Palm Springs .. what's not to love?
The same year the Mexican monarchy ended (1823), Mexican diarist José María Estudillo first mentioned 'Agua Caliente' .. Hot waters .. in Palm Springs.
I've been here before but never seen it so green before. There'd been a bunch of rain in LA and California in general over the past few weeks, and it was the most verdant version of this area I'd ever seen.
Like much of what I like to call 'Old Mexico', people forget the history of this area, and that's fine, because what you really think of when you think of Palm Springs is this guy:
Or these cool, clean architectural lines:
Or .. how the hell did they build this place in the desert???
My understanding of why they built Palm Springs where they did, had more to do with the old Hollywood star system.
The performer contracts required that they live within a certain radius of L.A. Especially, I guess, because if you had decided to go and live in Paris, it could take you months to get back home by boat. As a lot of these performers worked between both Las Vegas and Los Angeles, it would make perfect sense for them to set up their home away from home in Palm Springs, as it's nearly halfway between both cities.
On the way out I wanted to stop and take some pictures with the windmills in the background, perhaps in deference to the idiotic ex-Treasurer of Australia, Joe Hockey, who claimed that wind turbines were 'utterly offensive' (while he and his mates were busy opening the utterly NOT offensive coal mines left right and centre).
When I stepped out of the car to take these pics, I'd forgotten how the mixture of sand, wind, and desert blowing in your face is not the most awesome thing a person can experience.
I don't really need any excuse to visit Palm Springs.
Because it's awesome.
#california #palmsprings #desert #windmills #joehockeyisaloser #sandinmyface #travel #solotravel #elvis #sinatra #midcenturymodernarchitecture
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