Posted on Apr 19, 2010 by Paul Kaplan
Mid-Century Modern Las Vegas Architecture – Exhibit Opening
(Riviera Hotel Lobby, 1957)
The Nevada State Museum, Las Vegas is hosting an opening reception for its newest exhibit, “Mid-Century Modern Las Vegas,” on Saturday, April 24 from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm. The exhibit will feature photos of Mid-Century Modern architecture, as well as domestic and decorative art from the era.
Throughout the 1950s and ‘60s when Las Vegas was polishing its image as a premier resort destination, architects from throughout the country were drawn to the city by its free-wheeling, forward-looking modernism. These architects, such as Paul Revere Williams, Palmer and Krisel,
(Paradise Palms, Las Vegas, by Palmer and Krisel)
Zick and Sharp, Wayne McAllister and Welton Beckett, designed some of Las Vegas’ most notable structures: St. Anne Catholic Church; the parabolic lobby of the La Concha Motel; the sleekly angular Sands Hotel; the futuristic terminal at McCarran International Airport; homes in Mason Manor; and the flying saucer-shaped Las Vegas Convention Center. Dozens of schools, banks, shopping centers, and medical and government buildings throughout Las Vegas were built in a variety of Mid-Century Modern styles.
(La Concha Hotel Lobby under construction, 1961)
Most of the photos featured in this exhibit are from the collection of noted photographer Jay Florian Mitchell. After a successful career in New York, Mitchell came to Las Vegas in the late 1940s and spent more than two decades documenting life in Las Vegas. With most of Las Vegas’ Mid-Century Modern architecture now lost to development, Mitchell’s collection provides an invaluable visual record of the city’s past.
The Nevada State Museum, Las Vegas is located at 700 Twin Lakes Drive in Lorenzi Park. The museum is open Wednesday through Saturday 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Admission is $4 for adults and free to museum members and ages 17 and under.
The Nevada State Museum, Las Vegas is one of seven museums managed by the Division of Museums and History, an agency of the Nevada Department of Cultural Affairs. The Department serves Nevada’s citizens and visitors through cultural and information management, presentation and promotion of cultural resources, and education. The Department also includes the State Historic Preservation Office, Nevada State Library and Archives, and the Nevada Arts Council. For more information, call Teresa Moiola at (775) 687-8323 or visit the department’s web site at www.NevadaCulture.org.
Reposted from the Nevada Department of Cultural Affairs
April 14, 2010
Contact: Stacy Irvin: 702-486-5205 ext. 227
David Millman: 702-486-5205 ext. 231
Tags: Architecture, Historic Preservation, Mid-Century Homes
Posted on Mar 15, 2010 by Paul Kaplan
Ran across this in the March Palm Springs Life’s site- (Republished from the August 1964 Issue of Palm Springs Life Magazine), a series of interviews with architect, William Cody-
These are some of my favorite “timeless” quotes noted in the article:
“”It is sickening,” he said, “that we are plagued with pseudo Roman medal-stamp columns, large imitation wine jugs and Grecian villas and neo (and sub-neo) classic design better fitted for a Hollywood back-lot ‘B’ picture.”
“Architecture must guide the future of our culture, a three-dimensional sculptured concept conditioned by proportion, the secret of great building. Father to the arts, it embraces man’s finest endeavors and, since the inception of time, has inspired progress and served to formulate a better way of life”
”Fine architecture is not a product of automation. Great talent in any field is limited to the very few. Therefore, some of today’s buildings are bad examples of contemporary design. The demand for talent exceeds the supply. This is unfortunate because it has bred mediocrity. It is appalling that 80 percent of the buildings constructed in this country are designed without benefit of architects. The construction industry, largest in the nation, is lagging for behind the advances in other fields.”
“Good contemporary architecture is a world wide expression, conditioned by the geographic location, politics and economics of the various countries throughout the world. Here, on the desert, it should flourish.”
Click here to read the full article on William Cody.
Tags: Architecture, Historic Preservation, Mid-Century Homes, Palm Springs Real Estate, paul kaplan real estate
Posted on Mar 13, 2010 by Paul Kaplan
Sunmor Estates Home Tour
Saturday April 17, 2010 10 AM to 1PM
The Sunmor neighborhood consists of a collection of modernist atomic ranch style homes constructed in the late 50′s & 60′s, by the Alexander Construction Company and local builder, Robert Higgins.
For more Sumor information, click here.
Tags: Alexander Construction Co., Historic Preservation, Mid-Century Homes, Palm Springs Real Estate, paul kaplan real estate, paul kaplan realtor
Posted on Mar 11, 2010 by Paul Kaplan
Just got my tickets today!! I’ve been wanting to see this house since I was a kid, visiting Palm Springs. Here’s a great opportunity to check it out, and to join the Palm Springs Museum and the Arts and Design Council.
The Arts and Design Council is holding its anual ADC Fundraiser – (6:00 PM – 8:00 PM – Saturday, March 20)
This is a rare opportunity to enjoy the spectacular Hope House at a cocktail reception with fellow ADC members. The enormous roof, which echoes the surrounding hills of Southridge, hovers over an expansive patio and garden area where Lautner’s dramatic architecture can be experienced. Invitations will be mailed to ADC members.
Fundraiser
ADC Fundraiser at the Bob & Dolores Hope House, designed by John Lautner
$200 per person (ADC members only)
To make reservations, please call Brooke Devenney at 760.322.4818 or email bdevenney@psmuseum.org
SEE YOU THERE!
Tags: Entertainment, Historic Preservation, mid-century, Mid-Century Homes, Palm Springs Real Estate, paul kaplan real estate, paul kaplan realtor
Posted on Mar 9, 2010 by Paul Kaplan
Literally one of THE most architecturally significant homes in all the world. Known as The Elrod House, this John Lautner-designed home was commissioned by designer Arthur Elrod in 1968 and has been featured in numerous books, magazines and museum exhibitions. It is the iconic home perched at the very tip of the Southridge enclave, easily viewable throughout Palm Springs. Organic shapes, monumental construction and world class design create an extraordinary experience of space that Lautner himself described as ”timeless” architecture. The 60 ‘ wide circular living room has a conical dome that fans out in nine petals between nine clerestories angled up to bring in light. Retractable curved glass walls open the entire living room and pool terrace to panoramic views of Mt San Jacinto, Mt San Gorgonio and the full sweep of the valley below and mountain ranges beyond. The very rock of the ridge is incorporated into the design thru out the home
Great video from the James Bond classic featuring Thumber and Bambi, highlighting the John Lautner Elrod House in Palm Springs
007 and the Elrod House
Yours to enjoy for $13,890,000
Tags: Historic Preservation, Mid-Century Homes, Palm Springs Real Estate, paul kaplan real estate, paul kaplan realtor
Posted on Feb 24, 2010 by Paul Kaplan
Interesting article about Palm Springs life, in 1959….Posted in TheMercuryNews.com
By Christopher Reynolds
Los Angeles Times Posted: 02/23/2010 05:23:05 PM PST Updated: 02/23/2010 05:23:07 PM PST
PALM SPRINGS — President Dwight D. Eisenhower, on holiday from the White House, whips a golf club beneath a blue October sky. Frank Sinatra, driven indoors by a December rainstorm, schmoozes with Peter Lawford and sings with Ella Fitzgerald.
Meanwhile, other rich and famous folk are partying at the Chi Chi Club or pulling up their Cadillac coupes in front of the Riviera, a new modern hotel. All over the Coachella Valley, architects and builders are seducing tourists with butterfly roof lines, space-age appliances, minimalist graphics and backlighted starbursts.
Yes, 1959 was a swinging year in Palm Springs. And it’s not over yet.
Thanks to preservationists, entrepreneurs, publishers and design-driven travelers, the cult of Desert Modernism gets bigger and bigger, drawing retro pilgrims to Palm Springs. Inspired by books about Palm Springs and the 1950s, I spent three October days in the desert, all dedicated to 1959.
I consulted Peter Moruzzi’s “Palm Springs Holiday,” a volume of vintage postcards, menus, brochures, matchbooks and old photos. For further kicks, I consulted “1959: The Year Everything Changed,” in which author Fred Kaplan proposes that year as an unheralded pivot point in history.
Kaplan asserts that 1959 “was the year when the shock waves of the new ripped the seams of daily life … when categories were crossed and taboos were trampled, when everything was changing and everyone knew it — when the world as we now know it began to take form.”
Racquet Club Estates is the neighborhood where Alexander Construction Co. and architect William Krisel put up their first vacation-house subdivision in 1959. Picture a ‘hood of soaring roofs, clerestory windows, carports, screens of concrete blocks, pebbles and palms in the yard, and living rooms begging for Dean Martin on the hi-fi. New, these houses sold for $19,000. Now, with classic features bathed in avocado green, bold orange and powder blue, vacation rentals run $200 to $300 a night.
“Nineteen-fifty-nine was a good year for architecture here,” said Jade Nelson, 33, the manager of Orbit In hotel. The city “has made this resurgence because of its architectural legacy,” Nelson said. “But it lost the glamour that era brought with it. All the celebrities. There were hundreds of them.”
Palm Springs, which has about 48,000 year-round residents now, had about 13,000 then. The main drag, then as now, was Palm Canyon Drive.
For a view of the future, drive to the tall, ultramodern City National Bank building, which horrified some and transfixed others when completed in 1959.
The building, designed by Rudy Baumfeld of Victor Gruen Associates, was an homage to a tall, ultramodern chapel that modernist pioneer Le Corbusier had designed in Ronchamp, France. Now it’s a Bank of America. But it’s also a reminder that builders and architects then were thinking outside the box.
So was architect Albert Frey. In addition to a number of startling private homes and a compound now known as the Movie Colony Hotel, Frey collaborated on the low-slung City Hall and Fire Station No. 1 in the mid-’50s. By 1959, he was working on the city’s aerial tram, which would be completed in 1963.
Later came Frey’s pointy-roofed Tramway gas station, near the northern entrance to town. It now houses Palm Springs Visitor Center. A $5 map offers 75 local modernist landmarks, including many designed by Frey, William F. Cody and E. Stewart Williams.
Overnight visitors in 1959 had plenty of options: El Mirador (opened in the 1920s, closed in the ’70s) with its red tile roof; the brand-new Spa Hotel, or the Riviera, which opened in 1959 with guest buildings radiating out from the central pool like spokes from the hub of a wheel.
As the 50th anniversary approached, the owners spent $70 million on a renovation that has added Hollywood Regency promiscuity to the old minimalism with red chandeliers, portraits made of Guatemalan coins, colorized posters of bathing beauties.
In the Riviera’s new incarnation, the main pool’s edges curve gently, flanked by fire pits and cabanas. The 406 guest rooms are a riot of brown and orange and white, (like the Vegas Strip, but no casino.
Not everybody wants to stay in a big hotel, and by 1959 Palm Springs was full of tiny ones. In the Tennis Club district, a short stroll from downtown, was the Town & Desert (built in 1947, designed by Herb Burns). The Village Manor (1957, Burns again) was a few doors away.
After restoration and relaunches in the early 2000s, the Town & Desert is now the Hideaway (10 rooms) and the Village Manor is the Orbit In (nine rooms). With their prime locations, period furnishings, prices beginning at less than $150 and playful retro interiors, the two are stars in the modernist tourism revival.
“That chair came from a dumpster. It had pink upholstery,” said Nelson, pausing at a reclaimed retro armchair at the Hideaway.
The refurbished Chase Hotel (26 rooms), which went up in the late 1940s, used to be the Holiday House. A few blocks over are the stacked boulders and off-kilter angles of William F. Cody’s Del Marcos Hotel (16 rooms), a brilliantly designed but somewhat bedraggled 1947 spot with some renovation.
On the bending stretch of East Palm Canyon Drive that used to be called Indio Road is another sleek Herb Burns design from 1951: the Desert Riviera (11 rooms), a stark, U-shaped outpost with a pool in the middle.
Across the street is the bohemian Ace Hotel (which opened as a Howard Johnson’s hotel in 1965, with a Denny’s next door) and the quiet Alexander Inn, which was probably apartments in 1959.
With the recession knocking down rates, these small hoteliers would rather see adult couples than kids. Families are more welcome at the bigger resorts.
The former 1959 Holiday Inn sits at the south end of town on East Palm Canyon Drive. Since 1959, multiple owners have nudged the property upscale, including Gene Autry and Merv Griffin. Since 2004, it’s been known as the Parker Palm Springs. The midcentury bones of the 13-acre, three-pool, 144-room compound are amended with designer Jonathan Adler’s eclectic whimsy — knights in armor, butterfly chairs. Mister Parker’s is the hotel’s upscale eatery. The extremely low light (a flashlight comes with menu) and the groovy 1960s and ’70s art, are reflected by mirrored ceilings.
The reborn Parker’s, Moruzzi writes, is proof “that Palm Springs truly is the face-lift capital of the desert.”
Of course, plenty of ’50s Palm Springs landmarks have been lost, including the Desert Air (a fly-in hotel) and the Chi Chi Club (closed in the ’60s).
And up and down the valley, scores of new hotels and restaurants and golf courses and condos and water parks and such have arisen. But in a territory that’s so mutable, it’s a great comfort to lie in the shade of the rediscovered buildings that endure.
TO LEARN MORE: Palm Springs Bureau of Tourism, www.palm-springs.org. Palm Springs Desert Resort Communities Convention and Visitors Authority, www.palmspringsusa.com. Palm Springs Modern Committee, www.psmodcom.com.
1959 Time-line
In January, Fidel Castro takes over Cuba.
In February, Texas Instruments seeks a patent for the integrated circuit, aka “the microchip.”
Alaska and Hawaii gain statehood. The U.S. and Russia rush their space programs forward. G.D. Searle seeks approval for Enovid as a contraceptive “” “the pill.” The first Barbie doll is unveiled at a New York toy show. “The Sound of Music” opens on Broadway.
New film releases “Ben-Hur,” “Some Like It Hot” and “North by Northwest” do boffo box office. Francis Truffaut releases “The 400 Blows.”
Bobby Darin is on the pop-music charts with “Mack the Knife” and “Dream Lover,” as is Frank Sinatra with “High Hopes.” Chubby Checker introduces “The Twist.” Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson die in a plane crash. Miles Davis records “Kind of Blue.” John Coltrane records “Giant Steps.” Dave Brubeck records “Take Five.”
Norman Mailer publishes “Advertisements for Myself.” D.H. Lawrence”s “Lady Chatterley”s Lover,” written more than 30 years earlier but blocked over alleged obscenity, debuts in the U.S. and becomes a best-seller.
In October, the Los Angeles Dodgers, only two seasons removed from Brooklyn, defeat the Chicago White Sox to win the World Series. Meanwhile, on a seven-day vacation in greater Palm Springs, President Dwight D. Eisenhower plays golf six times at El Dorado Country Club.
In December, Frank Sinatra tapes a TV special in Palm Springs with guests Ella Fitzgerald, Juliet Prowse and Peter Lawford “” but a surprise rainstorm forces filming indoors.
Tags: downtown palm springs, Historic Preservation, Palm Springs Real Estate, paul kaplan real estate, paul kaplan realtor
Posted on Feb 10, 2010 by Paul Kaplan
Enjoy a martini with your fellow hipsters…as you watch the sun set…from the Arthur Elrod House, one of the world’s most acclaimed examples of modernist architecture.
Designed by architect John Lautner in 1968, the Elrod House entered the popular culture in 1971 as the setting for a famous scene in the James Bond “007” movie Diamonds are Forever.
Purchase your tickets early – the Retro Martini Party is the “hot” ticket of Modernism Week and tickets are limited. Remember, last year’s Retro Martini Party sold out early and this year’s incomparable venue will surely do the same.
For tickets, visit www.PalmSpringsPreservationFoundation.org
SEE YOU THERE!
Tags: Historic Preservation, Palm Springs Real Estate, paul kaplan real estate
Posted on Feb 3, 2010 by Paul Kaplan
Over 10,000 architecture aficionados will be flocking to Palm Springs for the annual Modernism Week to discover the largest collection of mid-century modern architecture in the country. The 10-day event is scheduled for February 12-21, 2010, featuring more than 40 events including architectural tours, films, book signings, and film screenings, as well as chic galas and tours of mid-century modern homes. A vintage car and Airstream trailer show are new events this year. www.VisitPalmSprings.com and www.ModernismWeek.com
STOP BY MY BOOTH AT THE MODERNISM SHOW ON FEB 13 and 14th and pick up a free Palm Springs Mid-Century Neighborhoods Map.
Here’s the schedule of events for the week:
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Please check back periodically for updates on the
Modernism Week Schedule of Events
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Printer friendly schedule here
Thursday 2/11: click here for details…
*Join KCET for a Pre-Modernism Week event featuring a very special screening of Julius Shulman: Desert Modern, at the legendary Frank Sinatra Twin Palms Estate, 5:30 – 7:30 PM
Friday 2/12: click here for details…
*Walk of Fame Star Dedication/Reception for Architect Albert Frey, 2 PM
*10th Annual PS Modernism Show – Preview Reception, 6 PM – 9 PM
*Silent Auction during the Modernism Show Preview and on Saturday
*Opening reception for Shag at M Modern Gallery, 8 – 11 PM
Saturday 2/13: click here for details…*10th Annual PS Modernism Show, 10 AM – 6 PM
*Silent Auction, ends at noon
*Open House Art Studio, hosted by Romi Cortier, 2/13-2/14, 11 AM – 4 PM
*Shag Lunch at Trio Restaurant, limited seating, Noon – 2 PM
*Opening Reception for Danny Heller at the Terrence Rogers Gallery, 2 – 5 PM
*Meet the Architect: Don Wexler at The Corridor, 3 -5 PM
*Design Within Reach hosts Charles Hollis Jones, 4 – 6 PM
*Gallery Openings and Artist Receptions at the Backstreet Art District, 5 – 9 PM
*PS Modern Committee Annual Gala Benefit, 7 – 11 PM
*After Glow Party at the Ace Hotel and Spa: Late night snacks and
drinks until 2 AM
Sunday 2/14: click here for details…
*10th Annual PS Modernism Show, 11 AM – 5 PM
*Double Decker Bus Tours, 9 AM & 1 PM
*The Racquet Club Estates Neighborhood Homes Tour, 10 AM – 2 PM
*VDL Research House, Richard Neutra’s Studio and Residence,
Lecture Hall, Palm Springs Art Museum, 11 AM, 1 PM and 3 PM
*Shag Book Signing, Starlite Lounge at the Riviera Resort & Spa, 11 AM – 1:30 PM
*World Premiere – The Architecture and Design Film Series in Partnership with Design Onscreen: William Krisel, Architect, 7:30 PM
*After movie party at TRIO restaurant, 707 N. Palm Canyon Dr. Complimentary hors d’oeuvres and cash bar, 9:30 PM
Monday 2/15: click here for details…
*Frey ll House Tours , 8:30 AM – 5 PM
*Double Decker Bus Tours, 9 AM & 1 PM
*PS Historical Society presents: Helen Mawby and the Chi Chi
Era and Beyond, 2 PM
*Orbit In Reception: Photographer Dan Chavkin, 5 – 7 PM
*The Architecture and Design Film Series in Partnership with Design Onscreen: Desert Utopia: Mid-century Architecture in Palm Springs, 7:30 PM
Tuesday 2/16: click here for details…
*Frey ll House Tours, 8:30 AM – 5 PM
*Double Decker Bus Tours, 9 AM & 1 PM
*The Architecture and Design Film Series in Partnership with Design Onscreen: Ray Kappe: California Modern Master Forty Years of Modular
Evolution & Philip Johnson, Diary of an Eccentric Architect, 10 AM
*Lecture by Bill Butler on Albert Frey, 2 PM
Wednesday 2/17: click here for details…*Slide Lecture: Lost, Saved and Endangered: Modernist Architecture
in Palm Springs, 8:30 AM – 10 AM
*Frey ll House Tours , 8:30 AM – 5 PM
*Vintage Car Show, Camelot Theatre Parking Lot, 1 – 4 PM
*MW Art Walk at the Backstreet Art District, 6 – 9 PM
*The Architecture and Design Film Series in Partnership with Design Onscreen: Visual Acoustics, the Modernism of Julius Shulman, 7:30 PM
Thursday 2/18: click here for details…
*House tour of Frank Sinatra’s Twin Palms Estate, 10:30 AM – 2 PM
*An Evening with Chef Johny Vee and Victoria Price, 6 PM
*Michael H. Lord Gallery artist reception: Architectural Photographer
Leland Y. Lee, 7- 9 pm (Exhibit runs 2/12 – 3/13)
Friday 2/19: click here for details…*The Architecture and Design Film Series in Partnership with Design Onscreen: Rem Koolhaas: A Kind of Architect, 10 AM
*Vintage Airstream and Trailer Show, exterior viewing begins 4 PM
Retro t-shirts by Vintage Roadside available
*Lecture by Frank Escher at the Palm Springs Art Museum, 5:30 PM (Museum members only)
*Opening of the Lautner Exhibition at the PS Art Museum, 5:30 PM (Museum members only)
*PS Preservation Foundation Retro Martini Party, 5 PM – 8 PM
*Charles Phoenix Retro Slide Show, 6:30 – 9 PM
Saturday 2/20: click here for details…
*Lautner Symposium, sponsored by the Architecture & Design Council of the
Palm Springs Art Museum, 9 AM- 6 PM
*Vintage Airstream and Trailer Show, interior tours, 10 AM, Noon & 2 PM
Retro t-shirts by Vintage Roadside available, Bruce Littlefield Book Signing,
10 AM – 3 PM
*Book signing, Orlando Diaz-Azcuy for the book by Diane Dorrans Saeks, 3 – 5 PM
*Modern Mosaics New Showroom Opening, 320 North Palm Canyon,
cocktails, hors d’oeuvres, gift certificates give-away, 4 – 7 PM
*Vintage Fashion Show, Grand Zoso Ballroom, Hotel Zoso, 6 PM – 8 PM
*Movie Night, The Ace Hotel & Swim Club, 8:30 PM
Sunday 2/21: click here for details…*Lecture by Bill Stern on Architectural Pottery, 11 AM
*Booksigning at Just Fabulous, Noon – 2 pm
*Vintage Airstream and Trailer Show, exterior viewing closes, 2 PM
Retro t-shirts by Vintage Roadside available
*Celebrity Home Tour with wine & cheese reception at Liz Taylor, 1 – 6 PM
*Modernism Week Closing Party at the sidebar lounge, The Riviera, 6 – 9 PM
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Tags: Entertainment, Historic Preservation, mid-century, Palm Springs Real Estate, paul kaplan real estate
Posted on Sep 6, 2009 by Paul Kaplan
A new book I discovered this weekend: LITTLE BOXES: The Architecture of a Classic Midcentury Suburb is a fascinating visual journey through the Westlake District of Daly City, California, one of America’s first and most iconic postwar suburbs. Located just south of San Francisco, Westlake has frequently been compared to Levittown, New York, the first major postwar suburb in the United States
Little Boxes documents this important suburb’s meticulous development process and celebrates its classic midcentury style.
For more info click the following link:
Little Boxes: The Architecture Of A Classic Midcentury Suburb
Tags: Historic Preservation, Palm Springs Real Estate
Posted on Aug 30, 2009 by Paul Kaplan
The Willows Historic Palm Springs Inn located in the center of town up against the mountains, was recently featured in The Desert Sun. The home hosted many celebrities over the years, including Albert Einstein, Clark Gable and Carole Lombard, Marion Davis, among others.
The current owners, Tracy Conrad and Paul Marut did an amazing job restoring it back to its original grandeur.
For more info, click here. Of if you’d like to spend the night at this historic inn, visit www.thewillowspalmsprings.com
Tags: downtown palm springs, Historic Preservation, Palm Springs Real Estate
