An Urbanist’s Look at Palm Springs, CA
Palm Springs is actually more pedestrian-friendly than you might think. Oh sure, many places do not have sidewalks and the residential areas all have front-facing garages but the city (and its neighbors in the valley) do have some redeaming qualities.
First, Palm Springs is organized on a large grid of North-South and East-West Streets. Within the grid you will get weird curving streets and no sidewalks in the residential areas. This is not unlike Oklahoma City where I was raised, the large grid helping to keep you oriented as to where you have been and where you are going.
Some of the areas within the grid are not developed, possibly a result of Indians owning/controlling alternate squares in the grid. I also read that Palm Springs fell on hard times in the 70s and 80s and it looks as though some things were torn down during these decades.
The area certainly has bounced back as a tourist mecca, at least in the cooler winter months. In a few months the temperatures will be so high the tourists will stop coming for the summer. Palm Springs enjoys a lively downtown area.
This evening was their weekly street festival but even the night before the sidewalks were full. For 15+ years now they’ve been closing the main street for about six blocks to allow artists and food vendors to showcase their work. I’m not much into that sort of thing so I stuck to the sidewalks for the most park.
The main drag downtown is filled with an eclectic collection of buildings, many of which open to the sidewalk. Of note was the lack of bicycle racks despite a fairly good number of cyclists.
Many of the restaurants have open seating along the sidewalk as Palm Springs is a place to see and be seen. Misters help cool you off on those hot days.
Again, nearly every restaurant has either opening windows/doors or an open patio adjacent to the sidewalk. In addition to the misters to keep you cool, most places have heater to keep you warm as the temperature tends to drop considerably as the sun sets. Given that Palm Springs can manage good outdoor seating despite their weather extremes you’d think we would do more of this in St. Louis.
A good bit of the storefronts are from the modern age, minimally detailed. Yet, their large expanses of glass and interesting overhangs compliment the more traditional buildings.
The above view is looking just West of the main street. As you can see, the mountain range is very close to downtown leaving only a few blocks of development before you get to the base. This varies throughout the area with the mountains being enough distance back for a subdivision or two while at other times the mountain comes up right next to the main road. Mountains, the ultimate in urban growth boundary.
The downtown has one parking garage, offering free parking. On the night of the street festival we drove into the garage like so many others. It was not until we got to the top that we realized not a space was to be found, it was completely full. By having free parking they encouraged everyone to drive and had no way to communicate the garage was full.
One of the best buildings downtown is one that I think is reasonably new. Above you get this first glimpse into this 2-story building with balconies and lots of detailing.
Getting closer you can see a mix of materials, textures, colors and patterns. The open doors and those enjoying dinner on the 2nd floor add multiple layers of interest. It should be noted this building is located on the West side of the street so it will be in the shade before the other side of the street would be, helping it be a bit cooler.
The buidling is actually symetrical around a courtyard with a fountain. Multiple tenants are located within the building. For example, while one restaurant is on the ground floor another may be upstairs. From an urban perspective, the design is flawless.
Getting out into some of the neighborhoods you get your typical 50s and 60s tract houses although usually behind a privacy wall. In some cases, such as above, you get truly spectacular modern architecture behind impressive landscaping and a security gate. This home was on a list of noted mid-century modern homes.
A few tidbits:
- The late Sonny Bono was mayor of Palm Springs before being elected to congress.
- Palm Springs has a large wind farm at the edge of town, generating enough power for the entire valley.
- Wind & sun are plentiful but water is not.
- The area is diverse with a large gay & lesbian, jewish, latino population.
- Annual income is actually low due to the large number of retirees and folks with second homes. However, wealth is everywhere, a little too often if you ask me.
- A 1962 Urban Renewal project relocated most of the black population who settled a town nearby via a prominent African-American in the area.
- Their bus system, known as Sun Bus, includes solar panels on the bus shelters.
- Don’t even think about finding a 24-hour grocery or drug store.
- More information at Palm Springs wiki.
This is a great report, Steve. Wonderful photos.
Your next to last photo of the shopping courtyard reminds me of Fort Lauderdale’s Gallery at Beach Place. It is a three-level shopping center, a U-shaped building with another building in between the two arms of the U. The design creates nine large spaces with views of the ocean, three on each floor, suitable for restaurants. Building up (in moderation) is a great way to create more desirable street front space.
The modern storefronts highlight the fact that David Sucher’s Three Rules about how a building relates to the street are more important for walkability and design compatibility than the materials and type of architecture. Put the building at the sidewalk, make the front permeable, put the parking at the side or in the back.
You didn’t even mention my favorite thing about Palm Springs…the smell. Citrus blossoms. Everywhere you go. It’s about as far from St. Louis as you can get. Wish I were there now.
Did you look at the bigger picture? My take, when I was there, was that Palm Springs is still struggling and that Palm Desert, further south, is where the real development is happening. This is both a good and bad thing. It takes some of the pressure off the mid-century modern housing stock (they’re not getting replaced with McMansions), but the retail core seems to be struggling to stay competetive with the more upscale and newer stuff happening “down the road”. I’d probably equate it to the inner-ring suburb syndrome. And, yes, it is a diverse community – this diversity is probably one of the biggest resaons it’s doing as well as it is . . .
“A 1962 Urban Renewal project relocated most of the black population who settled a town nearby via a prominent African-American in the area.”
odd way of describing the “city engineered holocaust” (per California Justice Dept. report cited in Wiki)
Water misters are fine and dandy except that they are an environmental waste. In a desert where water is scarce, especially in CA, one would expect a bit conservatism. They wouldn’t work in St. Louis due to the high cost relative to the few non-humid days around here.
All in all, Palm Springs is a nice place to visit, but wouldn’t want to live there!
While we are on the weather and how Palm Springs is able to handle their extremes, I’ll assume from your comments (misters and heaters for cool nights) that it is an arid climate. Big difference between their extremes and here. While a shady 90 degree day might be tolerable there, it usually isn’t here.
Of course, our perpetually air-conditioned society has skewed what is tolerable, but there’s still limits.
Palm Springs – the ONLY town with 2 Sonny Bono statues, and nary a Cher to be found.
A lot of major cities close down major parts of streets each weekend and have kind of open air festivals of sorts. This could EASILY be done in St Louis and Washington Ave is a great spot for this.
The overhangs you mention made me laugh. Steve, try and head to city hall, and tell them you are thinking of converting your home to a business and tell them you want some sort of overhang like that. You’ll run in circles.
Finally, notice the wide sidewalks. Lots of room for people to maneuver.
It looks very old and WASPY. B-O-R-I-N-G.
Steve, I hate to hijack your thread, but here I go doing that. I disagree with you all the time, but I want to commend you for not taking the fascist step that your St. Louis blog brother AD French took over at pubdef–you still allow anonymous posters. You take a lot of grief (much of it personal) from people here, yet you keep the discourse public. There are a lot of people who, for a variety of reasons, care to post anonymously on blogs. Does that lead to abuse? Yes. But democracy ain’t pretty, and free speech ain’t for the tender-eared. Unlike French, you are living your principles–thank you.
Good point–I meant that in the colloquial sense, but that is often hard to convey online. Maybe I could have used quotation marks, I don’t know. Anyway, sorry about the hijack. Cool pictures, btw
Frankly, I think what I’m doing now–hijacking a thread–is more egregious and worthy of censure than simply being controversial, which is what pushed old French over the limit.
only one, your comment is just so intellectually stimulating. How did you come up with it?
Idiot.