Escaping summer heat of Palm Springs a ritual since early 20th century

Palm Springs was advertised in the first half of the 20th century as having the best winter weather in the continental United States. Not much mention was made of the summers.

Die-hard desert rats endured the scorching temperatures of the Coachella Valley's summers in the early years, before air-conditioning. Those who stayed managed by seeking precious shade under formidable desert trees and by wrapping themselves in wet sheets and sleeping on enclosed porches at night.

Summertime migrations out of the valley's heat also have been a ritual for desert dwellers since the beginning. The Desert Inn received visitors during its defined "season," from Oct. 1 through June 1 each year. During the intervening summer months, the Inn's founding proprietress Nellie Coffman would relocate her family north and westward to "Lazy Acres," a little homestead she purchased in 1928. Set on the Banning Shelf some 2,300 feet above sea level at the base of the San Bernardino Mountains, the summer home at 55 Lombardy Lane in Banning kept the Coffman clan reasonably cool during their summers for more than 20 years afterward.

The house was a pleasant place with giant pepper trees and cottonwoods creating much-sought shade. Beautifully, but modestly appointed, it was kept immaculately clean as Nellie had the highest of standards. The retreat represented a rest during the time away from the hectic life of the "season."

Ever the dedicated businesswoman, Coffman would regularly return to Palm Springs, braving the punishing heat to supervise maintenance and summer work at the Inn, making the 25-mile trek by car with trusted employee Segundo Rigonan at the wheel.

From the onset, the surrounding mountains seemed a logical choice for escape. Some desert dwellers sought respite during the summer on the cool shores of Lake Arrowhead, which was first developed in the San Bernardino Mountains as a tourist destination around 1920. Others, like pioneer Cornelia White, went up the San Jacinto Mountains to Idyllwild, which likewise began attracting summer visitors in the same years.

But even Catalina Island, 26 miles off the coast of Los Angeles, and cooled by the Pacific breezes, as an option during that time. These were "reciprocal resorts" in that their busy tourist season and related need for additional workers were opposite the desert's season. Resort towns enjoying booming summer seasons thanks to their cooler climes could accommodate part-time workers escaping the desert.

For some years, Nellie Coffman, along with her two sons, George Roberson and Earl Coffman, managed hotels at Lake Arrowhead. These included the Village Inn and North Shore Tavern. At the same time, the family also relocated many of their experienced winter-time employees from the desert up to the lake resort.

Other workers made an annual trip all the way to Yosemite or other then-nascent national parks to work at the lodges, returning the desert when the fall's cold temperatures set in and visitors evaporated with the summer sunshine. There was a special relationship between Palm Springs and Yosemite, Nellie Coffman and Jenny Curry, the operator with her husband, of Camp Curry.

The women were both superlative hoteliers and close friends. Additionally, Nellie sent son Earl to the Yosemite's fancy Ahwahnee Hotel to get training and experience. Personnel also moved between these resorts for better opportunities.

Tony Burke, the famous publicity man or the El Mirador Hotel, first managed the Arrowhead Resort and then found his way to Palm Springs, following the autumn migration of workers back to the desert.

Other favored summer destinations included the shore at Santa Monica or Laguna.

Pearl and Austin McManus regularly visited Newport Beach and the Balboa Bay Club, celebrating Austin's birthday there with their extended family. But Southern California's beach towns weren't the epicenter of massive summer influxes that they are today.

Instead, they were quiet destinations for the Eastern-bred denizens of Pasadena or Flintridge, (as well as escapees from the desert) where people painted en plein air, dipped in the surf, and raced in small regattas. Many would eventually maintain another home at the beach or in cosmopolitan coastal centers. Then, as now, the warm winters of the Coachella Valley, beckoned just when the summer faded elsewhere. Eventually it was hard to know which locale was the vacation home.

The seasonality of the desert has diminished over the years, and the Coachella Valley now boasts many full-time residents. European tourists flock here like never before during the summer months. But back in the day, the enviable life was one enjoyed away from the desert during summer's peak.

Tracy Conrad is president of the Palm Springs Historical Society. The Thanks for the Memories column appears Sundays in The Desert Sun. Write to her at pshstracy@gmail.com.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Escaping summer heat of Palm Springs a ritual since early 20th century

Reporting by Tracy Conrad, Special to The Desert Sun / Palm Springs Desert Sun

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This story was originally published July 12, 2026 at 6:00 AM.