Trina Turk Shares Her Favorite Palm Springs Spots!

The national magazine about California style features Turk for its September issue and lists her favorite stores, restaurants and hiking trails and more.

A few of her recommendations include Cheeky’s Restaurant, The Estate Sale Company and The Ace Hotel & Swim Club.

Turk moved to the desert with her husband, photographer Jonathan Skow and opened her first Palm Springs store in 2002.

The Los Angeles-based fashion designer has seven of her own stores nationwide, with two in Palm Springs.

 Palm Springs Hotel Deals--Sleep Over and Pool Party

Sleep Over and Pool Party at Renaissance Palm Springs

 

One of the best Palm Springs Hotel Deals right now is at The Renaissance Palm Springs! 

This is the time of year when you can take advantage of some "warm weather" and get a large dose of sunshine here in the Palm Springs, CA Area!  For more things to do... join 365 Things to do in the Palm Springs, CA Area on Facebook!

Relax while the kids play in the 5,000-square-foot pool and stay in a standard room or upgrade for $20 to a suite.

Rates from:   $59-$99
Valid Through:  August 31, 2010
PROMOTIONAL CODE: ADV
 
Bring the whole family even your four legged friend. Kids and adults alike will love the Dive In Movies every Friday night, and pool side entertainment on Saturdays.

Cool off this summer in the largest pool in Palm Springs. Kids will have fun in their own kiddies pool and play area. Adults will enjoy a pool area with private cabanas, outdoor dining and ROCKS indoor lounge and bar. Entertainment for all ages!

Nearby attractions and within walking distance to downtown.

Rates are from $59 per night for a standard room, $69 for pool view and $79 for pool view suite.

Reservations
Be sure that promotional code ADV appears in the Corporate/Promotional code box when making your online reservation, or call 1-800-228-9290 in the US and ask for promotional code ADV.


Renaissance® Palm Springs Hotel
888 Tahquitz Canyon Way
Palm Springs, California 92262 USA
760-322-6000 or 800-228-9290

ALL IMAGES COURTESY Renaissance Palm Springs Hotel

PALM SPRINGS WEEKEND-- STILL SWINGS!

There was no local television and little local radio in the Coachella Valley. In the early 1960s, visitors and residents went out for entertainment.

Stars and well-to-do guests stayed at Charlie Farrell’s legendary Palm Springs Racquet Club, but they also stayed at newer hotels such as the Riviera, the Spa and Gene Autry’s Holiday Inn, sometimes for months at a time.

Palm Springs doubled in size in the early ’60s, which then-mayor Frank Bogert credited to the development of condominiums and mid-century modern houses built by the father-and-son team of George and Robert Alexander.

Most people still went to the old-school supper clubs, like the Chi Chi, Romanoff’s and the intimate Ruby’s Dunes restaurant, where local residents Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby cut their teeth.

But young people also were drawn to Palm Springs.

Autry brought his expansion Los Angeles Angels to Palm Springs for spring training in 1961 and, by ‘63, young players such as pitchers Bo Belinsky and Dean Chance were giving Palm Springs a reputation as a party town. Belinsky dated Ann-Margaret, Connie Stevens and Mamie Van Doren and married Playboy centerfold Jo Collins.

Spring break had been attracting college kids to Palm Springs since the 1950s and, by the early ’60s, local kids were enjoying rock ‘n’ roll. They’d buy records at Patty’s Record Shop on Palm Canyon Drive and R&B discs at Butch Diamond Music on North Indian Avenue.

The Howard Manor, now the Colony Palms Hotel on North Indian Canyon Drive, had long attracted young Hollywood. Elvis dropped by as early as December 1961, often to see ’50s rockabilly star Jody Reynolds.
But loud, raucous rock was generally restricted to the outskirts of town, such as the old Farmhouse restaurant in Cathedral City.

Adult contemporary music, reminiscent of the sounds featured in “Palm Springs Weekend,” has pretty much dominated the tourist-driven music scene since the big band era.

“This town has been so influenced by the music of one man, Frank Sinatra, that when (tourists) come down here, they want to hear the music of the Great American Songbook because that is Palm Springs,” said local keyboard artist Marty Steele. “All the snowbirds, they want to hear Sinatra, they want to hear Louis Prima, they want to hear Dean Martin.”

WHERE IT WAS SHOT:

The truth is, most of “Palm Springs Weekend” was shot on a sound stage in Hollywood.

The on-location shooting centered around the Riviera Resort, which was Palm Springs’ ritziest hotel.

When the spoiled rich kid played by Robert Conrad tells Connie Stevens’ character he’s staying at the Riv, she coos, “The Riviera!”

Stevens was staying at a rustic hotel amid a date palm grove, which was probably the complex behind Boomers amusement park in Cathedral City.

If you check out the DVD at a video store or the Palm Springs Library, or order it online, you also may recognize North Indian Avenue off Interstate 10 as the site for the chase scene involving Conrad, Troy Donahue and Ty Hardin.

                                          Renting a Celebrity Home in the Palm Springs Area is easy!

The Coachella Valley's reputation as a retreat for Hollywood's elite dates to the days of sunbathing in the 1930s at the El Mirador hotel in Palm Springs.

The desert is dotted with homes where celebrities once lived and played. Today, some property owners are cashing in on that star-studded cachet.

For a price, a tourist can relax poolside like Frank Sinatra once did, lounge in the same space where Elvis and Priscilla Presley honeymooned and puzzle over the hotplate Howard Hughes installed in his bathroom.

“I think her name does create attention,” Rich Valentine says of the Lucille Ball Bungalow at the Ocotillo Lodge in Palm Springs.

He and his wife, Mary, rent the small, tidy apartment for $2,000 a month. It's decked out with portraits and memorabilia of the comedienne and is footsteps from a pool that is so perfectly Palm Springs. And it's already booked for the first three months of next year.

“They get a great return on their investments,” Jesse Garza of Homes Run Inc. said of those who own famous homes and rent them to vacationers.

His rental company's portfolio features many properties designed by mid-century modern architects or owned previously by celebrities.

Take the Frank Sinatra Twin Palms Estate, for example. Garza, portfolio and marketing director, said it is a popular rental for fans of modernism and the crooner alike.

“It captures two different demographics important to Palm Springs,” he said.

                                           Frank Sinatra's Twin Palm Estate

                                   1145 E. Via Colusa    You can swing in "rat pack" style for $2,600 per nite!

History: Ol' Blue Eyes in 1947 hired mid-century modern architecture legend E. Stewart Williams to design and build this 4,500-square-foot Palm Springs home for him, wife Nancy and their children.

It has four bedrooms and seven bathrooms. The shower off Frank Junior's room has a head situated fairly low — but appropriate for a child's height.

Sinatra later lived in the home with his second wife, Ava Gardner. The two were said to have had many fights there.

The property is named after two skinny palm trees that loom over the pool, which is shaped like a baby grand piano.

Palm Springs has received extra love from the pop culture world recently.

The next time you're in your car, crank up the radio           

and listen for Katy Perry's latest pop song, “California Gurls” featuring rapper Snoop Dogg; he throws a shout-out for the historic “playground of the stars” in the middle of the song.

Then there is the new TV series “Scoundrels” set against the Palm Springs backdrop — but not actually filmed in the city.

So what gives with all the recent Palm Springs plugs? Is it the result of some top-secret marketing scheme drummed up by Palm Springs tourism organizations?

Not exactly. Hillary Angel, public relations manager for the Palm Springs Bureau of Tourism describes the recent Palm Springs references as mere coincidences, but says Palm Springs' long-standing reputation as a vacation destination certainly helps.

“We did not coordinate anything with the producers or artists,” she confirmed. “But I think Palm Springs is a favorite destination, and when people think of summer fun in California, Palm Springs is often top of mind.”

Click on "sunny sign" for fun things to do in Palm Springs!

That may be true, especially when people living in San Diego, Orange County and Los Angeles are looking for ways to get out of the “June gloom” cloudy weather pattern that affects those areas this time of year.

For them, a new summer promotional program slated to launch Monday will offer even more incentive to vacation in Palm Springs and surrounding valley cities, according to Mark Graves, executive director of marketing and communications for the Palm Springs Desert Resort Communities Convention and Visitors Authority.

It's called “Cool Pools Hot Deals,” and it's co-presented by the CVA and Palm Springs Bureau of Tourism. The promotion, which is supported by several other valley cities, will offer a whole host of hotel deals, ranging from discounts on rates to resort credits, all aimed at getting rooms booked.

“The idea is if they book a stay at a hotel, they'll want to do other things, like dine out or go shopping,” Graves explained. “It helps valley businesses, all around.”

It's premature to predict how well the promotion will do, but Graves is confident it will garner some hotel business.

“Either you do something, or you don't,” he said. “It's just a matter of getting awareness out there.”

For more information, go to www.palmspringscoolpools.com or www.visitpalmsprings.com

and check out 365 Things to do in the Palm Springs, CA Area on facebook! 

                                   LIVING DESERT VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!

If you love desert plants, animals and spending time talking to others about them, you might fit right in as a volunteer or docent at The Living Desert.

The zoo and botanical gardens, located in Palm Desert and Indian Wells, is looking for adult and teen volunteers and docents for the upcoming 2010/2011 season.

Volunteers positions are long-term and applicants must be able to commit to at least one three- to four-hour shift per week, said Volunteer Coordinator Judi Greene.

Volunteers are needed to lead school tours, act as storytellers and assist guests on their visits to the zoo, said Greene.

General orientation sessions for both volunteers and docents will be take place from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Oct. 6 and Nov. 8. The orientation sessions are a chance to see what volunteer opportunities are available, she said.

For the most part, volunteers do not work with animals, except for those assigned to the petting corral, Greene noted.

For those interested in becoming docents, training runs from Oct. 19 through Feb. 1 for the twice-weekly 8:30 a.m. to noon sessions on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Adult volunteers and docent applicants must be a high school graduate or older, Greene said.

Once accepted into the program, membership in The Living Desert will be required.

The ZooTeens program is also accepting applicants. ZooTeen volunteers must be incoming freshmen or older and be able to commit to 12 hours of volunteer work per month throughout the school year, and for the summer camp programs.

Spanish-speaking volunteers are especially needed for all positions.

Applications are available on the The Living Desert website.

Go to livingdesert.org and the “education” pull down menu. From there, go to the volunteer menu.

For more information call The Living Desert volunteer office at (760) 346-5694 Ext. 2503, jmgreene@livingdesert.org; livingdesert.org.

36 Hours A Week

Village Pub - 266 S. Palm Canyon Dr., Palm Springs. 1-760-323-3265.

Photo by Gregg Felsen

While a majority of lounges limit live entertainment to weekends or specific nights of the week, Village Pub hosts bands every night. So if it’s a Monday or a Tuesday or a … well, you get the idea … and you get the urge to kick up your heels, just head for downtown Palm Springs — even if it’s after Leno’s show.

Bands play from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. Three bars include one on the patio and one upstairs where you can play pool and foosball. The upstairs also has a jukebox, and a DJ spins tunes Thursday through Saturday, also from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. Happy hour runs from 3 to 9 p.m., with food specials from 3:30 to 6 p.m.

For late-night diners, Village Pub serves its full menu until 1:30 a.m.

266 S. Palm Canyon Dr., Palm Springs. 1-760-323-3265.