Winter Playground

Southern California's getaway for the rich and famous has become a budget-friendly destination

By Carol Pucci
The Seattle Times

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PALM SPRINGS — Ruby Montana steers her VW convertible past the former homes of Liberace, Dinah Shore and Sammy Davis Jr., and I start to panic.

The idea of doing Palm Springs on a budget seems a bit like traveling to the French Riviera in search of a Motel 6.

"There's money here," she told me earlier as we lunched at Tyler's, a walk-up burger palace in a converted bus depot. And it's not all coming from Southern California.

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IF YOU GO

WHERE: Palm Springs is 110 miles southeast of Los Angeles in Southern California's Coachella Valley.

LODGING: For discounted hotel rates, see www.palmsprings.com and the "hot deals" page at www.palm-springs.org, the tourism bureau's Web site.

Three suggestions:
- The Ace Hotel & Swim Club, 701 E. Palm Canyon Dr., 180 rooms. October-December rates for simple doubles start at $99 weekdays, $149 weekends, plus a $20-per-night resort fee. January-March rates start at $150 weekdays, $199 weekends. Call 760-325-9900 or see www.acehotel.com/palmsprings.
- The Coral Sands Inn, 210 West Stevens. Seven themed rooms (think Roy Rogers and Liberace), some with kitchens. Kidney-shaped pool. Winter rates: $139-$175. Call 866-820-8302or see www.coralsandspalmsprings.com.
- Palm Springs Travel Lodge, 333 E. Palm Canyon Dr., 160 rooms. A few blocks from the Ace, this is a great value, especially for families. Newly renovated rooms. Two pools. Breakfast included. Rates vary according to the date, but a search on the Web site showed rooms available for as low as $48 November midweek and $75-$90 for December and January dates. Call 760-327-1211 or see www.palmcanyonhotel.com.
GETTING AROUND: Much of what there is to see and do in Palm Springs and the surrounding desert cities can be covered on foot, by bike or bus. Bus info at SunLine Transit, 760-343-3451, or www.sunline.org. Big Wheel Tours rents bikes starting at $30 per day.

Call 760-802-2236 or see www.bwbtours.com.

MORE INFORMATION: See www.palm-springs.org or call the Palm Springs Bureau of Tourism at 800-927-7256. Suggestions for viewing architecture, day trips, dining etc. at www.bestofps.com.

— McClatchy-Tribune

Montana, 62, sold her Pinto Pony boutique in Seattle nine years ago. She now owns the seven-room Coral Sands Inn in the elegant Las Palmas neighborhood.

The desert city's appeal can be summed up in three words, she says. "Sun. No bugs." Add retro architecture, miles of hiking trails, hot-springs resorts and vintage shopping and it's easy to see why a new group of 20- and 30-somethings, young families and gay couples have adopted Palm Springs as their getaway too.

Enter a sagging economy, and what was once viewed as a playground for the rich and famous has become a budget-friendly getaway for the rest of us.

The best deals surface in summer. But things are different this year. Empty store fronts along the main drag, Palm Canyon Drive, are one clue that everyone's scrambling for business even as the peak winter season approaches.

Plenty of small motels such as Montanas cupcake-pink Coral Sands, built in 1952 as a retreat for the Los Angeles Rams, offer rooms for under $150 a night.

There's even a Motel 6, but chances for a star sighting are greater next door at the Ace Hotel & Swim Club, the hip-hotel-of the-moment, where a friend of mine recently checked in behind Drew Barrymore.

The minimalist décor at the Ace — vintage furniture and walls covered in bleached canvas for a "bohemian, camping feel" — disguises what was a 1965 Westward Ho cinderblock motel. Next door is a former Denny's restaurant, now the King's Highway, serving French press coffee and couscous salads.

"If the production crew from the movie 'Easy Rider' came to Palm Springs and took over this hotel, this is what they would do," says Alex Calderwood who helped start the Ace chain in Seattle in 1999.

Communal patios with fireplaces, a dog park, two pools and a snow-cone bar were added for guests whom he describes as "settling down, but still kind of in tune with what inspired them in their 20s." My second-floor double was comfortable and appointed with a cowhide rug and denim headboard, but a $20-per-night resort fee tacked onto the $99 price made it feel like less of a value.

Given the Ace's location two miles from the center of downtown, I was happy to find a bus stop across the street and the hotel's supply of free vintage-style bikes, which I used to get around everywhere without a car.

For the hip, young and budget-minded, happy hour is the new early-bird special. Hungry after a late-afternoon flight, I pedaled downtown along Palm Canyon Drive, riding over bronze stars on the sidewalk engraved with the names of celebrities.

Friends met me at Matchbox Vintage Pizza Bistro (www.matchboxpalm springs.com) on Mercado Plaza, where seats on a breezy second-floor balcony overlook a bronze statue of singer and former Palm Springs Mayor Sonny Bono. A marimba band was setting up as we shared $6 dollar pizzas and salads and $2 draft beers.

More elegant was the 6-7:30 p.m. cocktail hour at Copley's Blue Bar & Lounge in the former Cary Grant estate (www.copleyspalmsprings.com) just north in what the locals call uptown.

"Love the buzz," said Montana, who visits regularly for the $5 Bombay martinis and $15 Kobe burger specials.