PALM SPRINGS ICONIC FROM THE BEGINNING Some places, like Palm Springs, are instantly iconic: wide blue sky, natural hot
desirable residential developments), golf courses became ever more inspired
springs and mountains rising to snow-capped peaks – the perfect backdrop
in design. Today, there are more than 100 private and public golf courses
for low-slung architecture and motion pictures.
in the Coachella Valley and numerous world-championship competitions.
The area’s earliest residents were the ancestors of today’s Agua Caliente Band
At the same time, architects saw the landscape’s contours and colors as
of Cahuilla Indians. The 18th and 19th century saw the advance of Spanish
the ideal setting for what would become known as Midcentury Modern.
expeditions, mapping parties and railroads across the Sonoran Desert. In
Captured on film in dramatic black and white by Julius Shulman, many of these
1884, Judge John Guthrie McCallum built an aqueduct on land purchased
remarkable homes are being preserved, and every February, Modernism
from the railroad. With water assured, The Palm Springs Hotel was opened
Week offers an opportunity to learn, tour and peek inside.
two years later, and in 1909, Nellie Coffman opened the Desert Inn.
With a year-round population and a robust tourist economy served by an
The word spread quickly. Doctors recommended desert air; affluent visitors
international airport, Palm Springs is a nonstop celebration. Along with desert
found respite from snowbound winters and crowded cities. Incorporated in
and mountain recreation, there is a weekly Villag e Fest world-renowned
1938 as the Village of Palm Springs, the town had become a favorite getaway
film festivals, sensational restaurants, outstanding museums, and even the
for Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack, Bob Hope, Dinah Shore and scores of
world’s largest rotating aerial tram cars.
other stars who would lend their glamor to the Palm Springs name.
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The 1950s brought two signature changes to the region’s landscape: golf
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and architecture. As country clubs became resort destinations (and later,
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