The Willows Historic Palm Springs Inn.
(Paul Boorstin)
9 Palm Springs resorts where you can party like an Old Hollywood star
Curious about how Palm Springs became Angelenos’ favorite weekend escape? When Hollywood’s movie industry flourished in the 1920s, film stars were contractually mandated to travel no further than two hours away from their studios during production, in case they were needed on set. (The real reason for this “two-hour rule†was to keep them out of trouble.) Palm Springs was a two-hour drive from L.A. — and it was always sunny, unlike competing getaway destinations like Santa Barbara.
The celebs and their minions often stayed and played in three star-studded resorts: the Desert Inn (1914-1955), El Mirador (1928-1972) and the Racquet Club (1933-2014). All that’s left of the big three today is a reconstruction of El Mirador’s grand Spanish Colonial-style tower, now part of the Desert Regional Medical Center.
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But a handful of other historic Palm Springs-area resorts favored by Hollywood stars were spared the wrecking ball. The nine standouts listed here have been updated lovingly through the decades and still retain at least some of the look and ambience they exuded when Charlie Chaplin, Clark Gable and the Rat Pack hung out there. Consider them for your next desert escape, but keep in mind when booking: You’ll pay dearly for a room during the Coachella Valley’s spring music festivals, but rates plunge when summer temperatures push past 100 degrees. And ... most of these resorts welcome dogs but not children.
Showing Places
(Paul Boorstin)
Casa Cody
Palm Springs Hotel
Harriet Cody came to Palm Springs in 1916 with her husband, Harold, a cousin of “Buffalo Bill†Cody, whose Wild West Show toured the U.S. and Europe around the turn of the 20th century. An accomplished horsewoman herself, Harriet Cody opened the first riding stable in Palm Springs, renting horses to guests at the Desert Inn and boarding horses for cowboy stars like Tom Mix. She soon expanded her operation into a guest lodge that wins the prize today as the oldest consistently operating hotel in Palm Springs. The centerpiece back then, and now, is the two-bedroom, hacienda-style adobe cottage dating back to 1900, a favorite of Charlie Chaplin.
In 2021, boutique-hotel management brand Casetta renovated the 30-room property, augmenting its great bones with modern amenities like handmade tile work and chic Smeg refrigerators. A new lobby serves as a coffee bar and marketplace selling local products, including handmade ceramic juicers. Buy one to make fresh juice from the property’s bountiful citrus trees.
In 2021, boutique-hotel management brand Casetta renovated the 30-room property, augmenting its great bones with modern amenities like handmade tile work and chic Smeg refrigerators. A new lobby serves as a coffee bar and marketplace selling local products, including handmade ceramic juicers. Buy one to make fresh juice from the property’s bountiful citrus trees.
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(Paul Boorstin)
Two Bunch Palms
Palm Springs Hotel
When notorious Chicago mobster Al Capone wanted to escape that city’s brutal winter in the 1930s, he retreated to a natural hot-springs hideaway 11 miles northeast of Palm Springs. Capone stayed in a stone cottage that was rumored to have a tunnel in case he needed to make a quick getaway. Today, guests can soak in the same palm-shaded, 98- to 104-degree mineral-water “grotto†that Capone used. The water is low in sulfur but high in lithium, reportedly making for an unusually odorless — and calming — experience.
A multimillion-dollar renovation of Two Bunch Palms by new owners since 2016 resulted in a new spa offering the likes of a “Good Herb CBD Wrap.†In addition to yoga classes, guests can join nature walks, sound baths and craft workshops like basket weaving. The restaurant serves organic fare ranging from three-grain coconut porridge for breakfast to seared lion’s mane mushroom steak and za’atar-crusted salmon for dinner. The 65 spacious guest rooms are decorated in a clean-lined contemporary style. Six suites, including four in the stone cottage where Capone once hid out, have their own private mineral-water tubs.
A multimillion-dollar renovation of Two Bunch Palms by new owners since 2016 resulted in a new spa offering the likes of a “Good Herb CBD Wrap.†In addition to yoga classes, guests can join nature walks, sound baths and craft workshops like basket weaving. The restaurant serves organic fare ranging from three-grain coconut porridge for breakfast to seared lion’s mane mushroom steak and za’atar-crusted salmon for dinner. The 65 spacious guest rooms are decorated in a clean-lined contemporary style. Six suites, including four in the stone cottage where Capone once hid out, have their own private mineral-water tubs.
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(Paul Boorstin)
La Quinta Resort & Club, Curio Collection by Hilton
Palm Springs Hotel
San Francisco businessman Walter H. Morgan moved to the desert in 1921 for health reasons and ended up bringing golf with him. Morgan hired architect Gordon Kaufmann, who designed Beverly Hills’ Greystone Mansion, to build a Spanish Colonial-style resort on 1,400 desert acres 25 miles southeast of Palm Springs. When it opened in 1926, La Quinta had 20 adobe-style casitas and the first (nine-hole) golf course in the region.
Today, La Quinta Resort & Club, Curio Collection by Hilton, features 796 guest accommodations; 90 holes of golf; 21 tennis and eight pickleball courts; 41 swimming pools; a spa; and several restaurants, shops and event spaces. The original 20 casitas are still there (with the bathrooms modernized), surrounded by lawns and rose gardens.
Near them, you’ll find a plaque honoring the famous Hollywood film director-writer-producer Frank Capra. Capra and his wife holed up in a casita in 1934 when he was writing the screenplay for “It Happened One Night.†After the movie won five Oscars, he returned to write the screenplays for film classics including “Mr. Deeds Goes to Town,†“You Can’t Take It With You†and “It’s a Wonderful Life.†They too won Oscars. No wonder Capra called La Quinta “my Shangri-La for scriptwriting.â€
Today, La Quinta Resort & Club, Curio Collection by Hilton, features 796 guest accommodations; 90 holes of golf; 21 tennis and eight pickleball courts; 41 swimming pools; a spa; and several restaurants, shops and event spaces. The original 20 casitas are still there (with the bathrooms modernized), surrounded by lawns and rose gardens.
Near them, you’ll find a plaque honoring the famous Hollywood film director-writer-producer Frank Capra. Capra and his wife holed up in a casita in 1934 when he was writing the screenplay for “It Happened One Night.†After the movie won five Oscars, he returned to write the screenplays for film classics including “Mr. Deeds Goes to Town,†“You Can’t Take It With You†and “It’s a Wonderful Life.†They too won Oscars. No wonder Capra called La Quinta “my Shangri-La for scriptwriting.â€
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(Paul Boorstin)
Ingleside Inn
Palm Springs Hotel
The Ingleside Inn was built in 1922 as a desert getaway for the heirs to the Pierce Arrow Motor Company, whose cars were driven by tycoons and movie stars. In 1939, Ruth Hardy, Palm Springs’ first female city council member, turned the Spanish Colonial-style estate into a 20-room private resort catering to the likes of John Wayne, Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn. Hardy kept notes on all her guests. (About the young Elizabeth Taylor, she wrote, “Pretty girl; has potential.â€)
In 1975, Brooklyn-born businessman Mel Haber, who made his fortune manufacturing bobblehead hula dancers and furry dice for auto dashboards, acquired and renovated the inn. Haber played host for the next several decades in its Melvyn’s Restaurant, where guests like Frank Sinatra, Barry Manilow and Liberace often performed in the bar. In 2019, Proper Hospitality hotel group renovated and expanded the inn to 30 rooms and suites. Melvyn’s is once again a bustling bar and restaurant with live music — and bow-tied waiters whipping up flaming cherries jubilee desserts tableside.
In 1975, Brooklyn-born businessman Mel Haber, who made his fortune manufacturing bobblehead hula dancers and furry dice for auto dashboards, acquired and renovated the inn. Haber played host for the next several decades in its Melvyn’s Restaurant, where guests like Frank Sinatra, Barry Manilow and Liberace often performed in the bar. In 2019, Proper Hospitality hotel group renovated and expanded the inn to 30 rooms and suites. Melvyn’s is once again a bustling bar and restaurant with live music — and bow-tied waiters whipping up flaming cherries jubilee desserts tableside.
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(Paul Boorstin)
Avalon Hotel & Bungalows
Palm Springs Hotel
Avalon Hotel & Bungalows is just north of the Ingleside Inn, its sister property. Lush orange and grapefruit trees shade the resort complex, the result of combining and renovating a midcentury apartment building and two Spanish Colonial-style bungalow courts in the 1960s. The oldest was the Estrella Motor Inn, built in 1929. Among its celebrity guests was actress Joan Crawford, who reportedly ordered seven packs of cigarettes — three opened — from room service.
Today the Avalon features 70 eclectic lodgings, from private villas to family-friendly cottages, and three swimming pools. Star designer Kelly Wearstler added colorful Hollywood Regency touches to the decor. The resort’s stylish Chi Chi Restaurant was named for Palm Springs’ famous Chi Chi nightclub, where back in the day, performers included Jerry Lewis, Nat King Cole and Louis Armstrong.
Today the Avalon features 70 eclectic lodgings, from private villas to family-friendly cottages, and three swimming pools. Star designer Kelly Wearstler added colorful Hollywood Regency touches to the decor. The resort’s stylish Chi Chi Restaurant was named for Palm Springs’ famous Chi Chi nightclub, where back in the day, performers included Jerry Lewis, Nat King Cole and Louis Armstrong.
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(Paul Boorstin)
The Colony Palms Hotel and Bungalows
Palm Springs Hotel
In 1934, Detroit gangster Al Wertheimer opened an illegal gambling club in the desert beyond the Palm Springs city limits — and the eyes of the Palm Springs police. High-profile high rollers included Errol Flynn, Clark Gable 20th Century Fox studio chief Darryl Zanuck. Wertheimer then figured, why not open a posh, private hotel for celebs right in town? Two years later, his Colonial House featured glamorous guest rooms, a see-and-be-seen pool and bar/restaurant and, in the basement, its own illegal gambling club reached by a hidden staircase. New owners later changed the hotel’s name to Howard Manor. Regular guests included Humphrey Bogart, Rita Hayworth and Kirk Douglas.
Cut to 2021: Steve Hermann, architect to A-listers and owner of Palm Springs’ award-winning, ultra-luxe L’Horizon Resort & Spa, bought the property and poured $3 million into a redo. Instead of giving the 57 rooms and suites a sleek midcentury look, for which L’Horizon and many of his homes are known, Hermann updated the resort’s original Spanish Colonial style. The green-and-white color scheme and the green-banana-leaf wallpaper will have you thinking you’ve stepped back into the 1930s — but in the Beverly Hills Hotel.
The elegant new Colony Club restaurant overlooks the swimming pool. As for the secret gambling club in the basement, it’s now a storage room. If you ask nicely, you might get a peek at the original wall murals of frolicking naked ladies.
Cut to 2021: Steve Hermann, architect to A-listers and owner of Palm Springs’ award-winning, ultra-luxe L’Horizon Resort & Spa, bought the property and poured $3 million into a redo. Instead of giving the 57 rooms and suites a sleek midcentury look, for which L’Horizon and many of his homes are known, Hermann updated the resort’s original Spanish Colonial style. The green-and-white color scheme and the green-banana-leaf wallpaper will have you thinking you’ve stepped back into the 1930s — but in the Beverly Hills Hotel.
The elegant new Colony Club restaurant overlooks the swimming pool. As for the secret gambling club in the basement, it’s now a storage room. If you ask nicely, you might get a peek at the original wall murals of frolicking naked ladies.
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(Paul Boorstin)
The Willows Historic Palm Springs Inn
Palm Springs Hotel
Guess which famous 20th century icon was caught by a journalist here sunbathing in the altogether? No, not Marilyn Monroe. Alfred Einstein! In 1931, the world-famous physicist was visiting his friend and the Willows’ second owner, New York power lawyer Samuel Untermyer, when the incident occurred. (Reportedly the journalist, a woman, was more embarrassed than Einstein.)
The property originated in 1924 as side-by-side Mediterranean Revival-style vacation villas built at the foot of the San Jacinto Mountains for two wealthy Los Angeles couples, the Meads and the Bishops. In 1994, prominent Palm Springs physicians Tracy Conrad and Paul Marut bought and restored the Mead villa, named the Willows. After a multiyear restoration, they opened the property as the elegant seven-room Willows Historic Palm Springs Inn. It wasn’t until 2017 that they were able to acquire the Bishop villa and connect it, enlarging the inn to 17 rooms.
In addition to antique furnishings and luxe modern amenities, the property features the hardwood floors, wrought-iron ornaments, painted ceilings and mahogany from the original villas. Guests enjoy a complimentary three-course breakfast overlooking the 50-foot waterfall that flows over the boulders behind the inn. After breakfast, they can climb the path up the mountain to the bench where Einstein once sunbathed.
The property originated in 1924 as side-by-side Mediterranean Revival-style vacation villas built at the foot of the San Jacinto Mountains for two wealthy Los Angeles couples, the Meads and the Bishops. In 1994, prominent Palm Springs physicians Tracy Conrad and Paul Marut bought and restored the Mead villa, named the Willows. After a multiyear restoration, they opened the property as the elegant seven-room Willows Historic Palm Springs Inn. It wasn’t until 2017 that they were able to acquire the Bishop villa and connect it, enlarging the inn to 17 rooms.
In addition to antique furnishings and luxe modern amenities, the property features the hardwood floors, wrought-iron ornaments, painted ceilings and mahogany from the original villas. Guests enjoy a complimentary three-course breakfast overlooking the 50-foot waterfall that flows over the boulders behind the inn. After breakfast, they can climb the path up the mountain to the bench where Einstein once sunbathed.
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(Paul Boorstin)
Sparrows Lodge
Palm Springs Hotel
The Sparrows Lodge was called Castle’s Red Barn when it was built in 1952 by Don Castle, an actor in dozens of B movies and a producer on the “Lassie†TV show. Like many old Palm Springs resorts, the property has gone through several ownership and name changes.
In 2014 it was acquired by PRG Hospitality Group and partners. Last year, they brought in French creative producer-interior designer Clairemarie Astruc Rutledge to update — and glamorize — the original look. Think rustic ranch chic, with stone fireplaces, wood-beamed ceilings, cowhide sling chairs and deep “horse-trough†bathtubs.
The high-ceilinged barn is now the Barn Kitchen, a cool gathering place, bar and restaurant serving sophisticated dinner entrees like a gin-brined pork chop. The 20 guest rooms open onto the swimming pool or the citrus-tree-shaded rear courtyard. Most have private patios but lack TVs and phones to enhance the laid-back vibe.
In 2014 it was acquired by PRG Hospitality Group and partners. Last year, they brought in French creative producer-interior designer Clairemarie Astruc Rutledge to update — and glamorize — the original look. Think rustic ranch chic, with stone fireplaces, wood-beamed ceilings, cowhide sling chairs and deep “horse-trough†bathtubs.
The high-ceilinged barn is now the Barn Kitchen, a cool gathering place, bar and restaurant serving sophisticated dinner entrees like a gin-brined pork chop. The 20 guest rooms open onto the swimming pool or the citrus-tree-shaded rear courtyard. Most have private patios but lack TVs and phones to enhance the laid-back vibe.
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(Paul Boorstin)
Villa Royale
Palm Springs Hotel
Villa Royale was built from 1947 to 1951 as a California Ranch-style resort with cottages, apartments and a pool. The property later incorporated two small adjoining hotels and an additional pool. Hollywood regulars included actor Mickey Rooney and novelist Irving Shulman, who wrote the film treatment for “Rebel Without a Cause.â€
In the 1990s, new owners stuccoed the exteriors and added a clay-tile roof for a more Mediterranean look. Recently, the Provenance boutique hotel-management group enlarged Villa Royale to 38 units and added murals of 20th century icons like Elizabeth Taylor, Audrey Hepburn and JFK. The resort’s dark and cozy Del Rey restaurant serves tasty Spanish tapas-style dishes.
In the 1990s, new owners stuccoed the exteriors and added a clay-tile roof for a more Mediterranean look. Recently, the Provenance boutique hotel-management group enlarged Villa Royale to 38 units and added murals of 20th century icons like Elizabeth Taylor, Audrey Hepburn and JFK. The resort’s dark and cozy Del Rey restaurant serves tasty Spanish tapas-style dishes.
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