glimpse Bob Hopes old house, also by Lautner. Still was cool to get up here.
We then drove completely across town and around the windy corner- the windiest place in California apparently. The coachella valley is cool - filled with wind mill farms, a sight that is made all the more amazing by the blowing desert sand that sweeps across the road and clouds the air.
We headed out to Snow Creek, at the foothills of the mountains to a small strange looking building designed by aluminum manufacturer Floyd Angelo. The house was COOL! It was a small hexagonal open plan building with folding triangular glass and aluminum walls. What made it cooler was not only had it been stayed in by the Beatles,(allegedly) but it Rotated!
This was awesome- it moved 120deg to shade and screen the inside from the sun. Amazing!
The setting was cool too - really quite tranquil and quiet!
We then made our way back through Palm Springs, checking out lots of cool architeural stuff like Kaufman House by Neutra, Wexlers Steel Houses, and Albert Freys work as well as some famous peoples places like Marilyn Monroe, Kirk Douglas, Liz Taylor and Elvis' honeymoon house! This one was particularly cool. The architect was apparently given the brief of ... "show me what the future looks like". I'm not sure if he got it exactly right tho!
After over 3 or more hours if looking at houses and cool buildings we headed back to our own cool building for a swim in the pool. We felt like movie stars.
For dinner that night we got a discounted tip off for Thai food at a place called Thai Smile. Was pretty good food too! I love Thai - it's pretty consistent everywhere you go! Never fails!
Anyway - loving Palm Springs. I was expecting it to be a bit more kitch and snobby but I havnt experienced that yet. It's a strange place - a relaxing and chilled out one tho.
As our tour guide said today, it's weird that this place is made up of mostly retired Republicans and gays...yet because they're all here by choice to have a good time, it works!
If only it were that simple everywhere!
(also though - he forgot to mention that everyone here seems pretty loaded with cash!)
- Blog from iMat
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