SUNSET MAGAZINE
Not long ago, Palm Springs hotels came in two flavors: gracious Spanish revival and on-the-nose (if a bit campy) mid-century modern. But today a new era of hotel openings and restorations honors the innovation of the mid-twentieth century while pushing into the future of hospitality. A cadre of architects and designers are breathing life into a region that has defined luxury living, honoring the bold colors, bright patterns, and natural habitat that made desert design so unique, and giving new vision to the term desert chic.
Here is the best of a new crop of Palm Springs hotels and wellness retreats that may tempt you to actually move here.
Azure Sky
Created in 1959, Azure Sky’s original architect is unknown, though rumored to be Howard Lapham, a modernist architect with many notable works throughout Palm Springs. The original forms of the hotel were thoughtfully restored by hospitality group Lightning Bar Palm Springs, whose master carpenters crafted floating wooden beds, accent walls, and wood-and-mirror banding in the lobby. The bouclé swivel chairs and muted earth tones give it all a 1970s rec room meets Japanese ryokan vibe that somehow works.