Devour the Desert
A Palm Springs Food & Culture Journal
The Local Questions, Vol. 11 | Field Notes From Palm Springs: The Desert Is Not Impressed
Welcome to another edition of Field Notes From Palm Springs, brought to you by Artisan Food Tours.
This is the place where we ask the weird, wacky and wonderful questions that come to mind once your eyes have glazed over from the sun, your water bottle has been empty for the last forty-five minutes, and everything in sight is beginning to shimmy like a 60s go-go dancer.
Let’s tackle a few seemingly random questions… and then go find a happy hour where the lights are low and the AC is high.
The Date Shake: Theory and Practice
There is a particular kind of American confidence required to look at the hottest, driest, least forgiving stretch of ground in California and think: palm trees.
Not the palm trees that already grow wild in a handful of shaded canyons nearby, mind you, where springs seep up through granite and the Cahuilla people had the good sense to settle centuries before anyone else showed up with opinions.
No. Imported palms.
Palms from Iraq, Algeria and Egypt. Palms that had spent their entire evolutionary history perfecting themselves along the banks of the Euphrates, now expected to make a go of it in a valley where summer temperatures can reach 120 degrees and the annual rainfall might not fill a shot glass twice.
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.