At some point between Thursday, October 15, and Sunday, October 18, a small group with a guide will probably walk down a street you drive every day. They may stop in front of a breeze-block wall you stopped noticing years ago. Modernism Week's fall festival runs those four days and lists more than 50 activities, all of them open to the public. The October calendar is laid out almost entirely over the city's own neighborhoods, its industrial studio pockets and one long commercial street, so for people who live here it works as a guide to their own town.
The Tours Follow the Residential Map
The walking tour listings read like a list of Palm Springs neighborhood names. Most of them run every day of the festival, so a tour of your own area is easy to fit around a normal week.
| Neighborhood | Tour | Dates |
|---|---|---|
| Twin Palms | Frank Sinatra's Neighborhood: The Hollywood Elite | Oct. 15–18, daily |
| Twin Palms | Twin Palms Estates Exteriors Walking Tour: A New Design Era | Oct. 15–18, daily |
| Twin Palms | Twin Palms Guided Walking Tour | Oct. 15 and 16 |
| Vista Las Palmas | Rat Pack Playground: Modernist Homes | Oct. 15–18, daily |
| Old Las Palmas | Golden Era of Hollywood Homes | Oct. 15, 17 and 18 |
| Movie Colony | Stars of The Movie Colony: Romantic Palm Springs | Oct. 15–18, daily |
| Deepwell | Shangri-La of the Stars: Midcentury Showcase | Oct. 15–18, daily |
| The Mesa | Hidden Paradise of Showbiz Legends | Oct. 15–18, daily |
| Little Beverly Hills | Little Beverly Hills Walking Tour | Oct. 16–18, daily |
| Uptown Design District | Uptown Design District | Oct. 16–18, daily |
| Indian Canyons Golf Resort | Modernist Treasures: Lush Living on the Links | Oct. 15–18, daily |
Twin Palms gets the most attention of any neighborhood on the calendar. The festival calls it "the desert's first modernist neighborhood." It has three walking tours, and Sinatra's former home anchors the Hollywood Elite route. The Featured Home Tour, The Marquee at Twin Palms, is also open daily for all four days. That makes four separate ways into one neighborhood across the same four days.
The Little Beverly Hills listing adds a detail even longtime owners may not know. The subdivision was first marketed as the Enchanted Village. Downtown has its own daily routes. Heart of the City: Pioneers to Playground of the Stars follows the Walk of Stars, and Giants of Architecture covers the commercial buildings of the old fashion and finance district. On October 16, ONE PS Presents: Trailblazers & Visionaries leads a walk past downtown landmarks.
The Interiors Are Spread Across the Weekend
The home tour calendar is where the festival goes inside, and each house gets its own date. Morada La Estrella, an Old Las Palmas estate, opens on Sunday, October 18. Also on the 18th, Atomic Ranch Talk & Tour: Art & The Renovation in Indian Canyons looks at a remodel south of town. Two days earlier, Atomic Ranch hosts The Modern Legacy of Desert Eichler No. 12.
Saturday, October 17, has the most home tours in one day. They include A Sackley Stunner, built around the Liever Residence, a Stan Sackley Canyon Country Club commission; CoCo Cabana: Designed for Gracious Living; and Desert Lanai 4, A Charles Du Bois Desert Community. On Friday the 16th, the Palm Springs Paradise Home Tour II is a self-drive tour of six local homes. Frey House II, Sunnylands and Hotel Lautner in Desert Hot Springs are open every day of the festival.
Some events sold out early. As of the current listings, these are gone:
- Kirk Douglas Estate Tour, October 15
- Cotino, a Storyliving by Disney Community, October 15
- Downtown Palm Springs Village Green Historic Tour
- Bella da Ball's Celebrity Homes Bus Tour, October 16 and 17
- Twilight Architectural Bus Tour, October 16 and 17
The Premier Double Decker Architectural Bus Tour and Sinatra's Rat Pack Homes & Hangouts Bus Tour still list daily runs.
The Free Day Is in the Studio Districts
The only event on the October calendar marked free is the Modernism Art District Tour on Saturday, October 17. It's self-guided, and more than 50 artists open their studios across five districts. The page's summary lists studio hours as 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., but the schedule line on the same page prints a different start time, so confirm the hours before you go.
The district addresses take the festival out of the tour neighborhoods and into the city's working pockets:
- Via Negocio Arts, 1800 N. Via Negocio, about 3 artists
- The Lofts at Sun Center Art District, 610 S. Belardo Rd., about 6 artists
- SOTA Art District, the studios around 4501 E. Sunny Dunes Rd., south of the airport, about 7 artists
- Backstreet Art District, 2600 S. Cherokee Way, about 8 artists
- The Perez Art District, 68845 Perez Rd. in Cathedral City, about 30 artists
Perez Road has roughly as many participating artists as the other four districts combined. Each stop has parking, according to the organizers. Because the tour is self-guided, you can fit two Palm Springs districts and Perez Road into one afternoon without a ticket.
Evenings Center on Palm Canyon Drive
After dark, the festival moves to a short stretch of Palm Canyon Drive and the streets just off it. CAMP, the festival hub, is at the Hyatt Palm Springs, 285 N. Palm Canyon Drive. On Thursday, October 15, Modernism Week Wined-Up runs at HALL Palm Springs inside the Thompson Palm Springs, and the Fall Dining Series opens at Bar Issi. Also that night, Ethyl's Place Mod Bingo brings drag performances and DJ Discoboy, plus a nod to Tupperware's 80th anniversary. The second dining-series night is at King's Highway on Saturday, October 17.
The Palm Springs Modernism Show is open to the public on Saturday the 17th and Sunday the 18th. Entry is through Oasis 4, with self-parking in the main lot on Caballeros. A preview party on Friday night opens the show. Afterward, a 70s DISCO after-party continues at Spirit Animal inside Hotel Zoso. For a seated evening, Saturday has back-to-back film nights: Charles Phoenix's LOS ANGELESLAND and a screening of "Arthur Elrod: Desert Cool." On Thursday, "Palm Springs, Tuned In" covers the history of music in the Coachella Valley. On Friday, a presentation profiles William Charles Tanner as "The Man Who Designed Early Palm Springs."
The Same Street Has Been Changing Since Summer
The Palm Canyon corridor that hosts the festival's evenings has also been changing this fall. On the north end, the Coachella Valley Independent reported in September that Big Juice appears to be adding a location at the Thompson, 414 N. Palm Canyon Drive. That would put a juice bar in the same building as HALL's Wined-Up evening. No opening date has been announced. Farther up the street, Saffron Restaurant and Lounge closed its location at 1107 N. Palm Canyon Drive on Saturday, October 3. KESQ reported that it plans to reopen at a new site with a new menu and covered parking. The site hasn't been announced yet.
Toward the south end, Johnny Costa's at 440 S. Palm Canyon Drive turned 50 this season. Palm Springs Bites reported that dinner service resumed September 4 after the summer break, followed by a Golden Anniversary ribbon-cutting on September 10. On East Palm Canyon, the micro-bakery Con Amor, Nina y Leon is opening its first storefront at 1775 E. Palm Canyon Drive, Suite 150, the former home of Over the Rainbow. The bakery's weekly pastry boxes are available to order online until the shop opens.
One change sits a few blocks off the corridor. Alice B. won't reopen at Living Out. Gertie's Salon & Bar took over the space during Alice B.'s summer hiatus and is staying permanently. Its official address is 1122 E. Tahquitz Canyon Way, and the biscuits are still on the menu, also sold frozen to take home. Downtown also has a new taproom from Luchador Brewing Company, serving its craft beers with Mexican street food, according to Palm Springs Life.
The next downtown date is two weeks after the festival. Scoop Palm Springs returns to Downtown Park on Sunday, November 1, from noon to 4 p.m., with more than 20 local makers of ice cream, gelato and paletas. A $38.25 ticket covers ten 2-ounce tastings, and proceeds go to the LGBTQ+ Center's Community Food Bank.
Many of the homes on these tours, in Twin Palms, Vista Las Palmas, Old Las Palmas and Little Beverly Hills, owe much of their value to their architecture and their stories. At Jeff Davidson Group, we work with owners of architecturally significant desert homes and second homes, and we can talk with you about how a house's design history fits into its value. Contact Us.
