THE PALM SPRINGS SCENE

good evening ladies and gentlemen this is jack douglas and this is the mountainous desert area near palm springs california unchanged since the spanish and mexican explorers notably the romero expeditions of 1823-26 made peace with the desert indian tribes not until the 1880s however was palm springs able to attract permanent settlers a few decades later the horseless carriage had replaced the covered wagons and as the saying goes you should see it now and so we will during this armchair vacation to the palm springs scene this looks like and is a modern oasis located 10 miles north of palm springs at an elevation of 1100 feet the view is soft and dreamy and very attractive but this oasis the desert spa offers something special curative hot springs extremely rich in minerals the water temperature is 169 degrees and you can actually see the steam rising from the spring a swimming pool would be a natural requisite for the guests but shucks the indians had the same idea when they built this old bathhouse back in 1871. some of the world's famous winter resorts are overrated palm springs is not it has the expected palm trees lining the streets streets much wider than average as we can see and enough shops and stores to make window browsing a major tourist attraction of the older homes in palm springs this one known simply as miss cornelius house is unusual because it was built of railroad ties well inside most of the furnishings are either the original pieces or were donated by local residents we photographed several of the rooms to get an idea of how the well-to-do furnished their desert homes near the turn of the century returning to this century here's a house as elegant as any in palm springs it perches on a mountain cliff overlooking the city in the desert beyond and its owner here is the great and beloved opera star miss lily pons now since the house is not open to the public this ponds graciously allowed us to take our cameras inside the decor is oriental antique and virtually all of the pieces were imported from france which until recent years had access to the best furnishings in the orient by way of french indochina this screen is rare 17th century japanese and the table is made of two doors from an 18th century chinese cabinet this small center table piece is a 19th century burmese version of the ancient phoenix bird here's a section of the lovely bedroom and it shows the bed designed by miss pons and crafted in paris the symbols on the headboard are miss pond's initials in chinese and the magnificent screen in the background is 18th century chinese a truly magnificent home and we appreciated the chance to see it the lush greenery of palm springs comes as a big surprise to the first time visitor it's hard for people from the midwest and east especially to believe that this sandy barren soil could be made rich and fertile but the natives will tell you and it's true that if a tree shrub plant or flower can survive a warm climate it will grow quickly and well in the city of sunshine and speaking of visiting where does one stay in palm springs well we won't have to rough it among the famous choices are ray ryan's el mirador gene autry's melody ranch is named after the cowboy stars radio and tv ranch at indian wells our host would if we could get him away from the golf course the aerowand garden hotel in palm desert is oriental in design and decor it derives its name by the way from the erawan hotel in faraway bangkok and for a motor lodge i'm sure you'll agree that the international will do yes they call this a motor lodge the riviera is another long time favorite and so is the palm springs spa and there are many other fine hotels motels and lodges to choose from but listen i want to show you a trailer camp and this is the trailer camp to end all trailer camps bing crosby's blue skies village now here's the deal you rent trailer space for a year i'm up to 10 years and the lease price runs from about 700 to 1200 per year which for palm springs is merely nickels and dimes anyway just look at what some of the long lease residents of blue skies village have done with their trailer space these believe it or not are trailer homes the roads at the village are named after bing and his co-stockholders and the village even has a nine-hole pitch and putt golf course this now is the approach to charlie farrell's racquet club which is to palm springs what the marian cricket club is to philadelphia's main line as implied by its name tennis is the main attraction at the racquet club to such an extent that the olympic-sized pool rarely has a ripple also at the club the royal game of chess is played on a grand scale the chessmen are the size of tahitian war clubs and the squares are actually a part of the landscape red and white tiles embedded in the turf there are probably more bicycles than palm trees in palm springs and what started out as a fad has become the resort's most popular form of transportation and no extra charge for hitchhikers private planes are also very large on the palm springs scene and at the airport we had the pleasure of meeting the flying great grandmother zadie bunker a long time resident of the springs well i'm sort of a pioneer we came in 19 and 13. and i lived here for uh 41 years before i ever took a real vacation then i flew my little single engine plane to visit kitty hall north carolina and one of the interesting things of that trip really funny was the looks on the faces of people when they saw me and they always look for a pilot in the plane zaddy how young were you when you received your pilot's license i got my single engine pilot's license on my 65th birthday and uh six weeks afterwards i gave my great grandson his first ride in an airplane which i am believed to be the only woman in the world to get a pilot's license after she's a great grandmother and he's the first person to ever have a ride with his great-grandmother's pot driving back from the airport we saw a sign that captivated our interest el finco's anyway while the name sounds frivolous the food isn't this lip-smacking cheese tortilla is quesadilla a sort of spanish pizza meanwhile across the street the white job was on the job the white job is palm springs vernacular for the immaculate white truck and rig used in pruning the palm trees and as one taxpayer told us if they can't find a tree to prune they'll plant one the military honor guard signals the arrival in palm springs of the world's best known amateur golfer a great military hero and twice the popular choice of his countrymen as president dwight david eisenhower accompanied by a very radiant mrs eisenhower it's a big day in palm springs minutes after arriving at the secluded quiet home the president will be found driving his golf cart to his favorite course to notice the five gold stars on the front of the cart a quick warm-up at the practice range is followed by a full 18 holes of golf and no amateur ever did more to popularize the game palm springs calls itself the winter golf capital of the world and it's not an idle boast on a per capita basis there are more golf courses here than in any other major city on earth el dorado tamarisk thunderbird indian wells westward hall biltmore and on and on and all have this in common they're beautiful courses lush and green and a treat to the eyes and even if you don't play golf you should make it a point to walk around some of the better courses when you visit the springs it's like being turned loose in a private spacious park and always you'll marvel at the contrast the emerald fairways against the tan brown mountain range the ranch club accents fun in the sun western style it's a membership resort club with living accommodations and all the comforts of the plush hotels but with horses and riding as the added attraction i'm sure you recognize tv and film stars doug mcclure and peter brown very much at home in a western setting while we were here the club was celebrating frontier day a day full of colorful festivities here doug is having his boots removed in preparation for the shoe contest and these youngsters filled us in on what happened the boots of the riders are collected and placed in the center of the ring and the idea is to dismount find and put on your own boots and right back to the starting line well doug won this particular event got a round of applause and from this trophy laden table a memento of the occasion the pallet club of palm springs has but a single-minded purpose to bring together people who like to paint all except the instructor mr han harloff are amateurs they meet at the club each day they bring their pets if they wish and they paint or sketch whatever they choose under the artistic supervision of mr harloff one nice thing about the club is that the members willingly serve as free models the artist by the way is mr garmur who left hollywood to become one of palm springs most successful landscape and interior designers amateurs well the word is often a misnomer for example no art connoisseur could possibly label these paintings as amateurish a few hours later it is sundown in this paradise of palms and now the mood of this fabulous desert playground changes completely the air is balmy and quiet and the same moon that shines over miami shines on the palm springs scene night life in palm springs is quite frankly restricted to the better hotels clubs and restaurants the neon signs tell the story at charlie farrell's house the racquet club the elite meet under the stars are they watching an outdoor musical or play no it's tennis tennis by day tennis by night and really every night why well the matinee idol of hollywood's golden era gave us the answer later that evening welcome jack welcome to palm springs and the racquet club tell you what i've been looking at i've been watching the mouse burger tournament we have a miles burger tournament here every tuesday night and we have had since 1950 it's a tournament that was started by mousey powell that's mrs william powell and the reason it was started because there were a lot of people that worked in town and didn't get a chance to play tennis in the daytime so we started this so they could play at night actually charlie you've literally watched palm springs grow up haven't you well i think i have seen it grow i came here about 35 years ago now the racquet club is 31 years old i've been here 35 years when i first came here there are only two hotels the el mirador and the desert inn and maybe the palm springs yes the palm springs hotel and only one or two restaurants the main street was nothing and there were very few people here and to give a general idea i bought 200 acres of land at 30 an acre and that land i sold some of it at 500 an acre and now if you try to buy that land back would cost you eight thousand dollars an acre so i've been here quite a long while and i've really seen it grow a nice man and the gracious host at the racket club in palm springs god's country is never more than a minute or two out of town and if you drive through the open range on any tuesday morning you're sure to meet the desert riders now this group was organized back in 1930 and each tuesday they slick up in western writing habit for a weekly breakfast ride the mayor of palm springs is usually the president of the desert riders in this case mayor frank voger the chow line forms to the right and with this long line we might as well have a coffee clutch while we wait ah this is the life get up before dawn and have a hearty breakfast while the rest of palm springs is still asleep well these folks went back to town and had a ball the rest of the day but our camera crew chickened out we went back to bed at 10 a.m drive south on palm canyon drive about four miles and you will enter a 32 000 acre reservation belonging to the awa caliente indian tribes the most beautiful part of the reservation is a section known as andreas canyon and if ever a desert gave man a secluded shangri-la this is it in the winter months the ancient indians would be content with the warmth of the desert sands but in the scorching summers they would camp here at andreas canyon in the cool shadows of trees and jutting granite by the edge of sweet cool flowing water the indians are no longer here in the summer months but they left behind numerous traces such as this grinding mortar of the days when andreas canyon was theirs and theirs alone when you're in or near palm springs don't miss the chance to visit this beautiful canyon but let's drive on to the other sites within a radius of 30 or 40 miles from palm springs in yucca valley you'll want to stop at the desert christ park where sculptor anton martin created some 35 or more biblical figures now these sculptures are one and a half times life size and each weighs well over four tons to really appreciate these blazing white sculptures however i'd recommend that you take along yellow or amber sunglasses the desert christ park in yucca valley california and in california the words date festival are synonymous with the city of indio some 28 miles from palm springs the camels have become a standard fixture at this internationally famous pageant the india date festival takes place in february yet we were here in december and as these pictures indicate the preparations were already well underway indio calls itself the date capital of the world even though the first commercial date gardens were planted a mere 50 or 60 years ago and 98 of all dates raised in north america are produced within a 20 mile radius of india the king of the date palm trees here is old solomon imported from arabia in 1912 and it produces enough pollen for 400 female palm trees whereas the normal palm can accommodate only 50. most of these palms originated from offshoots brought here from the persian gulf area the male palm does not bear fruit but develops the pollen which is carried by hand to the blossoms of the female palms during february and march naturally you can't enter or leave indio without being persuaded to take home a gift package and the truth is that these california dates win prizes each year as the best dates grown anywhere in the world indio is a part of the coachella valley the valley that can grow anything from cotton to citrus yes and even cattle no these aren't the desert riders of palm springs but real working cowboys rounding up the herd and yippee i owe you all isn't this palm springs vacation full of surprises at idlewild california some 50 miles from palm springs at an elevation of six thousand feet there is a restaurant that is the talk of the west and by now the western world robert balzer's tyrol restaurant tucked away in the shadows of the tall timber the tyrol isn't easy to find but that doesn't seem to bother its host and owner bob balzer welcome jack to the turo in idlewild when you're inside and you look through those beautiful tall windows the mountains that you see give the name to this restaurant the tyrrell like the austrian tyra which is one more evidence of the miracle of california from the desert floor below after just a few moments you arrive in these mountains with these trees and you're in the alps and in our house we hope that you will enjoy a european hospitality which is a souvenir of innsbruck the balzer family has had a tradition of food which goes back to well goes back to a hundred years ago when my great-grandfather catered lincoln's inaugural banquet in washington in march 1865 among those sampling the superb cuisine miss lilly puns here bob is presenting miss ponz with a copy of his best seller the pleasures of wine thank you very much i hope that you will enjoy that book i'm sure that there are many souvenirs not only of california but the france that you are from class bordeaux and all those places in that's right oh our wonderful very sweet of you thank you very much if any one place in or near palm springs made us reluctant to leave this was it bob balzler's tyrol a nostalgic touch of europe in america and a major highlight on the palm springs scene in palm springs you may have occasion to visit the modest but attractive city hall and you're bound to notice the motto of this fabulous desert resort the people are the city and a few feet away this memorial to the young martyred president who was a frequent vacationer here the dynamic man whose infectious grin made the whole world smile john fitzgerald kennedy oh there is still a spaciousness in this wide open country to be sure the area surrounding palm springs is mostly mountain and desert and looking out over these endless dunes you almost expect to see the old french foreign legion marching in review well many of hollywood's best known foreign legion films were photographed in this vicinity but the desert can be tamed and the college of the desert is a tribute to man's conquest of sand and scorching sun a lot of people laughed openly when the founders said we shall build our college here but they're not laughing today and one of america's newest brightest colleges has literally found a place in the sun there are other new sites on the palm springs scene for example the recently built tramway the world's largest longest passenger carrying tram from valley station elevation 2600 feet you will rise almost 6 000 feet to the peak of san jacinto mountain and in distance your tram will travel more than thirteen thousand feet or roughly two and a half miles between stations it's the world's greatest and an experience that the youngsters especially will never forget now until next week jack douglas saying thank you so much and good night ladies and gentlemen boys and girls you