Palm Springs City Guide 2013 / 2014 2013 / 2014 | Page 13

YESTERDAY, TODAY AND TOMORROW

Generals McNair & Patton at Palm Springs Airport c.1942
courtesy Palm Springs Historical Society

Palm Springs was a thriving little city when World War II
broke out in 1941. The desert became the training center
for Gen. George Patton’s troops who were preparing to
invade North Africa, and a lot of folks left the area. The
Palm Springs airport had been built as an Army Air Corps
emergency landing field in 1939 on land owned by the
Agua Calientes, but in March of 1941 the War Department certified improvements to the existing airport as essential to National Defense. Land was acquired to build
a major airfield half a mile from the old airfield site. The
new airfield, Palm Springs Army Airfield, was completed
in early 1942. Training moved to Brownsville Army Airfield in Texas on June 1, 1944 and the airfield was used
for Army and Navy transport flights until the end of April
1945. The City of Palm Springs purchased the land in
1961 and converted it to Palm Springs Municipal Airport
with a Donald Wexler designed terminal.

Presidents and leaders of
the world who have landed
at Palm Springs Airport:
1954 Eisenhower
1962 Kennedy
1964 Johnson
1983 Queen Elizabeth
& Prince Charles
Also Nixon, Reagan,
Ford & Obama
photo: Mayor Frank Bogert and President JFK
at Palm Springs Airport, 1962
photo by George Aquino, courtesy Palm Springs Historical Society

Torney General Hospital came into being during the summer of 1942 when the Army purchased
the El Mirador Hotel and converted it into a 1600-bed general hospital where wounded American soldiers were treated. About 250 Italian prisoners of war were living in an adjacent detention
camp and worked at the hospital. In November 1945 the facility was turned over to the Federal
Works Administration and today it’s Desert Regional Medical Center. Also in 1942, the Agua Caliente Band signed a 25 year land lease to allow the City of Palm Springs to construct a new airport
where a U.S. Army Air Corps emergency landing field was created in 1939 and which was used
El Mirador Hotel c.1930s
courtesy of Palm Springs Historical Society
by the military during WWII.
When the war ended, tourists flocked back to Palm Springs. More housing was needed but it was two years before building materials were available.
The first new housing was started in the Veterans Tract, east of El Cielo and, somehow, two million board feet of scarce timber caught fire on the site,
causing the largest fire in the city’s history. Even though half of the lumber was saved, project was delayed for six months.
In 1938, a new high school, and several other buildings were completed. In 1947 a mile of Palm Trees were planted on Palm Canyon Drive. This
was the idea of the city council woman Ruth Hardy. Later, in 1948, Bullock’s Wilshire opened a store on Palm Canyon. Revered LA architect Paul
Trousdale partnered with Pearl McManus to build 200 homes in the Tahquitz wash area at the south end of the city, and when the banks of the wash
were stabilized, developed homes on either side of the banks, and called them “Tahquitz River Estates.” In total, almost $600,000 in building permits
were issued during the year for projects within the city limits.

T

here are still a few pre-WWII hotels in existence in Palm Springs. The Pepper Tree Inn, now
Alcazar, (1924 -645 Indian Cyn), Estrella Resort/The Viceroy (1933 - 415 South Belardo Rd.),
Ingleside Inn (1935 - 200 West Ramon Rd.), and Colonial House/Howard Manor/now Colony
Palms Hotel (1936 – 572 N. Indian Cyn). Each has been renovated over the years, and they
all have interesting stories. Possibly the most interesting is the Colony Palms Hotel which was built
by Purple Gang member Al Wertheimer with a reputed speakeasy and brothel somewhere within. It’s
now a four-star boutique hotel with an excellent restaurant. If you visit, ask for a tour of the secret
underground room.
The City has a program to identify distinctive neighborhoods
in the community (see map, pages 56-57) and, of the 33 neighborhoods, seven are historically and culturally significant. Warm
Wexler and Ric Harrison’s Leff Residence
Sands homes date back to the 1920s, and many were built from
photo: Julius Shulman & Juergen Nogai, 2005 ©Juergen Nogai
courtesy Palm Springs Art Museum
adobe. The Mesa started as a gated community in the ‘20s near
the Indian Canyons and has expanded far beyond the gates. The
Historic Tennis Club area has numerous estates, including what are now The Willows Inn, the Casa Cody Inn,
and the Ingleside Inn, along with 400 homes, condos,apartments, and restaurants.
Tahquitz River Estates dates back to the ‘30s and today it is the largest neighborhood with 600 homes and businesses within its boundaries. Sunmor Estates, between City Hall and the airport, developed during the late ‘50searly ‘60s. In El Rancho Vista Estates, Robert Fey built 70 homes designed by Donald Wexler and Ric Harrison there.
Palm Springs flourished through the 40s, ‘50s, and ‘60s when the modern movement was growing stronger. Many
people looking at the area for a second home appreciated how the clean-lined modern design fit the laid-back desert
lifestyle. Palm Springs attracted now-famous modernist architects like Richard Neutra and John Lautner from Los
Donald Wexler
courtesy Palm Springs Historical Society
Angeles and locals William Cody, Stewart Williams, and Albert Frey.

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