Along the highways leading from Los Angeles into the Coachella Valley desert, there are two types of sign-posts. One is the rocky, harsh faces of the imposing mountains – the closer the mountains are cut to the side of the road, the narrower the perspective and the less intimidating the surrounding desert seems, like blinders on a horse. The other is literal sign-posts, glowing lollipops of fast food restaurants, gas stations, motels and casinos. Floating above their signifieds like geotags on a satellite image, they make their offerings known – food! gas! fortune! In the desert’s harsh environs, it’s too risky to venture into the unknown, so best stick with the drive-through cheeseburger. 

But then, suddenly there are neat rows of palm trees. Scattered lights on the nightscape coalesce into boulevards and fall in line with landscaped desert palms, manicured gravel patches, and curated cacti. And then there are the mid-century modernist dollhouses, amidst equally inspired gas stations, impossibly green golf courses and the occasional demolished stucco shitbox. Welcome to Palm Springs!

In Palm Springs for Modernism Week, which in its ten year history has become popular enough to ballon to 11 days, visitors travel back in time. The desert getaway for health tourism and the midcentury’s jetset became the home-away-from home to the era's modern architectural zeitgeist, with buildings designed by Richard Neutra, Donald Wexler, Albert Frey, William Pereira, and A. Quincy Jones (among others) peppering the rocky landscape. There’s even a development of tract homes in the “southern Californian modernism” style, Twin Palms, designed by father-son team George and Robert Alexander. 

The ensuing “Desert Modern” style dominated the landscape and dictated what was in vogue for those who could afford to hire an architect and build in the landscape – Frank Sinatra, the Annenbergs, the Reagans, Elvis. After the 1960s though, the town stagnated, struggling to attract new residents and falling into recession. But by the late 1990s and early oughts, after an influx of wealthy home-buyers began renovating and investing in Palm Springs properties (particularly Neutra’s Kaufmann House and Wexler’s Steel House), the city started garnering national attention for its architectural heritage. The economy perked back up, in some part thanks to Modernism Week’s tourism (80-degree and cloudless weather isn’t a hard sell in February), which in turn inspired more people to purchase homes there. Mark Davis, board member of Palm Springs Modernism Week, pointed to the trend of tourists falling in love with the city on a bus tour, and leaving Modernism Week with a downpayment on a house. And celebrities still flock there too, which doesn’t hurt.

Last year’s Modernism Week attracted over 45,000 people to the desert town – that’s roughly the same as Palm Springs’ entire population. PSMOD Week (as it’s referred to during the festival) is an independent nonprofit entity, serving as an umbrella organization that helps publicize and coordinate the numerous local institutions that put on the lectures, tours, and events. Those institutions then use any profits from their events to fund programming. According to Sidney Williams, curator at the Architecture and Design Center (part of the Palm Springs Art Museum), her organization simply breaks even after using the revenue to fund educational programming during the Week. Another organization, the Palm Springs Modern Committee, uses some of its funds for legal research behind preservation issues.

PSMOD has proved remarkably successful in rebooting Palm Springs, but with a looming challenge. The majority of attendees to Modernism Week are Baby Boomers (midcentury modernism’s natives), and Palm Springs is demographically skewed to the elderly. What happens when Baby Boomers are no more? PSMOD has started pushing some programming for a younger crowd, those attracted to the mise en scène of Desert Modernism if not the actual architecture – the Mad Men era style, the flexible happy hours, and the general bacchanalia of the poolside desert lifestyle. The week’s opening party featured DJs spinning throwback hits (come dressed up in your fave throwback-tune’s decade!).

Whether those younger tourists will fall in enough love with the architecture to buy a home there is uncertain, but the town knows it can’t get along solely as a preservationist’s mecca. During the same weekend as PSMOD, the city also hosted tourists for the International Bear Convergence and the Desert Arts Festival. Regarding the style of newly built structures in Palm Springs, Mark Davis explained that “[we] also celebrate contemporary architecture and design that adheres to the aesthetics of mid-century modern,” so the mid-century mod feel can evolve. And the town is building – a major downtown revitalization plan went into effect in 2011, and includes a giant retail, restaurant and hotel project in a previously blighted but highly visible site. As the city begins to thrive again, it will have to learn to balance its heritage with its future.

More musings on Palm Springs' modernism and our complete interview with Mark Davis, on Archinect Sessions Episode #17