Architecture – Page 9

Mon, 10-Jan-2011

Palm Springs International Film Festival

With 7 PM tickets to see the documentary “How Much Does Your Building Weigh, Mr Foster”, we headed into Palm Springs for lunch at Spencer’s, a sponsor of the the event. We enjoyed the piano music while savoring our meal – Yum! We walked off a few calories to the convention center to cheer on the celebrities as they came to the awards gala.

The sun was warm as was the crowd of fans – full of excitement and anticipation. We claimed a spot and waited for the limos to arrive.

The new crews and coordinators getting everything set up. We stuck around and saw Wendie Malick, Mary Hart, and JesseEisenburg. Here is a link from the local Channel 2 with all the coverage and the official Film Fest web site And yes we both enjoyed the documentary about Norman Foster.

Mon, 03-Jan-2011Tue, 26-Jul-2011

Salton Sea

Hey lets go to the beach! We loaded the Mini with a picnic and headed for the coast, 226 feet below sea level. There was a lot of rain the last few days so the sky was exceptionally clear and there was fresh snow on the San Jacinto Mountains in the distance. Our first view of the Salton Sea included a large flock of majestic white pelicans – much bigger than the sea gulls. We learned there is a type of sea gull with a web foot that only lives at the Salton Sea.

The North Shore Beach and Yacht Club was designed by Albert Frey and was recently renovated. It was really a brilliant nautical design and a pleasure to experience. You could image Lucy and Desi hanging around with their pals Sinatra and Dean, with the harbor full of yachts, bustling with activity. There are plans afloat to bring back some boat races. My Dad said he swam here (with my Mom as hisÂ young bride) in the 50’s when he was on a day leave from the Marines (before the yacht club was built)! I am not sure I am brave enough to swim in it today – it is quite a bit saltier (25% saltier than the Pacific Ocean).

10-12-24 Salton Sea North Shore Yacht Club

We headed as far south as the Sonny Bono National Wildlife Refuge to enjoy our picnic lunch on top of Rock Hill. We watched a large flock of snow geese covering an entire field. We observed quite a few grebes, black bellied plovers, black-necked stilts, great blue herons, and American Bitterns as well as more sea gulls. We drove back to the condo the same direction, enjoying the early winter twilight – it was a 180 mile day trip so one we will probably not make again.

Sun, 19-Dec-2010Mon, 10-Jan-2011

Palm Springs Architecture and Events

Thursday evening 9 December 2010 we went on a walking Tour of the Inns in downtown Palm Springs. What a great event! Fifteen hotels opened their doors and rooms with treats to consume around the pools – several had live music. It really was a feast for all the senses..it was a balmy 65 degrees – cool enough to enjoy some warm mulled cider but warm enough to linger. The architecture we enjoyed the most was DelMarcosHotel.com designed by William Cody in the 1940’s, DesertHillsPalmSprings.com where we had stayed 7 years ago when we were touristing, and the most photographed pool at PalmSpringTennisClub.net.

Seeing these hotels made us inspired to find some of the homes we had seen in Jules Schulman’s Visual Acoustics documentary…we found a map with some of the stars homes indicated and from driving around were able to locate the Kaufman House in all its refurbished glory. (photo taken Sunday 12 December) Excitement!

And if we were brave enough (or invited) to walk up to the front door this would be our experience.

We also went to the Palm Springs Art Museum and surprise! they had SEVEN Henry Moore sculptures on display. Very exciting for me after giving twenty seven tours this year of the eighteen sculptures at the Denver Botanic Gardens.

We are enjoying the one bedroom condo in Palm Desert with its view of palm trees and the Santa Rosa mountains in the distance. This view, the pool, hot tub, along with some red wine make it our own little paradise.