Feeling the desire to explore a new place and armed with a map emailed to me by the La Quinta Historical Society, we headed to an area that was completely new to us- La Quinta.
In 1862, frontiersman William Bradshaw left San Bernardino looking for a route to the Colorado River to search for gold. He, too, made use of the well adjacent to this location. Using well-traveled Indian trails, he found this route to the river. He called it Bradshaw Trail and the Bradshaw Stage line was formed. Because of the well, this area became a major stop. The line ceased to exist in 1877, put out of business by the depletion of gold and the coming of the railroad in 1876.
To learn even more, we visited the Palm Springs Land and Irrigation Company (1935). This building was constructed to be a sales office as the company developed lots in La Quinta Cove, known then as Vale La Quinta. The actual La Quinta Museum is much larger and is located behind this landmark.
This display talks about the Point Happy School. Norman "Happy" Lundbeck homesteaded the property in 1906. His home, a store, and a farm were located on the site that became known as Point Happy (where the Bradshaw Trail began). After his death in 1913, his wife took ownership.
The brothers arrived in the desert from Yuma, Arizona in 1947 and built their ranch. There they grew cotton, melons and other produce and raised cattle (and families) on 2,200 acres until 1976. It is now the home of the PGA-West (golf course).
What an incredible collection of family heirlooms used to tell the story of these two incredible brothers.The exhibit I was enthralled with was the one on the now gone Desert Club of La Quinta. From its completion in 1937, until its destruction in 1989, the Desert Club was one of the major landmarks in the community.
It all began as a land development project in what was probably the worst business climate imaginable, 1932, the depths of the Great Depression. E. S. “Harry” Kiener, of the Big Bear Land and Water Company, came to the desert and purchased thousands of acres of land adjacent to the famed La Quinta Hotel. His plan was to develop the Cove area to complement his summer hunting and fishing resort in the mountains near Big Bear. Guests or owners of each area would have reciprocal privileges to enjoy the winter months in the warm desert and the summer months in the cool San Bernardino Mountains at the Peter Pan Woodlands Club. Kiener formed the Palm Springs-La Quinta Development Company and began subdividing the Cove into a grid of small vacation home lots. Between 1935 and 1941, 63 casitas were built. Clients could purchase or rent these small bungalows. They were Spanish Colonial Revival style with low, red tiled roofs similar to the “casitas” at the La Quinta Hotel (read further on). In 1935, the 50-by-100 lots sold for $195 and the homes for $2500. The homes were completely furnished including linens. They were deliberately spread out to allow enjoyment of the surrounding desert. But more incentive to lure customers for lots and houses was needed. The Desert Club was that lure.Frank Stone and Edward Glick, top salesmen for Kiener, built the Desert Club between 1934-37. It was designed by award winning architect S. Charles Lee and opened on Thanksgiving Day of 1937. Unlike the Spanish Colonial Revival style "casitas," the Desert Club was designed to represent the height of 1930s modernism, Art Deco. To many, its rounded corners and second story resembled a river boat in the middle of the desert.In the early years, the Desert Club attracted such notables as Greer Garson, Irene Dunne, Rhonda Fleming, Virginia Mayo, William DuPont, Jr., Rita Hayworth (left in photo) and Kirk Douglas. Rumor has it that Greta Garbo gambled in the downstairs wine cellar in the 1930s. During 1942, while the Third Army trained nearby, General George S. Patton would often come to the club.
Oh well, it was fun to take the knowledge we had gained and meander about this found treasure.
Our final tour stop was at the La Quinta Hotel. Oh, if the old adobe walls of (the now named) La Quinta Resort & Club could talk. Imagine the amazing stories they would tell. Perhaps an account of what Prohibition was really like, when guests in the spacious Santa Rosa Lounge discreetly mixed the contents of silver flasks with freshly squeezed orange juice, inadvertently creating a cocktail called the Orange Blossom. Or the details of a bawdy joke shared poolside by screen idols Errol Flynn and Clark Cable during the resort’s early Hollywood heydays. Or even a snippet of conversation between famously reclusive Greta Garbo and her on-screen/off-screen leading man, John Gilbert, who often vacationed there together.
"I always felt the world cannot fall apart
as long as free men see the rainbow,
feel the rain and hear the laugh of a child." -Frank Capra
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It all began as a land development project in what was probably the worst business climate imaginable, 1932, the depths of the Great Depression. E. S. “Harry” Kiener, of the Big Bear Land and Water Company, came to the desert and purchased thousands of acres of land adjacent to the famed La Quinta Hotel. His plan was to develop the Cove area to complement his summer hunting and fishing resort in the mountains near Big Bear. Guests or owners of each area would have reciprocal privileges to enjoy the winter months in the warm desert and the summer months in the cool San Bernardino Mountains at the Peter Pan Woodlands Club.
1 comments:
We stayed in La Quinta the last time we rented a house in the area. It is a super cute town, with lots of neat houses. We will have to check out the museum next time. Last time we focused on taking walks in the hills. Such a beautiful area. All of it.
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