Palm Springs

Palm Springs is an anachronism. Like a perfect time capsule of post war (world war two that is) modernism dropped into a palm oasis slapped in the middle of a desert. It's a little mid-century jewel box.

Palm Springs is an artificial Holywood creation. The studio system that so dominated Hollywood in the 1940s and 50s decreed that actors and crew could not reside more than two hours from the studios and filming locations, so that production would not be put in jeopardy if reshoots were required. Actors desperate to get out of the hellhole of LA chose to settle in the secluded township of Palm Springs. There were two key reasons for this choice - Firstly, the town sits on a natural aquifer ensuring an all year round supply of fresh water - very helpful in the desert if you expect to have a pleasant garden. Secondly, there was only one dirt road in and out of the town. To Protect their stars privacy, the studios ensured that unwanted riff-raff - aka LA gossip journalists - were barred entry to Palm Springs. Any smart Alec who managed to slip in to report on the goings-on within would quickly be booted out of town by the obliging local police and black-balled from any job in Hollywood again. Palm Springs quickly became a private haven for the Hollywood elite where their shenanigans could be conducted openly in private.

Spanish revival architecture was de-rigeur for the period of the late 30s and early 40s, but Palm Springs was effectively a blank canvas. With nine months of sunshine to enjoy, the Hollywood elite wanted houses that fitted the landscape - light and airey, with little distinction between interior and exterior, big yards and swimming pools. Top architects were hired, who transformed modern domestic architecture - Mid-century modern.

The new style soon spread to domestic architecture and prefab housing estates. Simple box design neighbourhoods were built, all floorplans being identical - including a built-in swimming pool - but all made distinctive by their rooflines, some flat, some sloped, some butterfly, and their entry facades. Mid-century modern for the masses.

As the 1940s gave way to the 1950s, hotels and motels sprung up and the city grew to become an exotic holiday destination for the middle class.

Mid-century modern style remains ubiquitous in Palm Springs through the 1960s and 70s, although long abandoned elsewhere, giving the place a distinctly retro feel. It remains a popular holiday destination, especially for golfers and those seeking the nostalgia of the Rat-Pack era.

We arrived in Palm Springs on the tail of a sandstorm. Winds tearing down the valley can dump metres of sand across the highway, blocking the route in and out. We had to suddenly brake and pull to the left to avoid plowing straight into a two foot high sand drift that had blocked the right lane. It was a bit of a surprise welcome!

We checked into the Life Hotel, a renovated 60s motel, formerly known as the Royal Sands. After freshening up we headed out to our first tiki bar of the holiday, the Bootlegger. They claim to make the best cocktails in palm Springs and they were damn right. Aloha!

We then cruised down to The Reef, which served food and was closer to our hotel. Unfortunately it was really quiet and the kitchen was closed so we just had a cocktail and beer. Most restaurants seem to stop service around 9pm so we found ourselves a bit high and dry. In desperation we had toasted sandwiches ubered to our room.

The next day we were up early and exploring. We had a quick breakfast and wandered the shops. In the afternoon we joined an architectural tour that took us through some of the most iconic homes from the mid- century period. This was a self driving tour where we followed behind the tour leader, author and historian, Michael Stern, and we dialed into a chat line on our phone for the commentary. Here we hit another problem we'd encountered several times on our trip - iPhones are ubiquitous in the US and many apps and services US providers expect you to use for everything from booking a restaurant to checking in to a hotel only work on iPhone. We warned Michael we did not have iPhones and weren't sure we could connect. He was sure it would be fine. It wasn't. We couldn't connect and after driving around for a bit we had to pull over and jump into one of the other tour members' cars.

The tour was excellent and we visited some excellent homes. It's amazing that some people are willing to open up their homes for the tours. The tour ended at the Frey House II overlooking the valley. Designed by Alfred Frey, this house was as radical as could be in the 1940s, with its open plan scheme built around a natural rock feature that intrudes into the bedroom. It's an architectural icon although probably not a very practical building.

After the tour we took the tramway (a cable car) to the top of the mountain for the view. While it was hot in the valley, it was 6 degrees at the top of the mountain! From the top we could see another sandstorm blowing down the valley.

That evening we visited the Purple Room, a hangout of the Rat Pack back in the day. They have lounge singers and impersonators playing these days. It was very retro. Then we visited the Airport Bar, which proved very hard to find as it is a nondescript commercial centre with almost no signage. We eventually found it but it took a lot of effort. The bar is done up like an airliner - but with much more leg room! They were almost closing so we had a quick drink and then flew home.