Palm Springs Living

The desert is Mother Nature's version of modern art, (Montana St. Martin, owner of the Montana St Martin art gallery).

Palm Springs has a rich and legendary century-old architectural legacy ranging from California Mission and kitsch fifties and forties to the coolest Neutra. This desert laboratory of avant-garde architecture and free-wheeling experimentation has always been a magnet for architecture fanatics around the world.

A two-hour drive from Los Angeles, and a magnet for Hollywood stars, Palm Springs has an aura of hedonism, wicked weekend escapism, retro style, fashion trend-setters, the playground for the rich and famous, all with a dash of decadence. It has also been the hot center for architectural expression.

Once (before effective air conditioning) Palm Springs was a winter playground, a weekend getaway, a coolweather escape route. Now it's a year-round paradise of palm trees, pools, art galleries, suave hotels, passionate modernists, and new experiments in design and architecture.

Palm Springs clings to its traditions: there is the nudge-nudge, wink-wink aura of lost weekends, early amorphous architecture, desert flamboyance, bad taste (nothing is more invigorating and exciting), the exceptional good taste and spare lines of Neutra, and a splash of escapism. This book focuses on interiors, and a century of changes and expressions of architecture and interior design in Palm Springs. Previous volumes on Palm Springs have centered on modernism, with an emphasis on architecture and exteriors, not interiors. This volume illustrates the full-tilt creativity, freedom of expression, personal eccentricity, and sense of history that permeates Palm Springs residences and desert living year-round.

There is also, significantly, the dramatic setting of Palm Springs and Palm Desert, which will star in the book. Imagine swimming pools set in rocky hillsides, desert evenings with the hills turning pink, and the dramatic mountain backdrop.