Palm Springs Retro – The New Ingleside Inn

Written by Carolyn Proctor


Palm Springs Retro – The New Ingleside Inn

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Gazing out through covered arches torepparttar shrubbery and swimming pool beyond, I sipped my iced tea and listened to Mel Haber talk about one of his favorite subjects, Palm Springs' Ingleside Inn.

"When I arrived here there was an ambiance about this place. What I did was, I didn't destroy it. I kept it, maintained it. But it was already here."

The Ingleside Inn has been Haber's life since he discoveredrepparttar 138380 place in 1975. He was instantly charmed byrepparttar 138381 history ofrepparttar 138382 secluded estate, located just one block fromrepparttar 138383 tree-lined avenues of Palm Springs.

"I don't have a clue what I'm doing. I put my foot in my mouth and somehow it works out." Haber adds that he doesn't think he could repeat his success buildingrepparttar 138384 Ingleside Inn in today's market.

"A Frenchman and his wife who stayed here said they've traveled millions of miles and this wasrepparttar 138385 best place they'd ever been," he says with a disarming smile. "I don't have a clue why he would say that."

'Haber's modesty belies his accomplishment. Some ofrepparttar 138386 things hes "maintained" overrepparttar 138387 years include orchid trees and 70-year-old vines. The latticed ceiling over our heads is laced with pothos vines.

The tangled trunk of a mesquite tree dominatingrepparttar 138388 grassy front yard looks like it could have been planted byrepparttar 138389 Humphrey Birge family, who builtrepparttar 138390 original Spanish-style estate atrepparttar 138391 foot of Mt. San Jacinto in 1925. The Birges ownedrepparttar 138392 Pierce Arrow Motor Company. Haber says they traveled a lot and lovingly filled their home with antiques and priceless furniture from aroundrepparttar 138393 world.

Ten years later, atrepparttar 138394 demise ofrepparttar 138395 Birge matriarch,repparttar 138396 property was sold to Ruth Hardy, a lady from Indiana who turnedrepparttar 138397 estate into a little hotel just forrepparttar 138398 "invited." Operating it as a private club and closing six months ofrepparttar 138399 year, she held high standards for both her establishment and her guests. If you were invited by one ofrepparttar 138400 guests, you had to first obtain Mrs. Hardy's approval.

Thus beganrepparttar 138401 veritable "Who's Who" of show business, finance, and political guests. Haber says Ruth Hardy also left her mark on Palm Springs as a City Councilwoman, responsible for lightingrepparttar 138402 trees on Palm Canyon Drive, and a park in town was named after her.

"She passed on in 1965. When I discovered it,repparttar 138403 property was owned by a former guest from a prominent San Francisco banking family." Haber, a New York businessman atrepparttar 138404 time, discoveredrepparttar 138405 Inn during a stroll around town.

After purchasing The Ingleside Inn, Haber completely renovatedrepparttar 138406 entire property, but not without consultingrepparttar 138407 people who already worked there. "I put great value on objectivity," Haber explains. "I listened to everybody who had anything to say, because I had no knowledge."

Haber cared as much aboutrepparttar 138408 people asrepparttar 138409 place. Many employees stayed on "because ofrepparttar 138410 environment and working conditions."

The Beat Goes On at Palm Springs Beat Hotel

Written by Kim and Don Tatera


The Beat Goes On at Palm Springs Beat Hotel

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The Beat Hotel —

It was 1957, when an ordinary hotel inrepparttar Latin Quarter of Paris was dubbed "The Beat Hotel" and then becamerepparttar 138379 center of this literary groundbreaking artistic energy.

The three men that christened this hotel were some ofrepparttar 138380 core founding fathers ofrepparttar 138381 counter cultural Beat Generation: William S. Burroughs, Gregory Corso, and Allen Ginsberg. The Beat Hotel at 9 rue Git-le-Coeur onrepparttar 138382 Left Bank wasrepparttar 138383 original live-in retreat and study center for ten years until it was torn down in 1967.

Serendipitously, another nondescript mid-century modern hotel was being builtrepparttar 138384 same yearrepparttar 138385 Beat Hotel was christened. This hotel, practically half way aroundrepparttar 138386 globe, came to life in Desert Hot Springs, California. The true purpose would, unfortunately, not be known for more than forty years, when it would be resurrected fromrepparttar 138387 dead and its name changed fromrepparttar 138388 Monte Carlo Resort Motel to The Desert Hot Springs Beat Hotel. This two story, eight unit hotel, after a sad period of dilapidation and resurrection, would become a live in retreat and study center for lovers ofrepparttar 138389 arts, and in particular,repparttar 138390 literary and visual arts of William Seward Burroughs. According to its owner, chief restorer, and curator, Steve Lowe, it is a living museum that caters to writers. On an equally remarkable side note, Steve owns another impressive Lowe Desert motel called The Lautner, which was designed by architect John Lautner.

Steve admits thatrepparttar 138391 vision forrepparttar 138392 Desert Hot Springs Beat Hotel came from two places: 1. A similar looking hotel structure, El Muniria Hotel in Tangiers, Morocco, whererepparttar 138393 infamous William Burroughs wrote his most famous book, "The Naked Lunch", and, 2. From "The Last Hotel", a book written in 1986 by a peculiar Burroughs collaborative visual artist and author named Brion Gysin.

Gysin imagined that El Muniria was transported to Southern California, 200 miles from Los Angeles and rebuilt onrepparttar 138394 San Andreas Fault. If you look at any Southern California map,repparttar 138395 location torepparttar 138396 prediction is uncanny. The "new" Beat Hotel is a place of rest, rejuvenation, and where a person can recharge his or her mind. Having no telephones or televisions in any ofrepparttar 138397 eight rooms, this is clearly a living museum that pays homage to William S. Burroughs. The Beat Hotel is a piece of installation art with a mineral fed swimming pool and spa that must truly be experienced to be fully appreciated.

According to Burroughs, writer and artist, "One ofrepparttar 138398 jobs ofrepparttar 138399 artist is to fabricate dreams for other people. We dream for these people who have no dreams of their own to keep them alive."

Byrepparttar 138400 time William Burroughs died in 1997, he lived quite a colorful existence for 83 years. His compelling ideas, creative raw power in his writing style and worldly cynicism expressed in numerous poems and in over three dozen books turned him into an underground celebrity and revolutionary literary figure. Another favorite creative outlet, his expressive abstract artwork, often came from whatever materials were at hand for his personal needs: spray paint cans, shotguns, plywood, et cetera and was symbolic of his belief inrepparttar 138401 advancement of total freedom. Many of these original Burroughs works (of art) are on display atrepparttar 138402 Beat Hotel, whererepparttar 138403 life,repparttar 138404 legend andrepparttar 138405 literature are fused into one.

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