Blog: History of Palm Springs CA

When you drive into town, watching the windmills spin against the backdrop of the San Jacinto Mountains, it’s easy to see why people fall in love with this place. But to really understand the local vibe—and the real estate market—you have to look past the poolside glamour.

Palm Springs is a city of contrasts. It’s where rugged desert canyons meet perfectly manicured golf courses, and where ancient tribal heritage sits right next to mid-century modern masterpieces.

The timeline here is fascinating. We went from a quiet Native American oasis to a health resort for Victorian travelers, then transformed into Hollywood’s secret playground, and finally became the architectural mecca we know today. For anyone looking at living in Palm Springs, knowing this backstory explains everything from why our neighborhoods look the way they do to how our unique land ownership works.

Long before the Rat Pack arrived, the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians had stewarded this valley for thousands of years, centering their culture on the natural hot springs and the abundance of the surrounding canyons. They originally named the area "Se-Khi," or "Boiling Water," and demonstrated a masterful ability to adapt to the unforgiving desert floor. By utilizing the shade and life-sustaining water sources within the Indian Canyons and Tahquitz Canyon, they thrived in a climate that frequently baffled later settlers.

The unique "checkerboard" map of the city often confuses newcomers, but it is rooted in a late 19th-century federal government decision to grant odd-numbered square miles of land to the railroad while allotting even-numbered sections to the tribe. This alternating pattern of ownership is the reason local real estate is still categorized as lease land versus fee simple land today. With a connection to this land spanning over 2,000 years, the tribe remains a massive influence on the modern development, economy, and culture of the region.

The first non-native permanent settler didn't arrive with movie cameras; he came looking for a cure. John Guthrie McCallum, a San Francisco attorney, arrived in 1884, hoping the dry, warm air would provide health benefits and relief from respiratory ailments.

McCallum built an adobe home that still stands today—the McCallum Adobe—and began an ambitious project to irrigate the desert. He experimented with fruit crops and aqueducts, but maintaining a reliable water supply in the desert was a constant battle against the elements.

As word spread about the climate, the focus shifted from agriculture to health tourism. By the turn of the century, doctors were prescribing the desert air for patients with tuberculosis and other respiratory ailments. It wasn’t about luxury yet; it was about survival.

The pivot to hospitality really began with Nellie Coffman. She arrived in 1909 and founded "The Desert Inn." Originally, it was a sanatorium for those health seekers, but Coffman had a bigger vision. She eventually transformed it into a world-class hotel, shifting the city's reputation from a place to recover into a place to relax.

So, how did we go from a health retreat to the center of the celebrity universe? You can thank the studio system. In the 1920s and 30s, actors were often under strict "Two-Hour Rule" contracts. This meant they had to be within a two-hour drive of Los Angeles in case they were needed for sudden reshoots or publicity.

Palm Springs was perfectly positioned. It was just inside that two-hour radius, yet far enough away to offer genuine escape.

This era saw the rise of legendary venues like the El Mirador Hotel, which opened in 1929 with its iconic bell tower. Soon after, actors Ralph Bellamy and Charles Farrell founded the Racquet Club in 1934. It became the ultimate hangout for the stars.

The biggest draw was privacy. In Los Angeles, the paparazzi were everywhere. Here, stars like Charlie Chaplin, Albert Einstein, and later practically every major screen icon could let their hair down without landing in the tabloids the next day. This demand for privacy is what started the trend of walled estates in neighborhoods like The Movie Colony and Old Las Palmas.

It wasn’t until the aftermath of World War II that the city experienced a burst of a new style, which we have come to call Desert Modernism. Architects such as Richard Neutra, Donald Wexler, Albert Frey, and William Krisel simply saw the desert landscape as a blank slate with a style characterized by the following elements:

This marked the cultural peak of the famous Rat Pack. The desert swing became a second home to legendary entertainers, the embodiment of the era’s ‘cool’ set:

The outcome was a potent combination of loud partying, cool sophistication, and world-class architecture, features which still make up the Palm Springs experience.

While the architecture was gleaming, the mid-century period also had a complex social history. One of the most significant and difficult chapters involves "Section 14."

Section 14 is a one-square-mile tract of land owned by the Agua Caliente Band, sitting right in the heart of downtown. For a long time, it was home to many people of color and workers who kept the resort city running. However, during the 1950s and 60s, the city and tribal conservators moved to clear the land for commercial development.

The city faced the crises of displacing residents and destroying homes, a controversy that has haunted it for decades. It’s a stark reminder that the development of Palm Springs wasn’t a smooth ride for everyone.

On the civic side, the town was officially incorporated as a city in 1938. Figures like Mayor Frank Bogert, who saw it grow from a village to a municipality, sometimes played large, usually polarizing roles in steering the city's transition from a seasonal resort to a year-round community.

The 1970s and 80s saw the allure of the early Hollywood era wane, and Palm Springs found itself struggling through its reputation as a Spring Break haven. But Palm Springs was able to improve its image through a series of transformations and revivals of the cultural scene:

Nowadays, Palm Springs is an all-year-round cultural center. Palm Springs is a city with an active art scene, world-renowned Coachella Valley Music Festivals, as well as an abiding interest, on an entire community level, for its singular history.

So, what does all this history mean for you as a buyer? It means that when you buy a home in Palm Springs CA, you are buying into a specific era and lifestyle.

The history dictates the neighborhood character. If you love Spanish Colonial Revival and winding hillside roads, you look in The Mesa, which reflects the older, romantic style of the 1920s and 30s. If you want crisp lines and clerestory windows, you head to Racquet Club Estates for those 1950s vibes.

It also explains the legal landscape. The "checkerboard" history isn't just trivia; it’s a vital part of the transaction process. Understanding Agua Caliente land leases is non-negotiable here. You need to know if you are buying the land (fee simple) or leasing it from the tribe, as this affects your monthly costs and mortgage options.

Lastly, the preservation culture is alive and thriving. When you purchase a historic home, specially when it is in a historic area of the city, there will be certain regulations about what you can and cannot modify. This maintains the value of your home and the “magical” ambiance of the Palm Springs area, ensuring that purchasing a home in Palm Springs is a good investment opportunity.

Palm Springs gained fame as the preferred getaway for Hollywood stars due to its proximity to Los Angeles and its stunning desert scenery. Over time, it cemented its status through iconic mid-century modern architecture and a reputation for leisure and luxury.

"The Two-Hour Rule" was a provision of the contract of the old Hollywood studios that obligated the contract stars to be within two hours of Los Angeles during the shooting of the films. Palm Springs was the ideal escape that was within the two-hour rule and therefore attracted many celebrities.

Though now consisting largely of cities, the original settlers were the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, who inhabited the Coachella Valley for thousands of years. They chose to locate a settlement in the area due to the mineral hot springs that exist today, naming it ‘Se-Khi’ or ‘Boiling Water’.

In the 19th century, land in odd numbers of square miles was allocated to finance railroad construction, while even numbers were allocated to a native Los Angeles tribe known as Agua Caliente. This land pattern was a combination of a checkerboard pattern that determines local real estate boundaries to this very day.

Palm Springs became officially incorporated as a city in 1938. Palm Springs was an ever-expanding village before then, developing not only as a resort town but also as a popular location for stars of the screen.