Palm Springs is getting ready once again to celebrate all things Modernism.
Modernism Week’s signature February Event is an annual celebration of midcentury modern design, architecture, art, fashion and culture. Modernism Week features more than 350 events including the Palm Springs Modernism Show, Signature Home Tours, films, lectures, Premier Double Decker Architectural Bus Tours, nightly parties and live music, walking and bike tours, tours of Sunnylands, fashion, classic cars, modern garden tours, a vintage travel trailer exhibition, and more.
The mission is to celebrate and foster appreciation of midcentury architecture and design, as well as contemporary thinking in these fields, by encouraging education, preservation and sustainable modern living as represented in the greater Palm Springs area.
Feb 16, 2023 to Feb 26, 2023
Here’s one I’m looking forward to and it’s free:
This will be the ultimate street party celebration. Dance in the street to These Boots Were Made For Walkin’ honoring Nancy Sinatra.
For general information and tickets (many sell out fast) please visit:
There have been many a photo taken and several articles written about the Modernism Museum prior to my visit yesterday.
The museum, which is fairly new to Palm Springs, was created by visionary artist, designer and friend Tracy Turco, so it was already obvious to me that it would be anything but mundane.
Warming up by the Fireplace. Early 70’s where mellow yellow and brown accents co exist in this eclectic environment.
Clearly, it is a fun place to visit with exceptional attention to detail showcasing all things mid-century Modern from the late 50s to the early 70s era.
The museum is not only for tourists or locals but will serve the community as a gathering place to socialize in an inspired atmosphere located in the heart of Palm Springs. There’s a glittery disco roller rink at the back of the museum and a comfy colourful seating area which can be rented out for parties. How much fun is that?
1950’s kitchens featured fiberglass, stainless steel and aluminum and done in yellow, turquoise, pink, mint green, and other colors like red, black + white.
This beauty salon contains vintage memorabilia as well as a hairdryer that Marion Davies sat under weekly in Hollywood when she was the mistress to William Randolph Hearst.
I took plenty more photos with my Samsung phone camera but think it best that you visit and take some yourself. In a place like this it’s very easy to get carried away and therefore, give too much away.
Wouldn’t you like to take a bubble bath in this tub? Recreated from Playboy Bunny Jayne Mansfield’s pink bathtub. She liked pink champagne too. The rest of the bedroom is an ode to Palm Springs designer Arthur Elrod, sporting his headboard and side tables, as well as Magda Gabor’s sconces, chandeliers and oil painting. It also includes a table from the Trini Lopez estate, a few frocks that belonged to the Gabor sisters and some Schiaparelli keepsakes.
A replica of Elvis Presley’s boat
Let’s not forget the store where you can buy some fun stuff:
Photo of Paris Hilton by a pair of shoes Tracy designed for her (when she was Tracy Stern) although hers says “Heiress“Tracy doesn’t go “by the book” even though she’s on the cover of Palm Springs Life Magazine (hard cover version available in shop).I couldn’t leave without having one more photo taken of myself in front of the famous RacquetClub.
Modernism Week officially begins today! From now through February 27, 2022, we’ll be celebrating all things midcentury modern and more, in Palm Springs and beyond.
Follow along on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for 11 days of modernist fun. We’ll be sharing daily event highlights, important updates, and so much more.
Looking for something different to do this week? Check out these streaming programs that take you into the private spaces and historic places that make Palm Springs a true “Mecca of Modernism.”
Architectural Driving Tour of Palm Springs: a fun and informative “top down” architectural tour of Palm Springs from a 1966 convertible Mustang. Get a sneak peek inside a few of the best MCM homes in town! (45 min):
The popular video series returns with a brand-new edition, just for the Modernism Week Online Experience!
Come inside some of Palm Springs’ most significant homes. The video series will take you into *5 fabulous Palm Springs homes, where you will walk through the interiors, gardens and grounds and see what makes Palm Springs desert architecture and lifestyle unique. You’ll learn about important architectural and design details, unique furnishings and meet the homeowners or other special guests knowledgable about the property. Your host will be the curator of the selected homes, Modernism Week Board Member Maureen Erbe.
*The houses include The Morse Residence (by Hal Levitt, 1961), The Cahuilla Hills House by O’Donnell + Escalante (by Lance O’Donnell, 2009), The Southridge Glass House (by William Cody, 1963), Trina Turk’s Ship of the Desert (by Erle Webster and Adrian Wilson, 1936), and Martyn Lawrence Bullard’s Villa Grigio (by James McNaughton, 1963). Special thanks to presenting sponsor Dunn-Edwards.
The homes will be located in various neighborhoods in Palm Springs, all with unique architectural character and featuring a variety of architectural styles.
Thank you to our presenting sponsor Dunn-Edwards Paints. Cost: $45 – A digital keepsake tour program is included with your ticket purchase.
The organizer of this program is Modernism Week. This program is streaming through March 31, 2021.
By Modernism, I mean the positive rejection of the past and the blind belief in the process of change; in novelty for its own sake; in the idea that progress through time equates with cultural progress; in the cult of individuality, originality and self-expression. – Dan Cruickshank
Parker Palm Springs Hotel Lobby
Don’t bother about being modern. Unfortunately it is the one thing that, whatever you do, you cannot avoid. – Salvador Dali
Modernity is the transient, the fleeting, the contingent; it is one half of art, the other being the eternal and the immovable. – Charles Baudelaire
Post-Modernism was a reaction against modernism. It came quite early to music and literature and a little later to architecture. And I think it’s still coming to computer science. – Larry Wall
“The modern artist is working with space and time and expressing his feelings rather than illustrating.” – Jackson Pollock
Parker Palm Springs Hotel Lobby
“The pure modernist is merely a snob; he cannot bear to be a month behind the fashion.”- G.K. Chesterton, All Things Considered
“In his own way the modernist becomes as irrelevant as the fundamentalist. The fundamentalist has something to say to his world, but he has lost the ability to say it. The modernist knows how to speak to his age, but he has nothing to say.” ― William E. Hordern
Girl Who Would be KING on Life, Style and INSPIRATION. 
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