PHOTOGRAPH BY DAN CHAVKIN
It was a lockdown day. I was bored, which led to a drive, which led to my favorite phrase: I’ve never been up that street.
Magnesia Falls Cove in Rancho Mirage was always a place to drive past, but this time I took the turn.
It was all a little too Tuscan for me, and then … a midcentury gem hugging a palm tree under a clear blue sky. You could show this house to anybody anywhere in the world and they’d say “California.” It could be a Hockney or a Ruscha.
I sat out front Googling its size and sales history, and imagined living there. I learned it was built in 1956 and wondered if Albert Frey’s new Palm Springs City Hall was the inspiration. I posted my photo on Instagram with the caption, “Somebody really thought about this” and comments poured in immediately.
I wasn’t bored anymore. Just another day in the desert.
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