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Das Palevsky House (14) von Craig Elwood beherbergt heute eine stattliche Pop-Art-Sammlung.

1954 baute E. Stewart Williams das Edris House (15). Er war auch der Architekt von Frank Sinatras Villa. Weit oberhalb der Stadt errichtete sich der Architekt Albert Frey 1963 sein fantastisches Frey House II (17).

T he city in the Coachella Valley is also called “Hollywood’s desert playground”: 806 metres it takes us up through several climate zones to the top station on
Mount San Jacinto located at 2,597 metres. The Palm Springs Arial Tramway Al-
Because the rich and the beautiful of Hollywood wanted to lie in the sun in
winter as well, they had residences built for them in Palm Springs by the masters pine Station (3) was also completed in the year of 1963 according to plans by E.
of modernism. Many of them are in first-class condition even today, occupied and Stewart Williams.
sometimes even rented out as attractive holiday homes. The attempt to discover r 12.30 pm – Up here, fresh snow welcome us, a breath-taking panoramic view
on one’s own villas such as the Kaufmann House, Frank Sinatra’s Twin Palms across the Chino Canyon and the Coachella Valley – and freezing cold which makes
Estate or the residential buildings designed by Albert Frey (which are exactly indi- the too summery-clothed tourists return down into the valley immediately. We for-
cated on a folding map published by the Palm Springs Modern Committee) unfor- tify ourselves with a small lunch snack in the (heated!) Peak Restaurant (4) and
tunately often means ending up in front of hedges obscuring the view and at gar- ride back down into the valley. Those who arrive not like us by car but by airplane
den fences – or only looking from a distance at the buildings in private streets. The are greeted by the Palm Springs Airport Terminal Building (5) with outdoor wai-
visitors of the annual Modernism Week (www.modernismweek.com), on the other ting rooms, palm gardens and sunshine. The shape of main hall’s roof, designed
hand, are able to experience the icons of architecture up close, from the inside as by Donald Wexler in 1965, reminds of the wings of a jet airplane. Right opposite
well as the outside, at cocktail parties, receptions and during guided tours which stands Palm Springs City Hall (6) which Albert Frey designed at the end of the
are accompanied by the present owners or even the original architects. 1950s together with John Porter Clark and Robson C. Chambers. It has a far-projec-
ting roof with three striking palm trees growing through its circular skylight.
Saturday: Between desert flowers and snow-topped peaks r 3.00 pm – We drive from here on El Cielo Road to edge of the city from where a
guarded private drive leads up the hill to the spectacular Elrod House (7) with a
r 10.00 am – Right at the entrance to the city of Palm Springs, a spectacular buil- 220 degree panoramic view which John Lautner designed for the interior designer
ding welcomes us: the Tramway Gas Station (1) designed by Albert Frey and Rob- Arthur Elrod in 1968. The radial skylights make the building, in which several
son C. Chambers in 1965 with a triangular roof appearing to float above the semi- scenes for the James Bond film Diamonds Are Forever where shot in 1971, look like
transparent construction. Today, this is where the Palm Springs Visitors Center is a desert flower. Likewise spectacular but completely the opposite as to style is the
located where one receives extensive maps and information material. We want to Ship of the Desert (8), the next private home on our list. The streamlined villa
first of all get a proper overview from above of the city and the valley – and check with a dream of a cactus garden, designed by Wilson & Webster in 1936, was fur-
in at the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway Valley Station (2) for a trip with the gon- nished by the fashion designer Trina Turk with a cool mixture of vintage furniture
dola. The cable car constructed in 1963 (whose valley station was likewise built by and pieces from her own home collection. On the semi-circular balcony of the “de-
Albert Frey and Robson C. Chambers together with John Porter Clark and started sert ship”, one feels like standing at a rail.
in 1949) is the longest rotating cableway in the world and overcomes a difference r 6.00 pm – The afternoon is drawing to a close and we check into The Hideaway
of approximately 1,800 metres in altitude: from the valley station at an altitude of (9) for the night, a spacious apartment complex around an XXL pool designed by

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