Devour the Desert
A Palm Springs Food & Culture Journal
The Local Questions, Vol. 7 | Field Notes from Palm Springs: Just How Much Trouble Can a Celebrity Get Into Here?
What is the most outrageous thing a celebrity ever did in this desert sandbox we call Palm Springs?
This is not an easy question.
There is Olympic-level competition for this particular gold medal.
We can start with Harpo Marx.
The Local Architecture | The Secret Language of Mid-Century Modern Palm Springs
Palm Springs has many languages.
There is the language of cocktails, spoken fluently from shaded patios at golden hour. There is the language of swimming pools, where a perfectly placed chaise lounge says more than most conversations. There is the language of food, which happens to be our favorite dialect.
But perhaps the city's most distinctive language is one that never utters a word at all.
It is the secret language of Mid-Century Modern architecture.
The Local Questions, Vol. 5 | Field Notes From Palm Springs
Live at the Thunderdome: Coyote vs. Roadrunner. Roadrunner vs. Rattlesnake.
We’ve already established in Field Notes, Vol. 4 that coyotes occasionally hunt roadrunners.
Which means that, somewhere out there in the Coachella Valley, the real-life version of the Wile E. Coyote and Roadrunner cartoons is playing out quite differently from the one we grew up with.
But you may not know that roadrunners in turn hunt rattlesnakes.
It's the desert's rough and tumble version of office politics.
Tonight’s Double Bill:
The Undercard:
Coyote vs. Roadrunner
The Main Event:
Roadrunner vs. Rattlesnake
The Local Questions,Vol.4 | Field Notes from Palm Springs
Every Place Has Its Frequently Asked Questions
In New York, it's, "How do people afford to live here?"
In Seattle, it's, "Does it ever stop raining?"
In Palm Springs, the questions get... weirder.
Why is a giant roadrunner strutting through a parking lot like he owns the place? Do I need to worry about stepping on a rattlesnake? Is everybody really retired or just driving a golf cart? And why do the mountains look different every time you glance up?
The Local Flavors | When Fish Tacos Surrender to Gravity
There comes a moment with some dishes when you realize the original plan is no longer viable.
You intended to pick it up.
The chef had other ideas.
The al pastor fish tacos at Maleza arrive looking, technically, like tacos. There is a handmade flour tortilla involved. There is fish. There are toppings.
But that's where the similarities to ordinary tacos end.
The Local Questions Vol. 3 | Field Notes from Palm Springs
After enough tours, you realize Palm Springs visitors don't just ask where to eat.
They ask the questions that seem simple—right up until you try answering them.
So what's up with all the orange?
Why are there hummingbirds everywhere?
Should I be worried about the tram?
Every place develops its own frequently asked questions. These happen to be ours.
The Local Questions, Vol. 1 | Field Notes From Palm Springs
If you spend even a little time here, you start to notice something strange.
Not the obvious stuff—sunshine, palm trees, mountains that look like a painted backdrop—but the quieter questions that keep popping up when you’re standing in line for coffee or driving down Palm Canyon wondering why everything feels slightly unreal in the best possible way.
Here are a few of those questions.
Call it field notes. Call it curiosity. Call it what happens when a desert refuses to behave like anywhere else.
The Local Celebs | Alfred Hitchcock in Palm Springs: Suspense, Sunshine, and Second Helpings
Alfred Hitchcock spent a career making audiences nervous.
Not frightened exactly. Nervous.
Any director can startle you with a loud noise. Hitchcock preferred a gradual approach. He understood that anticipation is often more powerful than the event itself. This is true of murder mysteries, ticking bombs, and restaurant reservations.
Fear, he knew, was best served slowly.
Like a carefully prepared meal.
The Local Flavors | Why Palm Springs Tastes Like a Memory: Marcel Proust, Ratatouille, and the Science of Scent
There is a scene in the Pixar film Ratatouille that may explain Palm Springs better than many travel brochures.
Anton Ego, the famously impossible food critic, reluctantly takes one bite of Remy's rustic ratatouille.
The bite shatters his carefully cultivated cynicism.
He drops his pen in pure shock as the taste instantly transports him backward in time.
The Local Culture | The Oasis of Palm Springs: Nothing This Beautiful Happens by Accident
Palm Springs is a city built on optimism.
It is also built on plumbing.
Visitors rarely think about this. They are understandably distracted by mountain views, perfectly chilled martinis, impossibly blue swimming pools and citrus trees that appear to have signed a long-term lease with the sun.
Everything feels effortless.
It isn't.
The Local Flavors | Palm Springs Cocktail Culture: How a Desert City Turned Leisure Into an Art Form
Palm Springs has always understood the importance of a good drink.
Not merely the liquid itself, mind you. Plenty of places serve cocktails. Palm Springs elevated them into a social activity, a fashion accessory, a networking tool, and occasionally a competitive sport.
The Local Culture | Palm Springs and the Art of Belonging
There are many reasons people fall in love with Palm Springs.
Some come for the sunshine. Some come for the architecture. Some come for the mountains, the swimming pools, the golf courses, the date shakes or the promise that January can feel like April.
But one of Palm Springs' most remarkable qualities is something less tangible and far more important: its long-standing culture of acceptance.
The Local Flavors | The Best Palm Springs Happy Hours: A Civic Institution Disguised as a Cocktail
In many places, happy hour is a financial strategy.
In Palm Springs, it borders on a civic institution.
Palm Springs may not have invented happy hour, but it has certainly embraced it with unusual enthusiasm.
The Local Celebs | To Catch a Taste: Cary Grant, Mid-Century Style and the Flavor of Palm Springs
If you have ever watched Cary Grant effortlessly hold a martini, outrun a crop duster, or romance Grace Kelly on a sun-drenched balcony, you may have wondered: How did he do it? How did he become Cary Grant?
The Local History | Meet the Pioneer Women Who Created Palm Springs
Before Palm Springs was a mid-century modern oasis filled with Hollywood glitz, it was a rugged, isolated desert outpost. The oasis of palm trees and hot springs was a challenging place to live, yet in the early 20th century, a remarkable group of determined women settled this arid valley, laying the foundation for the glamorous resort town we know today.
The Local Architecture | Glass & Steel: A History of Palm Springs Modernism
Palm Springs is a time capsule of Mid-Century Modern architecture, the greatest concentration of this style in the world.
The Local Flavors | A Culinary Journey Through Palm Springs History
Palm Springs isn't just a desert oasis; it's a living museum where every bite tells a story.