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| Ace Hotel Mountain View |
I'm a little late on this post, but I had the great joy of visiting
Palm Springs over my Christmas holiday. I used to go there for weekends as a kid just a couple hour drive from San Diego. Flying into Palm Spring's airport was a totally new experience, and I have to say that the entirely outdoor mid century modern airport is my new favorite, and I hope to fly there again soon!
We checked into our suite at the fabulous
Riviera Hotel, just a short walk to the main drag of Palm Springs,
Palm Canyon Drive. Everything at this hotel from the perfectly decorated rooms, to the bars, pool and lobby are absolutely fabulous! I mean... even their outdoor hallway wall is covered with fauna, and the pool table bedazzled with millions of crystals. Just an amazingly designed hotel.
After checking in, we took the convenient Riviera red trolly to the main stretch of Palm Canyon Drive only to do the most touristy thing, photograph the larger than life
Marilyn Monroe. Then, we shopped til we dropped, and refueled with drinks and lunch at the ever popular
Lulu bistro, the perfect place to people watch al fresco. Then, we hit up some phenomenal mid century modern home furnishings and clothing stores such as
No.6 and
Retrospect, both with unique inventory and wonderful owners to chat with and get the insider scope of the town.
While wandering around all day, we scouted the most amazing restaurant called
Workshop Kitchen + Bar, and they were just able to squeeze us in for a dinner reservation. The food and concrete modern decor were amazing, but best yet was the bar with specialty speakeasy style cocktails, and an even more amazing bar manager who was passionate about every ingredient and origin of the libations. Good thing the bar kicked ass, because we waited there for about two hours, even with a reservation...
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| Workshop Kitchen + Bar |
The next day we woke up bright and early to embark on a self guided mid century modern architecture tour! I'm not one to awkwardly sit on a tour bus with white haired strangers listening to a guide on a microphone, so we found an awesome
online map and guide of all the sites to hit in town, and hopped in the rental car, coffee in hand. First stop was the
Palm Springs Aerial Tramway, which takes you in a cable car to the top of the mountain for incredible views of the desert.
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| Palm Springs Aerial Tramway |
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| Palm Springs Aerial Tramway |
Next, we drove around the incredible streets at the foot of the mountain, where all the most posh mid century modern houses reside near Las Palmas, including
Elvis' Honeymoon Hideaway and the
Kaufmann House. Then we finished the tour with the
Wexler Steel Houses.
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| Elvis' Honeymoon Hideaway |
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| Kaufmann House |
With all the drooling over the incredible mid century modern houses, we worked up an appetite and parked it at the most popular breakfast spot in town,
Cheeky's. The food was pretty good, and it came out right away, which was great so we could hang out for cocktails at the awesome joint next door
Birba. The courtyard and mountain views at this place are so inviting, I could have stayed all day sipping on delicious drinks, but we had more shopping to attend to. No visit to any town for me is complete without a little thrifting, and I found some great vintage at
Angel View. Of course, there are high end vintage options like
Deja Vu Vintage, but who wants to pay that high of prices when you could hunt for treasures at the thrift store instead?
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| Birba |
We wound down that Mid Century Modern packed day pool side under heat lamps at the
Riviera SideBar with live music, flowing cocktails, and delicious snacks.
Final destination in Palm Springs- breakfast at
King's Highway at the ever fabulous
Ace Hotel for a hearty portion of biscuits and gravy before the drive to Orange County. That hotel just never disappoints. Ever. Perfect way to end a fabulous weekend getaway in Palm Springs.
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| King's Highway |
