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PALM SPRINGS: |
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For a long time this oasis in the Coachella Valley was a tribute
to yesteryear. The street signs suggested the city's history with
Gene Autry Trail, Ginger Rogers Road, Frank Sinatra and Bob Hope
Drive. Bob Hope, bless his heart, struggles on but Frankie and the
others have gone. But no city can survive in the past. So Palm Springs
has been reinventing itself (800-967-3767 palmspringsusa.com)
knowing it's folly to ignore the young since Boomers spend with
an abandon that makes those who remember the Depression shudder. |
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 Indian Wells, (indianwells.org) one of the more upscale of the eight communities making up this sprawling complex in the desert, has been particularly busy at upgrading facilities. The $80 million Tennis Garden, built essentially for the Pacific Life Open tournament each March, has become, in three years, the sixth largest tennis tournament in the world judged by attendance: 213,000 in 2002. Says Tom Fey, the director of tennis, "We are now second in size only to Arthur Ashe Stadium in Flushing Meadows, New York." The former tennis destination in the desert, Hyatt Grand Champions, isn't worried; it's just opened a 30,000 square foot spa in a $65 million expansion. |
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The biggest transformation in Indian Wells, however, is across the road at the glorious conversion of a one-time Polynesian hotel to what is now the Miramonte Resort (miramonte-resort.com). There, bougainvillea cascade over terra cotta walls; the rooms, scattered amongst 14 Tuscany villas, are decorated with Mediterranean style furnishing; and a perfect Italian restaurant, Brissago overlooks two pools. But if you're in town with kids the only pool they'll want is the huge one at the Renaissance Esmeralda with its beach created at the shallow end with real sand. The Esmeralda (renaissanceesmeralda.com) likewise has a superb restaurant, Sirocco. |
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