Just When We Thought It Couldn’t Be More Spectacular – It Is!! Get Ready for Palm Springs Modernism Week 2023

Story and photos by Barbara Beckley

We’ve been celebrating Palm Springs’ incredible architecture for 18 years now. Like the buildings that continue to look futuristic –even though they’re long standing: the Kaufmann House built in1946; the Edris House, 1954; the House of Tomorrow, 1960, to name a few – Modernism Week is forever ahead of the curve. Thrilling Modernistas with new surprises, new inspiration and new insights year after year.

Easy peasy. Palm Springs boasts the most mid-century architecture on earth! And a fun-in-the-sun cocktail culture – that loves to celebrate. A dynamic duo that’s skyrocketed the city to international fame and expanded Modernism festivities to twice a year. Rumor has it – maybe three times upcoming.  

Plus – little known fact. Modernism Week has raised more than $1.8 million for local architectural scholarships and architectural restoration!! “Modernism Week is a 501(c) (3) charitable organization,” Lisa Vossler Smith, Modernism Week CEO, proudly emphasizes.    

Each October (this year, October 13-16), the teaser “Modernism Week Fall Preview” heralds what’s to come at February’s 11-day extravaganza. I attended the Fall Preview. Wow! February 16-26, 2023 is looking fantastic. More than 350 events, parties and activities highlighting architecture, art, interior and landscape design and vintage culture throughout the Coachella Valley.

Welcome to “Palm Springs Land”

“There it is! The most spectacular gas station in the Western Hemisphere – with a graceful roof like a soaring swan taking flight.” Whoa! I’ll never forget that description of master architect Albert Frey’s 1965 Tramway Gas Station-turned Palm Springs Visitor Center. Nor any of our guide’s outlandish comedy (yet factual) commentary on “The Charles Phoenix Super Duper Double Decker Bus Tour.”  

As one of Modernism Week’s favorite activities, you can take the architectural double decker bus tour has you like. Serious – or not with midcentury pop culturist Charles Phoenix and Palm Springs emcee/female impersonator extraordinaire Bella da Ball.

I chose Charles Phoenix.  OMG! – and gained an entirely new Palm Springs perspective. “Welcome to ’Palm Springs Land’ – the most spectacular land in the known universe!” Phoenix greeted us. What?  “I grew up in Anaheim at Disneyland, so I see everywhere as ‘lands’,” he enthused, throwing his hands in the air.  Driving through “Palm Springs most glamorous neighborhood,” a.k.a. Las Palmas, Phoenix pointed out the 1964 Donald Wexler-designed Dinah Shore House (now Leonardo DiCaprio’s). It’s “midcentury ‘mud-ern,’” he smiled. “Because the house is made of mud. The outside walls are adobe.” In downtown, the small inns aren’t inns – they’re “resort-ettes,” designed by the “rock star” architects (Frey, Wexler, Krisel, etc.) And riding the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway isn’t from the desert to the mountains. It’s “like going from Mexico City to Juneau, Alaska,” in Phoenix-speak. A not-to-miss tour, for sure.    

Tikis, Go-Go Dancers and Séances

Tikis gazed down approvingly as I blind-tasted mai tais (full size, of course) from the Tommy Bahama Marlin Bar , Bootlegger Tiki and The Tonga Hut Restaurant & Tiki Bar at the “Midcentury Mai Tai Domination Cocktail Party,” a new soiree hosted by modernism movers and shakers Rod and Cindra Stolk in their newly tiki-tricked-out 1947 modernist home. Then voted my fav. Tough call. Tommy Bahama won this time. You be the judge in February.

Fringe flew and Go-Go dancers pranced on platforms at the new ‘70s “Cul de Sac A-Go-Go Block Party, a Midcentury Time Capsule Experience,” in Canyon View Estates – adjacent to the identical cul de sac where Warner Bros. 2022 film “Don’t Worry Darling” was shot. A perfect pairing with the 1964 William Krisel-designed homes, rare mid-century cars – remember station wagons? – and vintage orange-and-vanilla ice cream bars.

I missed the MCM Séance on Desert Island at the newly public Desert Island Golf Club in Rancho Mirage. Come February I plan to communicate with my favorite midcentury architect in The Penney Spirits Library.  

Never-Before-Seen Homes!  

The above are examples of the fabulous homes set to open their doors for the first time in February. Tops on the list, “Villa Maggio,” Frank Sinatra’s 7.5-acre compound in Palm Desert. Boasting 6,428 square feet of interiors including the main house, guest houses, pool, tennis courts and helipad, all lovingly preserved with few changes since Sinatra lived there during the final decades of his life. Also the 1946 Robson Chambers House in Warm Sands. Inspecting its beautifully restored glass walls, unexpected industrial lighting, corrugated aluminum and unique combed plywood walls, it’s easy to see that Chambers was Albert Frey’s architectural partner.  

Others include the “Southridge Signature Home Tour,” into the gated neighborhood with residences designed by John Lautner and Hugh Kaptur. It’s also where Bob Hope’s home is. But don’t expect to see Hope’s place – at least not this time. The Shag House, artist Josh Agle’s Palm Springs residence; the 1963 Hi-Sun Home, sporting Hawaiian flair by architect Charles Du Bois, and the 1957 Ocotillo Lodge, designed by Krisel as a hotel for prospective Alexander home buyers and now a condo complex. One unit still sports Krisel’s signature on the original cupboards. “After Dark,” a sensuous evening at the acclaimed 1957 Kenaston Estate, designed by E. Steward Williams, with jazz by The Martini Kings.

Even in the desert! Next year’s new “Joshua Tree Retreat Center – Lloyd Wright Historical Walking Tour” welcomes us into the Institute of Mentalphysics in Joshua Tree National Park, and the world’s largest collection of Lloyd Wright buildings! And well – it’s like new. The House of Tomorrow, aka The Elvis Honeymoon Hideaway. Newly redone, its latest owners have restored the 4,700-square-foot, multi-polygon-shaped Krisel-designed icon to resemble the way it maybe looked when the Alexander Family commissioned it in 1960.

Traditional Favorites

Well-loved events return, of course, like the “Modernism Week Opening Night Party – Studio 74,” this year a ‘70s disco vibe, flowing libations and all-night dining and dancing at the 1961 Wexler-designed Indian Canyons Golf Resort clubhouse. The “Retro Martini Party” at a 1955 E. Steward Williams-designed residence. “Sunday Night at the Sinatra Estate,” at his legendary Twin Palms pad. And “Opening Night Preview Party for the Palm Springs Modernism Show,” with first dibs on the vintage vendors amid friends, wine and nibbles.

The “Curated Vintage Event” (Louis Vuitton, Pucci, Gucci, etc.) arranged by Mitchell Karp of Mitchells Palm Springs at Temple Isaiah is always a stylish precursor to his Vintage Fashion Show in February. Although you won’t see that Escada floral jacket on the runway anymore. I just bought it – a steal at $185!

CAMP (Modernism Week’s free “Community And Meeting Place”) returns to the Hyatt Palm Springs in Downtown. Always a fun spot to relax over cocktails and light bites, attend presentations, browse Destination PSP and other pop-up boutiques, and purchase Modernism tickets.

New Talks – Think Spooky

Definitely a must. “The Architecture of Suspense: The Built World in the Films of Alfred Hitchcock.” The first time exploring the buildings as characters in Hitchcock’s most popular films. Yikes. And giving a nod to the psychological thriller recently filmed in Palm Springs: “Retro Style on Film: Designing the Costumes and Sets for ‘Don’t Worry Darling’,” followed by wine and hors d’oeuvres.

Also, must-do – the opening Keynote Presentation by Thom Mayne, FAIA, and co-founder of the Southern California Institute of Architecture, followed by a book signing and reception at the Palm Springs Art Museum.

Don’t Miss Out! Modernism Week 2023 tickets are on sale now!