THE US PALM SPRINGS DESTINATIONS RIGHT:


Andaz Palm Springs


FAR RIGHT:


Lappert’s Ice Cream store


BELOW: Palm Springs Aerial Tramway


FINDOUT MORE


l psarchitecture tours.com


l red-jeep.com l rowanpalm springs.com


SAMPLE PRODUCT


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makeover, albeit one which respects the city’s unique architecture. Take the Kimpton Rowan Palm Springs (from £139 per double), a mid-century modern-style building with a low-slung frontage, clean lines and a light-filled interior.


A local tells me that several designs


were submitted before this property, which opened in 2017, got the green light. It’s part of the first phase of a redevelopment of the downtown area. With that comes the first California- based Tommy Bahama restaurant, whose neighbours include shiny new Mac, Kiehl’s and H&M stores, although there are plenty of more-exclusive newcomers too, including chic interior design store West Elm. Even the new Starbucks is special – it’s a Starbucks Reserve, which offers a wider range of coffee blends, in a more luxurious, lounge-like setting. Behind the Kimpton, a huge plot of land has been flattened to make way for a Virgin hotel (due to open in 2022) and, nearby, construction has started on the Dream Hotel which, when it


w DESERT


We spot a rattlesnake basking on a boulder, and we try the palm tree seeds which are part of the Cahuilla Indians’ diet


opens in late 2019, will comprise 169 rooms and more than 10,000 square feet of meeting space. The Andaz Palm Springs will open in the same year. Despite these newcomers, I’m glad


to see some of Palm Springs’ quirkiest stores remain, including one of my favourites, Lappert’s Ice Cream. At this Hawaiian-themed ice cream bar, the most popular items are date shakes, otherwise known as Palm Springs’ unofficial drink – appropriate given that 90% of the world’s dates are said to come from this part of California. And I’d bet my bottom dollar that you can’t get one at the Westfield.


As much as I pity the workmen toiling under the hot sun in their efforts to regenerate downtown Palm Springs, their exertion pales into insignificance compared with the efforts of those who built the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway in 1963. The uppermost station took more than two years to build, with a fleet of helicopters making 23,000 flights to deliver supplies. I know this because the base station


is now home to a small museum area which documents its history, complete with breathtaking, faded photographs showing huge chunks of concrete dangling beneath airborne helicopters. At the top I find the beautiful, alpine-like scenery that will always be my favourite bit of Palm Springs. And yet, years after my first visit, I make the same mistake of underestimating how dramatically a landscape can change in the space of a cable car ride. I arrive at the base station in an overheating hire car struggling to cope with the brutal combination of dust and searing desert heat. At the top, I walk out


5 July 2018 travelweekly.co.uk 47


PICTURE: MARC GLASSMAN PHOTOGRAPHY


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