Palm Springs HISTORY
When Edward S. Curtis Met the Cahuilla
A century ago, legendary photographer Edward S. Curtis documented the Cahuilla people on the Agua Caliente...
A City of Immigrants
In the book, Coachella, author Jeff Crider recalls how generations of foreign laborers put this little...
Explore Palm Springs: La Plaza and Harry J. Williams
Architect Harry J. Williams scratched the design for La Plaza shopping center in Palm Springs on...
Explore Palm Springs: Summer Baseball
During the 1930s and '40s, summer baseball brought a welcome diversion from the summer heat and...
The Curious Case of Casa Chiquita
A nearly 90-year mystery about the historical roots of the oldest known farmhouse in Rancho Mirage...
Explore Palm Desert: Shadow Mountain Resort
A unique figure-eight pool highlighted the Shadow Mountain Resort including high dives, water slides, and a...
Explore Palm Springs: Lawrence Crossley
Credited as the first African-American resident in Palm Springs, Lawrence Crossley built companies and developed land...
Explore Palm Springs: First Sign of Water
John McCallum was the first to bring water to the desert by constructing a stone-lined ditch...
The Self-Determined Sixties
By the 1950s, Agua Caliente leaders had cleared the way for future Tribal development, ultimately shaping...
Explore Palm Springs: Fig Tree John
Fig Tree John, also known as Juanito Razon, was credited with planting the first fig tree...
Explore Palm Springs: Big Jim Maynard
Jim Maynard was extra large. At 6-foot-6 and 300+ pounds, his wild adventures and kind demeanor...
Explore Palm Springs: KCMJ Radio Station
An affiliate of the Columbia Broadcasting System, radio station KCMJ was installed specifically to serve Greater...
Explore Palm Springs: B-Bar-H Ranch
The B-Bar-H Ranch promoted its natural hot mineral springs, soon becoming an invitation-only resort located just...
Building on Water
The Agua Caliente people survived and thrived thanks to the fresh water that snaked through the...
Explore Palm Springs: Desert Plays
The Desert Plays begun by Garnet Holme in 1921 performed in an outdoor theatre in Tahquitz...
The Agua Caliente Story Takes Root in School Curriculum
The Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians and the Palm Springs United School District have created...
Explore Palm Springs: Forrest Bird
While living in Palm Springs, Forrest Bird invented ventilators that have been hailed as one of...
The Biggest Play You’ll Ever See
On a hillside in Hemet, a couple of professional actors, a few horses, and an entire...
Explore Palm Springs: Los Compadres Riding Club
Harris Posey, the new manager at the brand-new Bullock’s Department Store, and a young employee, organized...
An American in Paris
Almost a century ago, Desert Hot Springs pioneer Cabot Yerxa studied art in France and documented...
New Book Offers a Thorough Look at Cahuilla History
Author Lowell John Bean Bean encapsulates his lifelong research of the Agua Caliente Indian Reservation In...
A Striking Collection
Rancho Mirage's storied past is revisited in a book told through resident Leo Mallette's collection of...
Nature Made
Ancient bedrock mortar sites offer a glimpse into the chef's kitchen of the ancient indigenous world...
Grand Slam
Since it opened nearly 60 years ago as the Canyons Club Golf Course, now known as...
Explore Palm Springs: Street Names
Prior to 1930, many of the names of the streets in Palm Springs reflected the agricultural...
A Hike Through Time
Consider the incredible history of Indian Canyons and the centuries of Cahuilla life that preceded the...
Explore Palm Springs: What Was the “Palm Springs Label?”
A style, referred to as the “Palm Springs Label,” emerged in the 1950s incorporating the best...
Explore Palm Springs: Bank of America Building
The Palm Springs headquarters of the City National Bank of Beverly Hills was called “one of...
Explore Palm Springs: Airport” Designed for Passengers”
Architect Donald Wexler was just 37 in 1961 when voters approved a bond to purchase 600...
Explore Palm Springs: Hillside Living
In 1961, development began on Southridge in Palm Springs featuring a 33-foot-wide, lighted palm-lined roadway on...
Two Sides of the Center
In a fairy tale, Town & Country Center would celebrate its 72nd anniversary in 2020, but...
Explore Palm Springs: Concrete Screen Block
Ron and Barbara Marshall’s book, "Concrete Screen Block: The Power of Pattern", tells the trend of...
All Shook Up
Liberace helped Elvis feel at home on stage by advising he add more "glitz" to his...
Explore Palm Springs: A. Lawrence Kocher
Albert Frey came to Palm Springs to design a building for the brother of architect A....
Explore Palm Springs: The Chi Chi
The Chi Chi was wildly successful under Irwin Schuman, drawing such stars as Nat King Cole,...
It’s a Wonderful Resort
In an adobe cottage at La Quinta Resort & Club, legendary filmmaker Frank Capra worked out...
Written in Stone
With its majestic mountains and valleys, the Coachella Valley landscape is a canvas for indigenous peoples’...
Constructing a Kish
The Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians’ traditional home, known as a kish, resembles the round,...
Desert Dreamers: The Environmentalists
The Desert Dreamers series focuses on a group of dedicated environmentalists who watched over the delicate,...
Explore Palm Springs: Frank Bogert
Even before he became mayor of Palm Springs, Frank Bogert was the real deal comboy and...