Springing Back into Style

Springing Back into Style

Excerpt by Francesca Syz

In 1920s Hollywood, it was written into actors’ contracts that during filming they were to remain within a two-hour drive of their studios. It soon became known that the furthest they could tug their leashes was to a dusty little two-bit desert town called Palm Springs, and before long it had become a rather louche outpost of Tinseltown. Frank Sinatra and his Rat Pack cronies were frequent visitors, and Ol’ Blue Eyes became so enamored of the town’s party spirit that he eventually made it his home. By the 1940s and 1950s it had also started attracting several pioneers of mid-century modern design, such as Richard Neutra, Albert Frey and William F Cody, for whom the wealthy, creative clientele and blank desert backdrop worked well.

The decadent party scene that made Palm Springs so hip in the 1950s made it slightly embarrassing three decades later when the same residents were partying well into their eighties. But the past few years have seen the arrival of a younger, design-savvy crown with a thirst a thirst for Old Hollywood glamour and an appreciation of the town’s modern architecture.

…The Orbit In, consists of two mid-century compounds on the same street in the Tennis Club District: the nine-room Hideaway (opened in 1947) and nine-room Oasis (1957). Studios are arranged around pool areas and furnished with covetable pieces by Eames, Saarinen and Breuer. ‘Orbitini’ cocktails are served poolside and there are free bikes for guests’ use.