Coyote Time and the Rising Sun

Few of us are lucky enough to watch the world (as we know it) open up each morning and welcome in a brand-new day. A lot of folks seem to be just happy seeing daylight and then pondering what the next twenty-four hours might bring into their lives. I am very lucky. For me, life begins anew here among the cactus, coyote, and early morning walkers.

Dawn in the desert is a very special time of day for a select few; human and animal alike. Not only for the beautiful sunrise that paints finger-thin rays of mustard yellow against the still sleeping mountains or the fleeting glimpses of coyotes on the golf course returning from their nocturnal hunt. The hours just before dawn seem to draw out an interesting assortment of characters intent on enjoying the cool of morning before the heat of the day. Sunrise opens the curtain on another day in the desert. The audience is sparse but appreciative.

Places that cater to the early risers are busy. A tapestry of color dances over the mountain slopes, crevice’s, boulders, scrub brush and gray-layered coat of dust and dirt.

       

The coffee shops are full. Hotel guests edge aside one another for a place in the rising sun on the patio. Estate sale aficionados clammer for a place at the head of the line to see what goodies lie inside the condo for sale. Walkers, bikers, runners, joggers, and dog-walkers move softly down the footpaths and sidewalks of the city.

For many others, it’s a quiet patio for solitary pondering of the day’s upcoming activities and life itself. So goes each early morning in this resort town. Palm Springs is a different kind of animal; always has been. Unlike a lot of other communities, there aren’t as many commuters clogging the highways and by-ways. A lot of folks like to sleep in or have their coffee on the veranda overlooking the rising sun. It’s a resort/retirement community and the residents take that moniker very seriously.

Most resort communities sport the ubiquitous gated enclaves of look-alike signature homes surrounding a golf course where every home has a swimming pool in the backyard. Those enclaves of understated wealth are sprinkled with a flavoring of casinos, fine dining, expensive shops and one-of-a-kind amenities meant to separate the cake from the chaff. Palm Springs is all that but much more. Sometimes the ‘more’ isn’t quite what the Chamber of Commerce would like to promote. Yet that is what separates this desert community from so many others.

Palm Springs is unique not only because of its storied history; real and imagined. It’s been around long enough to have grown old and stale then reborn many times over. Through the decades it has attracted both the rich and the poor, the smart and not so smart, the hip and those decidedly uncool and all manners of life form in-between.

In the past few years, Palm Springs got so dated that it became hip all over again. What was once old like mid-century modern architecture is now all the rage. Tired old motels have been revamped, remodeled, spruced up and now charge ten dollars for a bottle of beer. (But wait, I’m dating myself.) Fifties throw-away furniture fetches a fortune in design stories and replicas fare just as well. Old is new again and thus hip for those born twenty-thirty years ago. A traveler back in time like me can only smile and think about the untold wealth we took to Goodwill way back when.

While most resort communities follow the unwritten rule of retirement; sleep in, coffee on the patio and face the day on the right side of dirt, natives on the north end of the Coachella Valley are different. Early morning in Palm Springs comes to mind as a perfect example of this.

In Palm Springs it takes a lot to turn heads if you’ve been here for more than three deep breaths. For example, there’s something decidedly unremarkable about a hundred-and-fifty-thousand-dollar Bentley parked in front of McDonalds or the elderly owner inside sipping his cheap cup of coffee-with refills. Or the classic 1964 tan mustang convertible parked in front of True Value hardware. A hipster arriving at our newest hotel in town ‘The Rowen’ wouldn’t turn an eye with his vintage corvette.

The older set is in the Saguaro swimming pool for exercise class before their grandchildren’s generation has returned to bunk down. These women are an accomplished lot who want to spend their time as they please. And frankly, they don’t care what others might think about grandma and grandpa sipping their first cup of Joe at the Casino or country club instead of squirreling their children’s inheritance away.

For me, the routine is always the same. Coffee on the patio, a quick breakfast and then at my desk trying to create words, thoughts and ideas and assemble them on the computer screen. I suppose I could retire and slow down like most seniors my age but habit and hunger keep me working. I personally wouldn’t want it any other way. It’s all part and parcel of life here in the desert for me and a lot of other restless souls like myself.

The Downtown Project

In its heyday, L.A. had its Sunset Strip and Chicago had its miracle mile. Minneapolis still has its Nicollet Mall and Eat Street. Many cities across the country have their own branded tentacles of food, drink, lodging, and entertainment. Now Palm Springs has done them one better with its own small-town village atmosphere cloaked as a 21^st century hotspot. Throw in a summer splash party or two and it has become a poor man’s version of ‘Caligula’ for the masses… as long as they’re preferably under thirty years of age.

Old Palm Springs Painting by Melvin Hale

Back in its glory days, Palm Springs was a classic example of heighten expectations clashing with the reality of desert stargazing. In reality, it was only the well-heeled or coastal-connected that got to hang out with the stars. For the average visitor Palm Canyon Drive was just a welcome respite from the normalcy back home even while it harbored high hopes for seeing one of their favorite stars passing by on the sidewalk. Over the last several years, Palm Springs has slowly regained its panache.

 

The new town is a happening place once again. After years of economic stagnation and entertainment limbo Palm Springs has risen like a Phoenix. However, it’s no longer your grandparent’s vacation spot.

Palm Springs is fast becoming just about the hippest hot spot this side of Brooklyn, Silver Lake, and West Hollywood. West Coast hipsters, designers, remodelers, artists, musicians and actors are all rediscovering what their forefathers knew all along. They’re finding that wrapping those warm blue pools with a healthy shot of alcohol can bring out a hedonistic nature in the best of us.

In the heart of downtown is the Rowen Hotel - a central showcase for the brand new downtown Palm Springs. The new hotel is meant to anchor the many new downtown projects underway. Next door, The Palm Springs Art Museum continues to draw large crowds to its special exhibits. A pocket park will soon be constructed between the two enterprises. Walkability is a key ingredient here to attract the masses; tourist and local alike. The city is even carving up areas around town and giving them distinct labels such as SOPS (South of Palm Springs) and the Uptown Art and Design District.

While the hint of change had been in the air for a long time, it took the turnover of an old motel to kick-start this new makeover process. Most observers would agree that it was the conversion of an old Howard Johnson motel on Palm Canyon Drive into the new hip ACE hotel that became the catalyst for the hipsters to start coming to town. Now there is a whole cache of hotels and motels changing hands and branding themselves as ‘hip.’

The ACE comes replete with its well-earned reputation as a hipster hangout.

The Saguaro is distinguished by its colorful paint schemes throughout the building and its grounds.

The Parker covers thirteen lush acres and has become ‘the place’ where Hollywood hangs out during the International Palm Springs Film Festival and the rest of the year.

There is still something magical about the surrounding mountains, desertscape, warm winter months, and hip happenings all over town. Palm Springs is now a virtual cornucopia of cultural, artistic, sensual, musical, and intellectual stirrings for just about everyone from the art culture-types to the more modest of minds. It all seems to be happening here.

It’s a new era for Palm Springs and I’m lucky enough to be ‘cruising along’ in the middle of it.