Cathedral City's Gay History

 The Hidden Gay History of Cathedral City: Nightclubs, Resorts 

In our ongoing series, Lost Palm Springs, we explore the history of the LGBTQ+ community in Cathedral City, a small enclave just east of Palm Springs.  When people talk about LGBTQ+ history in Greater Palm Springs, the spotlight usually shines on Arenas Road, Warm Sands, and today’s thriving resort scene. But the true birthplace of modern gay nightlife and gay resort culture in the desert wasn’t Palm Springs at all.

It was Cathedral City.

For decades — from the 1950s through the early 1990s — Cathedral City was the only place in the valley where openly gay bars, nightclubs, and clothing-optional resorts could legally operate. Palm Springs quietly discouraged gay bars within city limits, making it impossible for owners to get the right licenses. So what did entrepreneurs do?

They drove down Highway 111 into Cathedral City…and created a full-scale gay playground.

This is the story of how Cathedral City became the desert’s underground gay capital — long before Palm Springs embraced the title.

🌈 Why Gay Bars Were in Cathedral City — Not Palm Springs 

Before the 1990s, Palm Springs had gay residents, gay tourists, and plenty of gay-friendly restaurants, but no openly gay bars. Licenses for nightlife venues that openly catered to gay men were routinely denied or blocked through zoning and permitting tactics.

Cathedral City, however, took a hands-off approach. If you could rent a building and keep things orderly, you could run your nightclub or your resort with far fewer political obstacles.

So by the 1970s and 1980s, Cathedral City was buzzing every night with:

For an entire generation, Cathedral City was where you went to truly be yourself.

🎶 The Legendary Nightclubs of Cathedral City 

 Daddy Warbucks 

If you lived in the valley in the ’70s or ’80s, you felt the Daddy Warbucks energy before you even pulled into the parking lot. Known for flamboyant shows, go-go dancers, whipped-cream wrestling, and campy theatrics, it became a landmark of unapologetic gay nightlife.

People still talk about Daddy Warbucks the way people talk about Studio 54 — outrageous, iconic, and uniquely of its time.

 C.C. Construction Company 

Despite the name, this was no hardware store. CC Construction Company was the desert’s early leather bar, buzzing with cruisy nights, theme parties, harnesses, and late-night mischief.

It was often mistakenly listed as a Palm Springs bar, which locals found hilarious — because everyone knew gay bars were banned in Palm Springs. The “CC” very much stood for Cathedral City.

 📌 Sidebar: C.C. Construction Company 

 The Leather Bar That Built a Legend 

If Daddy Warbucks was Cathedral City’s showgirl, C.C. Construction Company was its rough-and-ready leather daddy — equal parts grit, attitude, and irresistible charm. Despite the industrial-sounding name, this wasn’t a hardware store… though plenty of men did show up in harnesses.

Known simply as “CC’s” to regulars, the bar became a cornerstone of the desert’s rising leather scene in the late 1970s and ’80s — and one of the earliest places in the Coachella Valley where men could live out the fantasy unapologetically.

 Here’s how locals remember it: 

⭐ “The name fooled people — until they stepped inside.”

Visitors expecting a bar full of construction workers weren’t entirely wrong. The vibe leaned heavily toward:

One columnist joked that CC stood for “Cathedral City”, a wink at the fact that gay bars weren’t allowed in Palm Springs at the time — so everyone crossed the city line to play.

⭐ “CC’s was wild… but it was also home.”

Regulars say it struck the perfect balance between edgy leather bar and friendly neighborhood hangout. You could walk in wearing full gear or just a T-shirt and jeans, and nobody cared — as long as you were there to have a good time.

 It was the kind of bar where: 

For many men, CC’s was where they found their tribe.

⭐ “Dark corners, good music, no judgment.”

CC’s layout included an industrial-style interior, low lighting, and a few “don’t ask, don’t tell” corners in the back. It wasn’t sleazy — just confidently sexual in a way that felt liberating for the time. The music pulsed, boots stomped, and the energy was unmistakable.

One regular described it as:“The place you went when you wanted something… specific.”Say no more.

⭐ “It’s the bar that put Cathedral City’s leather scene on the map.”

Before The Barracks became a powerhouse, CC Construction Company was already planting the leather flag in Cathedral City. It offered themed nights, uniform parties, and that uniquely desert mix of leather culture with laid-back friendliness.

Its presence helped cement Cathedral City as the valley’s queer nightlife capital long before Arenas Road existed.

⭐ “People still talk about it with a little sparkle in their eye.”

Ask anyone who was around in the ’80s and they’ll tell you:CC Construction wasn’t just a bar — it was a moment.A rite of passage.A landmark of freedom during a time when gay men had few truly open places to gather.

 You didn’t just go to CC’s.You experienced it.

 Pompeii (Pompei’s) 

Named after the ancient city destroyed by fire, this nightclub included a volcano, and had its own dramatic flame-filled fate when a blaze gutted the building in the early 1990s.

But long before that, Pompeii was beloved for:

It also had architectural cred: the building sat on a site designed by mid-century modern master A. Quincy Jones. You went for the dancing… but you stayed because the whole place felt glamorous and a little dangerous.

 Other Nightspots That Shaped the Scene 

Cathedral City’s queer nightlife tapestry also included:

Each played a role in making Cathedral City a lively, diverse, and sometimes delightfully rowdy gay haven.

🌴 The Rise of Gay Resorts in Cathedral City 

The nightlife was only half the story. Cathedral City also became the first true hub for clothing-optional gay resorts in the valley.

While Palm Springs hesitated, Cathedral City built an entire gay vacation industry.

Here were the pillars of that world:

 CCBC Resort Hotel (Cathedral City Boys Club) 

The largest and most famous of them all. (Still in operation!)

CCBC offered:

Vacationers loved staying someplace they could be themselves during the day… and walk to bars like Daddy Warbucks at night.

 Desert Buccaneer, Desert Mirage, Desert Paradise & Others

Cathedral City once had an entire constellation of boutique gay-operated resorts and inns:

This cluster of small resorts created a kind of gay village long before Warm Sands in Palm Springs took shape.

🌟 Palm Springs Villas at the Elizabeth Arden Compound: A Glamorous Chapter 

One of the most fascinating pieces of Cathedral City’s gay history sits on the site of the old Elizabeth Arden spa and beauty retreat.

Yes — that Elizabeth Arden.

In the 1940s–50s, Arden operated a luxurious health spa in Cathedral City, where Hollywood stars came to rejuvenate under the desert sun. Think:

After Arden’s era ended, the sprawling compound changed hands multiple times and eventually became part of the Palm Springs Villas resort — a gay-friendly retreat that embraced sunbathing, socializing, and the carefree desert lifestyle.

By the early 2000s, The Villa wasn’t just a place to sleep or cruise — it had a full restaurant and bar program that locals actually raved about. Weekend calendars often ended with Sunday brunch at The Villa, where guests and locals nursed their hangovers on the patio with coffee, eggs, and mimosas under the date palms. Gay group weekends like Palm Springs Gayla even built “Brunch at The Villa” into their official itineraries, turning it into a kind of communal debrief after a wild Cathedral City weekend rather than just another hotel meal.

What made this location special?

Guests loved the mix of celebrity history, desert glamour, and freedom to live authentically.

For many, Palm Springs Villas became one of the most treasured gay accommodations of its era.

 Villa Mykonos (often misremembered as “Club Mykonos”) added a more intimate, timeshare-style layer to Cathedral City’s gay resort scene. With only about ten townhome-style villas, it felt more like a private club than a hotel — a place where many repeat owners and guests saw the same faces year after year, building its own tight-knit community alongside larger properties like CCBC and The Villa.

 Dave’s Villa Caprice Country Club & Spa, hidden off Highway 111 down Carey Road, was the desert’s first true gay “bath resort” — a clothing-optional motel complex with cottages, a pool, steam room, and infamous play areas. Listed in 1970s gay travel guides as a country club and spa, it attracted a mostly young male crowd from across the U.S., Canada, and Europe and was widely considered the nicest gay accommodation in the desert before CCBC opened. In 1981 it was even firebombed, along with the GAF Bar in Palm Springs, in a targeted attack that caused only minor damage but underscored how visible and important Dave’s had become in local gay life.

 📌 Sidebar: Remembering Dave’s Villa Caprice 

 A Hidden Desert Playground, Long Before CCBC 

For many locals and travelers in the 1970s and ’80s, Dave’s Villa Caprice Country Club & Spa was their first introduction to what a gay desert resort could be — sun-soaked, a little mysterious, and full of personality.

Guests who stayed there describe it as part country-club fantasy, part desert hideaway, and part social clubhouse tucked among the date palms. It wasn’t glamorous in a Palm Springs way — it was better in its own way: intimate, unpretentious, and beautifully alive.

 Here’s how people remember it: 

⭐ “The nicest gay accommodation in the desert.”

One frequent guest wrote that long before CCBC existed, Villa Caprice was the place, with big motel-style rooms, sunken showers, and a courtyard pool that became a daily gathering spot. For a lot of men, this was the first time they’d experienced a fully gay lodging environment — and it felt revolutionary.

⭐ “You’d meet people from everywhere — and you always went home with new friends.”

Travelers came from across the U.S., Canada, and Europe, not just L.A. or San Diego. The place had an easy, communal vibe; stay for a weekend and suddenly you’d know half the courtyard. Many describe it as their queer summer camp, complete with new friendships, romantic sparks, and a few misadventures.

⭐ “It was tucked away… which made it feel like a secret.”

Hidden down Carey Road, behind the municipal golf course and date groves, Dave’s felt like a private club you had to earn your way to. You followed a series of winding roads and then — boom — a little gay oasis appeared: white stucco buildings, palm trees, and the soft desert silence broken only by splashing at the pool.

One guest joked, “You always knew you found it when you started stepping on dried dates around the courtyard.”

⭐ “The staff felt like family.”

Memories often mention the warm, sometimes quirky staff: managers like Rick Finch, long-time groundskeepers, housekeepers, and security guys who knew everyone by name. A few employees later wrote that working there was one of the best jobs of their lives — a chosen-family environment long before that term was mainstream.

⭐ “It had a reputation… but it was classy for its time.”

Yes, Villa Caprice had a bit of bathhouse DNA — a steam room here, an outdoor shower there — but many guests insist it was still more romantic than raunchy. Think: desert nights, soft lighting, a little mischief, a lot of laughter.

⭐ “It survived firebombing and kept going.”

In 1981, someone threw small firebombs at both GAF Bar and Villa Caprice — minor damage, no injuries. Regulars remember it as a frightening moment that also unified the community. Villa Caprice reopened quickly and didn’t lose its spirit.

 Why Dave’s Villa Caprice Still Matters 

Before “gay resorts” were a marketing category…Before Palm Springs leaned fully into its LGBTQ identity…Before CCBC, The Villa, or the modern clothing-optional circuit…

Dave’s Villa Caprice was already doing it — quietly, boldly, and with a lot of heart.

Ask anyone who stayed there, and they’ll tell you the same thing:

It wasn’t just a resort — it was a feeling.

🕺 Nightlife + Resorts = A Gay Micro-City 

What made Cathedral City magical wasn’t just the clubs or the resorts — it was how seamlessly they worked together.

 A typical night in the 1980s:

It was a full ecosystem of queer joy, freedom, and chosen family — all thriving because Cathedral City gave gay men a place to exist openly.

 🌈 Palm Springs Finally Catches Up 

When Palm Springs allowed its first openly gay bar — Streetbar — to open in 1991, everything shifted. Arenas Road developed rapidly into the famous gay bar district we know today, and Warm Sands grew into a global hub for gay resorts.

But that doesn’t erase Cathedral City’s pioneering role.

If anything, it makes the story richer.

Cathedral City walked so Palm Springs could run.

 💖 Why This History Still Matters 

Cathedral City’s gay nightlife and resort culture shaped:

Before rainbow crosswalks and Pride parades…before vacation magazines declared Palm Springs “America’s Gay Oasis”…

there was Cathedral City — scrappy, bold, underground, and fiercely proud.

 It wasn’t just a place to party.It was a place to belong. 

Lost Palm Springs is an ongoing series from The Paul Kaplan Group,  exploring the buildings, places, and spaces that once shaped daily life in the desert — and the stories they still tell. Through architecture, art, and memory, we document what’s been lost, what survives in fragments, and why these places continue to matter. Because understanding where Palm Springs has been helps us better appreciate what remains — and what’s worth protecting.

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