THAT PALM SPRINGS SHIMMER: Try to describe Los Angeles on a June morning without saying the words "foggy" or "gloom" and, well, you almost can't do it. Likewise, calling the high Sierra "crisp" in September seems like an obvious given. As for the desert resort cities and the month of February? "Shimmery" feels quite right, thanks to the soft (but warm) sunshine and all of those swimming pools busily and beautifully living up to the California wintertime ideal. But it isn't only the pools that lend Palm Springs its distinctive shimmer in February, of course. That happens to be the month when Modernism Week unfurls, the everything-mid-century-ish extravaganza that covers houses and public buildings and bus tours and art sales and furniture sales and fashion and the occasional ready-to-roll vintage trailer, too. It's a feast for the eyes, and for the mind, for a mid-century celebration comes with a deep sense of fairly recent history, too. Ready to step into the shimmer and indulge in your adoration of mid-century style? Then make for the desert from...
FEB. 16 THROUGH 26, 2017: You're right, that is practically half of the whole shortest month, which is impressive. But don't stand in awe of Modernism Week's out-sized-ness for too long: Tickets are now on sale. If you want to be a part of the swirl, which includes a tour of Frank Sinatra's Twin Palms Estate, a Double Decker Architecture Bus Tour, and a mondo "Pinball Fever" party, get on the whole ticket and hotel and getting-to-Palm-Springs thing before the old year passes. For February is shimmering on the horizon, speaking of pools and sun and Elvis Presley's honeymoon pad and the iconic John Lautner's iconic legacy and a million other details that fill the larger mid-century mosaic.
