PALM SPRINGS WEEKEND - HORIZON HOTEL

En route to a mid-century hotel in Arizona for the weekend, Jillian and I decided to divert and head to Palm Springs.  Just thirty minutes away, Jillian was able to make reservations at a hotel she'd always been interested in - The Horizon Hotel.  With only twenty-two rooms (23 or 24, depending on what pamphlet or ad one reads), this was one of the most relaxing weekends I've ever experienced away from home.  At one hundred percent occupancy, we may as well have been the only guests there - conversations were kept to a whisper even poolside.  Amazing!  Temperatures reached over one hundred, but we didn't notice it since we spent the preponderance of our time in the pool.

Unfortunately, the few restaurants we visited around town weren't as pleasing but filling, nonetheless. 

We filled the "white space"* in with relaxing drives through the cornucopia of mid-century neighborhoods. 

Every other weekend or so, Jillian and I intend on "taste testing" different mid-century hotels. 

*Available dates on a military training calendar - usually filled in with not-so essential but worthwhile training.

Originally called L'Horizon, The Horizon Hotel is one of the few remaining mid-century modern hotels in Palm Springs.  Situated on 2.5 acres with glorious views of the San Jacinto Mountains, the hotel was originally designed in 1952 by renowned architect William Cody for Hollywood mogul Jack Wrather and his actress wife, Bonita "Bunny" Granville, as a retreat for their family and Hollywood friends.  Wrather produced the Lone Ranger and Lassie television series - the stars of which were frequent guests as L'Horizon. 

Main Office 

If only the integrity of the original rooms could have been maintained.  The printed barkcloth on the chairs are still being reproduced to this day

Our room (3B - far left) as it looked in the 1950's

Room 3B interior

Poolside

 

 

Even bus stops resemble mid-century car ports 

Just a few original mid-century homes that caught my attention.  If I photographed every home I liked, I would have run out of camera space.  The mid-century modern homes around our neighborhood in Laguna Beach never evoked the same feelings as an original