Palm Springs goes Hollywood with all the sass but sans the attitude at the Ace Hotel, a former Howard Johnson motel turned hipster hangout. Its restaurant, King’s Highway, is renowned for its breakfasts so we’re here to test them out.
Oh yah baby, guess who’s having the Ricotta Pancakes with berries, banana, honeycomb butter and bacon? Hint: it ain’t Tim.
Chester ‘Cactus Slim’ Moorten, one of the original Keystone Cops, and his wife Patricia channeled their passion for plants into this compact garden founded in 1938. Today Moorten Botanical Gardens is an enchanting symphony of cacti, succulents and other desert flora. A sweet hummingbird welcomes us in.
A 15-mile drive down-valley takes us to the amazing Living Desert Zoo & Gardens which exhibits a variety of desert plants and animals alongside exhibits on desert geology and Native American culture. Nice snakey, nice boy.
Highlights include a walk-through wildlife hospital and an African-themed village with a fair-trade market and storytelling grove.
Bet you’ve never seen a winking meerkat before.
Time to soak up and suck in.
Every Thursday night locals and visitors alike flock to Villagefest, with a farmers market, food stalls, craft vendors and street performers.
North of downtown the rotating cable cars of the Aerial Tramway are a highlight of any Palm Springs trip. They climb nearly 6000 vertical feet through five different vegetation zones, from the Sonoran desert floor to the San Jacinto Mountains, in less than 15 minutes. The 2.5-mile ascent is said to be the temperature equivalent of driving from Mexico to Canada.
It’s 30°F to 40°F cooler as you step out into pine forests at the top.
Snow is not uncommon as you can see.
The perfect date. The Coachella Valley is the ideal place to find the date of your dreams—the kind that grows on trees, that is. Some 90% of the US date production happens here, with dozens of permutations of shape, size and juiciness, and species with exotic-sounding names such as halawy, deglet, noor and golden zahidi. A signature taste is the date shake: crushed dates mixed into a vanilla milkshake. Hadley Fruit Orchards has been serving the “stars” since 1931 and is the place to get them as well as to stock up on other interesting stuffs.
What the...? West of Palm Springs we do a double take when we see the World’s Biggest Dinosaurs by the side of the highway.
Claude Bell, a sculptor for Knott’s Berry Farm, spent over a decade crafting these concrete behemoths, now owned by Christian creationists.
In the gift shop, alongside the sort of dino-swag you might find at science museums, you can read about the hoaxes and fallacies of evolution and Darwinism.
It didn’t take us long to figure out breakfasts are a big deal in Palm Springs and Cheeky’s ranks among the best. Waits can be long but it’s worth it.
The farm-to-table menu dazzles with witty inventiveness like this ‘flight’ of multi-flavoured bacon. Rosemary sugar and jalepeño, yum!
Sandi chooses the custardy scrambled eggs while Tim goes for the smoked salmon benedict with avocado.
Time for a little retail therapy. Central Palm Springs has two main shopping districts along North Palm Canyon Drive, divided by Alejo Road. North of Alejo, Uptown is more for art and design(-inspired) shops, while Downtown (south of Alejo) is ground zero for souvenirs and fun clothing. Trina Turk makes form-flattering ‘California-chic’ fashions and Sandi is uber-tempted by these lovelies.
It’s definitely worth a visit to the Palm Springs Art Museum. Alongside well-curated temporary exhibitions, the permanent collection is strong in modern painting, glass and sculpture.
Merging fashion, film, and material culture, Killer Heels: The Art of the High-Heeled Shoe explores the fashion world’s most coveted object, its rich cultural history, and its complex relationships to fantasy, functionality, identity, and power. Just look at these incredible examples: a “Love” shoe, a Chanel shoe with a light bulb heel that actually lights up and a flaming Prada wedge inspired by the American tailfin car era. Sandi spots a shoe from long-time Vancouver shoemaker, John Fluevog (above photo, bottom right).
A cigarette holder heel and a 12" high shoe made by United Nude for Lady Gaga with climbing gold, naked men. Gaga’s tiny, only 5'1", and wants to appear taller so always wears sky-high heels and these shoes were likely inspired by the entourage of men she needs to help her walk. The things you learn on this blog!
A 1956 Henry Moore reclining figure in bronze and a finely-chiseled stone head (c1911-13) by Italian sculptor Amadeo Modigliani are among other highlights.
There’s also stunning glass art by Dale Chihuly and William Morris.
Sandi makes some new friends.
The Saguaro Hotel’s main restaurant, Tinto, serves tapas and Spanish-inspired cooking by Iron Chef Joses Garces. We opt for the tasting menu and, sorry-to-say and with all due respect Sr. Garces, we found the food disappointing.
Streams flowing from the San Jacinto Mountains sustain a rich variety of plants in oases around Palm Springs. Home to Native American communities for hundreds of years and now part of the Agua Caliente Indian Reservation, the Indian Canyons, shaded by fan palms and surrounded by towering cliffs, are a delight for hikers. We do the Palm and Andreas Canyons.
Our well-informed guide, Gabe, teaches us about the flora, fauna and ancient traditions of the Native peoples.
Featured in the Bravo TV series Welcome to the Parker, the posh Parker Palm Springs resort highlights whimsical decor by Jonathan Adler.
Everything is so beautiful.
We drop by for a posh breakfast at Norma’s five-star coffee shop in the hotel. Norma’s melt-in-your-mouth Super Blueberry Pancakes with orange and devonshire cream are expensive at $21US but are worth every US penny and probably the best we’ve ever had.
We’re back at the Ace Hotel for another big breakfast before making a beeline for bargains at the huge Desert Hills Outlet mall 20 minutes west of Palm Springs. From Gap to Gucci, Polo to Prada, Off 5th to Barneys New York, it’s all here and more.
To end our colourful stay in Palm Springs we drive to La Quinta for happy hour and dinner at the popular Stuft Pizza Bar & Grill. Cheers!
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