Sunmor Estates
Movie Colony East was formerly know as the Ruth Hardy Park neighborhood. Located in central Palm Springs it is a very desireable neighborhood due to it proximity to downtown. Mostly built between the late 1930s to the late 2000, the community features over 700 homes of various architectural styles. Ruth Hardy Park is located south of the community, which is a poplar place for neighbors to have picnics, recreation, including tennis, basketball and pickleball. Numerous "Movie Star" lived in this neighborhood, including: Frank Sinatra, Bob Hope, Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme, Bing Crosby, Carmen Miranda, Keely Smith and Hedy Lamarr.
The two primary builders of Sunmor houses were locally prominent builder Robert “Bob” C. Higgins and the the Alexander Construction Company.
Only eleven houses were built by Higgins. The Higgins’ designs blend nicely with the post-and-beam modernist houses built soon thereafter by the Alexander Construction Company. According to the advertisements, Sunmor Estates homes were priced “from $17,600″ and financed with 20-year loans.
Over the years a number of minor Hollywood celebrities have called the Sunmor neighborhood home. However, the neighborhood’s most famous resident was most certainly the outspoken “cowboy mayor” Frank Bogert (1910-2009). Bogert served four terms as the city’s mayor from 1958-1966 and from 1982-1988 and was the author of two books that chronicled the early history of Palm Springs. Two cul-de-sacs in the Sunmor neighborhood have the distinction of being named after members of the Alexander family, i.e., Helene Alexander (Helena Circle) and her daughter Jill (Jill Circle).
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