1. Desert modern. THE architectural style of Palm Desert. All 1950s/60s simple lines, elevated roofs, supporting columns with fins, pools, and concrete decor. Of course, concrete boxes do look better against a bright blue sky and hot desert sun than it would in pouring rain (c.f. the 1950s brutal concrete of St Stephen's, Norwich). We didn't get to see as many of the houses as we would have liked, given that they're behind hedges or on private streets -- and we failed to get the right map until late on our only full day there -- but the commercial buildings we saw were wonderful. Even the Shell garage had an interesting roof. Depressingly, the real estate agents had several great -- and affordable, dammit! -- properties for sale, like this one. Want!
2. The aerial tramway. Now, I'm no fan of cable cars -- and indeed spent one memorable trip up a mountain huddled in the bottom of a cable car to the bemusement of the French and Swiss folks with us -- so I was a little surprised to find myself reading out the description of PS's "revolving tramway" to PJ and suggesting that we have a go on it. And while most of the journey was fine, the bit where we went over the support towers was most unpleasant. But, there's something quite impressive about climbing from the desert floor to alpine meadows carpeted with snow in just 10 minutes.
3. Lots of restaurants. Seriously, lots and lots of restaurants. Would it be sushi? South-western? The hamburger joint? Upmarket French cuisine? Etc etc? No, it was fish and chips at the fishmarket -- darn good fish and chips. You can take the boy out of England ...
4. A really wonderful hotel. We're not the most sociable people, but free booze certainly encourages us to talk to others; we are English, after all. The Movie Colony Hotel provided sake martinis and wine at 5.30 in the evening around the fire pit, and as a result, we chatted to lovely people from Orange County, Chicago, Vancouver, British Columbia ... and even acknowledged them at the free breakfast buffet the following morning. The hotel was also beautifully designed and had an excellent, under-utilized jacuzzi. It is very pleasant to sit out in a jacuzzi at 9.30 pm in early January and watch the stars through hot steam. Highly recommended.
5. A walkable downtown and uptown heritage area. LA was impressive, but it was nice to get out of the car and just walk around. You see so much more and it feels so much healthier (highly calorific Jamba Juice consumption notwithstanding).
We are very tempted by the prospect of wintering in Palm Springs from December this year. It will all depend on whether we have a house here and cats.
No comments:
Post a Comment