UT ECOVORE Goes Beyond The Bistros In Palm Springs
Trails in Indian Canyons outshine the celebs of nearby Palm Springs
Airport doubling as a resort? Palm Springs International dazzles the newly deplaned with cotton candy-colored lighting, palm-fringed patios and cabanas. Beyond the modernist terminal, mountains rise in every direction. Each range encircling the Coachella Valley displays its own geological heritage and textural allure, from brown ruffled velour to etched granite.
Palm Springs is known for celebrity-spotting, Rat Park-era clubs and the Follies. Streets pulse with boutiques, dance clubs and chic townies ferrying dogs in handcrafted halters, chest-slings, strollers, even handmade bike trailers.
I prefer the town’s other show-stoppers: mid-century modern architecture and desert mountain canyons sheltering California fan palms, streams and waterfalls.
To get around town in suitable sustainable fashion, I pedal a pink cruiser from Bike Palm Springs, recently opened by greenentrepreneursAn easy 15-minute bike ride south of downtown leads to Indian Canyons. Once marred by graffiti and trash, the Agua Caliente reservation has restored its tribal land to a quiet, pristine oasis over the past decade.
During a guided hike, ranger Rocky Toyama, a former Marine, explains that hunter-gatherers relied on the still-abundant indigenous plants for nutrition, medicine, sandals, tools and shelter. He points out honey mesquite (bead pods are good mashed), desert lavender (seasoning, wound-healing), arrowweed (eyewash, digestive aid, edible roots, building material), cactus (edible blossoms); prickly pear pads used for tasty nopales), yerba santa (health drink) and pinon trees (pine nuts). Baskets woven tight with deer grass were used to carry water from springs and streams.
Shaw rides in Ronald Donald's bike trailer
Ascending a ridgeline trail, I notice several houses camouflaged with their muted earth tones in a mountainside, separated by fence from the trail. Decades-old vacation homes, says Toyama, built on a swath of private land near-impossible to access.
Brooks rush between majestic palms; mountains ring sun-washed meadows. I solo-hike 8 miles along Murray Canyon and the Seven Sisters Trail to a plummeting waterfall. No wonder this site’s used for fashion shoots.
Ready to refuel, I poll healthy-looking power-walkers downtown. Bypass the packed bistros, they advise, and instead bike to Native Foods on East Canyon Drive, Nature’s Health Food & Cafe, just off the main drag on South Sunrise Way, and Palm Greens Cafe, at the south end of South Palm Canyon. For fresh dates, breads and other goodies from organic growers, hit the weekly Thursday evening Villagefest downtown.
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The new urban cruiser for Palm Springs velo-nistas
Vegan power bars at Palm Greens Cafe
Seitan kale seaweed bowl at Palm Greens Cafe
Another day is spent architecture-spotting. Finds include sleek metal-glass-stone modernist homes designed Richard Neutra, Albert Frey and John Lautner. There’s the “Honeymoon Hideaway” given by Colonial Tom Parker to Elvis and Priscilla Presley as a wedding gift. Boutique hotels include the Orbit In, complete with palm-shaded pool and funky 1950s Eames chairs, kidney-shaped tables, and reclaimed enameled kitchenettes; the black-and-white minimalist Horizon, designed in 1952 by William F. Cody; and Viceroy, a Hollywood regency glam outpost with mountain-facing cabanas.
Fittingly, the Palm Springs Art Museum now features a retrospective of modernist Donald Wexler, designer of that spiffy airport. True architecture fans, visit during the town’s annual Modernism Week in February. In addition, modernist expert Robert Imber leads guided PS Modern tours.
Nature's Health Cafe teems with temptations
The Horizon Hotel, a William Cody classic
Walter White's 1955 modernist house
For a veg-chocked lunch centered on house-made seitan, I biked to Native Foods, part of a small chain founded by Palm Springs High School alumnus and vegan super-chef Tanya Petrovna.
After dropping off the rental bike, I jog past boisterous bistros to Palm Greens Cafe. A peanuty Gado Gado stir-fry and dairy-free update on the famous Palm Springs “Date Shake” disappear quickly in the foothills two blocks away, as the sun drops between peaks.
Planning to bike Palm Springs? Check out this map and this link for events and tips.
Palm Springs foothills, a serene place to dine by sunset.
