Los Angeles & Southern California - Andrea Schulte-Peevers [291]
A Ride ‘n’ Dine combination ticket (adult/child $35.50/23) includes a simple dinner (think roast beef or turkey plus sides) at the Pines cafeteria in the Mountain Station, from 3pm. The restaurant, Peaks ( 760-325-4537; mains lunch $10-12, dinner $17-32; lunch & dinner), features a more upscale meat-and-seafood menu, local produce and brilliant views. Reservations are recommended. If you choose to dine up here, be sure to allow time for a leisurely look around at the top.
Allow three hours to park, ride the tram and take a leisurely stroll once at the top. It’s also possible to hike to the mountain via the Skyline Trail (Map), which starts near the Palm Springs Art Museum. This extremely challenging hike is recommended only for the very fit who have a whole day to spend; leave no later than 7am. The reward, besides stellar views and multiple climatic zones, is a free tram ride down.
* * *
PALM SPRINGS MODERN
Palm Springs has always been a party town. When snowbirds from Minneapolis, Pittsburgh or LA wanted a vacation home, they wanted it flashy. A generation of architects – William F Cody, Albert Frey, Richard Neutra, Donald Wexler, E Stewart Williams, the Alexander brothers and others – used the city as their testing ground for their innovative exuberant forms and techniques that are now commonplace: long overhangs and flying roofs to protect from the sun, rail-thin supports, clerestory windows and easy transitions between indoors and out.
Sinatra, Elvis, Liberace and their contemporaries strove to outdo each other with their homes, while enjoying long games of tennis on warm mornings before relaxing over cocktails by the pool. At one point in the 1950s, every real-estate ad in the Yellow Pages featured an illustration of a modernist building.
Starting after WWII and continuing through the 1960s, golf took over from tennis in prominence, and with little remaining real estate in Palm Springs, new construction moved Down Valley. The result: Palm Springs real estate withered.
But in the mid-1990s, fashion photographers began to rediscover these architectural treasures, which led to a second boom, this time in restoration. Take a guided or self-guided tour Click here for an in-depth look, or here are some easily visible public buildings to get you started:
Tramway Gas Station – now Palm Springs’ visitor center Click here
Del Marcos Hotel
Kaufmann House (Map; 470 W Vista Chino)
Washington Mutual Bank (Map; 499 S Palm Canyon Dr)
Palm Springs City Hall (Map; 2300 E Tahquitz Canyon Way)
* * *
INDIAN CANYONS
Streams flowing from the San Jacinto Mountains sustain a rich variety of plants in the canyons around Palm Springs. The canyons (Map; 760-325-3400, 800-790-3398; www.indian-canyons.com; adult/child $8/4; 8am-5pm daily Oct-Jun, Fri-Sun Jul-Sep) were home to Native American communities for hundreds of years and are now part of the Agua Caliente Indian Reservation. It’s a delight to hike through these canyon oases, shaded by fan palms and surrounded by towering cliffs. From downtown, head south on Palm Canyon Dr (continue straight when the main road turns east) for about 2 miles to the reservation entrance. From here, it’s 3 miles up to the Trading Post, which sells hats, maps, water and knickknacks. Trail posts at the entrance to each canyon can provide you with maps and hiking info.
* * *
EARTH, WIND & WATER
Spend a day splashing in the pool, golfing on a lush green fairway or shopping in air-conditioned comfort, and you might wonder...where exactly does the Coachella Valley get all these resources? For that matter, how does it even exist in the harsh desert?
Part of that is thanks to wind. As you drive in from LA, you’ll notice that the winds in the San Gorgonio Pass, west of Palm Springs, can be fierce. The tourist board says that it’s one of the windiest places in the world. It’s