What do you think?
Rate this book
Palm Springs Paradise: Vintage Photographs from America's Desert Playground
This book collects more than two hundred fascinating and rarely seen historical photographs of Palm Springs, newly digitized from the Palm Springs Historical Society's expansive archive. Featured are many Hollywood celebrities, including Sinatra and the Rat Pack, who vacationed there, the early days of the desert paradise, various architectural masterworks, such as the fabulous El Mirador Hotel and the extraordinary, outrageous, and irreverent people of Palm Springs.
Historian PETER MORUZZI is the founder of the Palm Springs Modern Committee, an architectural preservation group, and the author of Havan a Before Castro; When Cuba Was a Tropical Playground, Palm Springs A Vintage Tour from Palm Springs to the Salton Sea, and Classic Discovering America's Finest Mid-Century Restaurants. He's been infatuated with Palm Springs since his first visit in 1990. He now splits his time between his homes in Los Angeles and Palm Springs.
Historian PETER MORUZZI is the founder of the Palm Springs Modern Committee, an architectural preservation group, and the author of Havan a Before Castro; When Cuba Was a Tropical Playground, Palm Springs A Vintage Tour from Palm Springs to the Salton Sea, and Classic Discovering America's Finest Mid-Century Restaurants. He's been infatuated with Palm Springs since his first visit in 1990. He now splits his time between his homes in Los Angeles and Palm Springs.
247 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 14, 2015
5 people are currently reading
24 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
June 16, 2022
This book was on the coffee table of the place we rented for a few days. Started reading out of curiosity for some local history - but was very disappointed. Moruzzi is supposed to be a historian, but the majority of the photo captions and writing seems as though this is really a big joke instead. There were so many photos where one would think there had to be some information (especially since the photos were sourced from the Palm Springs Historical Society) - but instead they had a “funny” caption, which were not funny at all.
It got increasingly frustrating as I got toward the end of the book, and fewer captions seemed related to the actual photos, and increasingly ridiculous, as though they were rushing to finish the book and just wrote “something” to go on the page. E.g. Photo of a group of women with plastic leis, caption “It was all smiles on the outside, but Debbie knew her red lei meant she was on the outs.” Some were more crude or sexist. You cannot tell me there was no information about some of these photos that they just had to make something up. A big disappointment.
Two stars only because of the photos themselves - otherwise this would be a one star.
It got increasingly frustrating as I got toward the end of the book, and fewer captions seemed related to the actual photos, and increasingly ridiculous, as though they were rushing to finish the book and just wrote “something” to go on the page. E.g. Photo of a group of women with plastic leis, caption “It was all smiles on the outside, but Debbie knew her red lei meant she was on the outs.” Some were more crude or sexist. You cannot tell me there was no information about some of these photos that they just had to make something up. A big disappointment.
Two stars only because of the photos themselves - otherwise this would be a one star.
January 2, 2023
A fine book! (though with the one small & common Kindle-ism).
Always a fan of this type of publication - not a single ‘lame’ photograph among those collected! A superbly selected mix of sharp B&W and colour photos contained within, all speak well to the heyday of Palm Springs. I imagine if this was the physical version, it would make for a fine coffee table book.
Yes, the distinct desert landscape, those dynamic visionary early pioneers, architecture, the fly-in political and Hollywood celebrities and iconic moments of Palm Springs are all captured here, and all structured under well considered chapters.
I’ll need to mention that the reader is not left hanging with any of the pictures within, as they are all captioned succinctly and, when in measure needed, wittily. Truly! It wasn’t unusual for a well humoured caption here or there to make me call a roommate across, so we could both get a kick from it!
Now there is one issue, readers of ebooks are very familiar with:
For some photographs, captions are at the top of the next page.
(Didn’t let that irritate me to much extent, as I was enjoying listening to some Populuxe era Ultra-Lounge classics whilst spending time with this book).
So: Two Thumbs-Up, as they say!
Always a fan of this type of publication - not a single ‘lame’ photograph among those collected! A superbly selected mix of sharp B&W and colour photos contained within, all speak well to the heyday of Palm Springs. I imagine if this was the physical version, it would make for a fine coffee table book.
Yes, the distinct desert landscape, those dynamic visionary early pioneers, architecture, the fly-in political and Hollywood celebrities and iconic moments of Palm Springs are all captured here, and all structured under well considered chapters.
I’ll need to mention that the reader is not left hanging with any of the pictures within, as they are all captioned succinctly and, when in measure needed, wittily. Truly! It wasn’t unusual for a well humoured caption here or there to make me call a roommate across, so we could both get a kick from it!
Now there is one issue, readers of ebooks are very familiar with:
For some photographs, captions are at the top of the next page.
(Didn’t let that irritate me to much extent, as I was enjoying listening to some Populuxe era Ultra-Lounge classics whilst spending time with this book).
So: Two Thumbs-Up, as they say!
Read
January 2, 2022Enjoyable book, with some very funny captions under the photographs. Would have loved to walk around, swim and party in Palm Springs during the end of the 50-ies/60-ies.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews