Modernism Week – Palm Springs Architecture Bus Tour

Posted by The Tiki Chick in Tiki Sites and Stores and tagged with Architecture, Don the Beachcomber, Modernism Week, Palm Springs, Travel March 8, 2012

One of the most popular events during Palm Springs Modernism Week seemed to be the architectural double-decker bus tours. They were scheduled twice a day throughout the week and some sold out fairly quickly since there were only about 50 spots on the top level. (We got our tickets about a month in advance.)

You could venture out to some of these places on your own by purchasing the map produced by the Palm Springs Modernism Committee (available online and at the visitors center for $5). However, you wouldn’t have the higher vantage point where you can peek into walled yards with impeccable pools and mod furniture.

JR Roberts (Boccardo Roberts Architecture and Design) was an invaluable skipper on our three hour tour. Our weather was anything but rough, though. It was 80-something degrees by the time we departed at 9 a.m.

One of our early stops was the iconic Kaufmann house from 1947, designed by Richard Neutra. The history of its restoration is fascinating, including the re-opening of a quarry in Utah to match the original stone. (Sidenote: A print of Slim Aarons’ photo of a 1970 pool party at the house hangs at Hula’s Modern Tiki in Phoenix.)

The Alexander House was dubbed “The House of Tomorrow” by Look magazine in 1962, but it’s more famously known as Elvis Presley’s “honeymoon hideaway.” (The restored estate is open for guided tours — and you could even be like The King and rent it out for a honeymoon.) William Krisel designed it as a series of circular spaces, and it was originally built to be the personal residence of Robert Alexander of the Alexander Construction Company.

The Alexander Construction Company built more than two thousand mid-century modern homes in the Coachella Valley with Krisel’s architectural firm Palmer & Krisel, who designed many more in California and Nevada. Krisel has even consulted on recent restorations, like this Twin Palms house. Apparently that groovy geometric garden was part of the original plans! (Check out the inside on Design Furnace’s blog.)

Our guide was very entertaining, relating celebrity gossip and greeting people at yard sales as we passed. He even showed off a wicked sense of humor when an ambulance drove by with its sirens blaring and he said something like: “Looks like another mid-century house will be on the market soon.”

I was very pleased that he pointed out these three tiki torches on Palm Canyon Drive, which are all that remains of the Palm Springs branch of Don the Beachcomber that opened in 1953. (Jeff Berry‘s book Sippin’ Safari has some great stories about it, like gold-plated chopstick cases for the celebs.) The Royal Hawaiian Estates and the large A-frame of the Caliente Tropics hotel could have been other tiki points of interest, but our route just barely bypassed them.

We’re house-hunting in Los Angeles now, and I’m afraid Palm Springs totally spoiled me with all of its amazing architecture. Even the fast food joints are located in some striking buildings. This one is a KFC!

Modernism Week – Mid-Century Mermaids: A History

Posted by The Tiki Chick in Events and tagged with Mermaids, Modernism Week, Palm Springs, Vintage Roadside March 1, 2012

This was the first year I had the pleasure of attending Palm Springs Modernism Week, a series of events celebrating the architecture and culture of the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s. There were dozens of home tours, lectures, films and cocktail parties from February 16-26. Curiouslaydee and I were there for the closing weekend and some fun in the sun at The Riviera, but first we headed down Palm Canyon Drive to the Ace Hotel on Friday night.

The Vintage Roadside duo of Jeff Kunkle and Kelly Burg traveled down from Portland to share several years of research and interviews in a special sold-out presentation entitled “Mid-Century Mermaids: A History.”

They gave an overview of aquatic shows, from the 1939 New York World’s Fair and Billy Rose’s Aquacade (where Esther Williams was discovered) to mid-century mermaid attractions (like Weeki Wachee Springs, pictured) and porthole lounges (hotel bars with windows into the resort’s pool) to newer ventures like Sacramento’s Dive Bar and the aquarium at the Silverton Casino Hotel in Las Vegas.

The pictures were fascinating and there were many interesting stories to go with them. A Shell gas station sign was apparently used to make a mold for these giant shells at Aquarama, a now defunct tourist spot in Missouri. (There was also mention of a topless Star Wars themed show at the Reef in San Diego!)

Up front they had two tables displaying mermaid memorabilia, like this blue costume from Sip ‘n Dip in Montana (possible setting for a future reality show), a guitar from Weeki Wachee Springs (still in operation!), vintage bathing suits and a gold tail from Aquarama.

Following the presentation, the crowd surrounded the pool adjacent to the conference room for a special underwater and pyrotechnic performance by Marina the Fire-Eating Mermaid.

Marina and her MeduSirena Pod of fellow fish-tailed entertainers have a standing swimshow engagement every Friday night at the Wreck Bar in Fort Lauderdale, and she also performs at special events like Tiki Oasis where she’s even held classes on underwater movement for aspiring mermaids.

Marina was stunning, of course, but what really blew me away at this event was discovering how many mermaid attractions there were/are across the country. My favorite example was the porthole lounge, but Marina told me there are only three remaining in the U.S. They may be more nautical in style, not really “tiki” per se, but they seem to have that same sense of South Seas escapism that we love about tiki bars.

Animal Kingdom by Shag – Corey Helford Gallery

Posted by The Tiki Chick in Shag and tagged with Art, Los Angeles, Shag, Tiki, Tiki Art February 22, 2012

On February 11, the Corey Helford gallery in Culver City hosted an opening party for Shag’s latest exhibition of paintings entitled Animal Kingdom. His previous show here was the doom and gloom fest Autumn’s Come Undone in late 2009, but now Shag’s sophisticates are once again carelessly swilling martinis in brightly colored swank pads.

The place was packed from the get-go as folks lined up to get free commemorative posters (for the first 500 guests). More than half of the 15 new paintings had already been sold by the time we walked in. Shag himself (Josh Agle) was there posing for photos and signing things — you couldn’t miss him since he had donned a pair of antlers just like some of his art subjects.

The press release for this show notes that Shag found inspiration from a vintage costume pattern that simply modified the ears and tails to portray different animals. However, he also points out a more modern muse: “I’ve noticed a lot of teenagers and hipsters recently wearing hoodies and beanies with animal ears, antlers or horns. Maybe there is a subconscious urge to return to our animalistic natures.”

Wolves, bulls, birds, monkeys, and cats especially have frequently appeared alongside people in his works, often in an anthropomorphic manner. Here the theme is being turned around with the humans expressing their wild sides sartorially.

The centerpiece of the show was the eight-foot-long painting “Predators and Prey,” which was also my favorite for its nearly neon colors. Now if only I had $40,000 burning a hole in my pocket.

I did also dig some of the smaller pieces like the Catwoman-esque “Black Kitten in Purple,” which had two other complementary versions in green and orange.

In a neat tech-savvy twist, there was a little QR Code next to each painting. When you scanned each barcode with the camera on your smartphone, it took you to a special web page. I thought it might tell you the painting’s name or price, but instead it displayed a sentence or two to set the scene.

The best ones showed a wicked sense of humor, like this one for “Wayward Cub”…”She didn’t have a problem with Stevie’s drinking until the first drop of his Purple Rain hit the snowy white fur of her ex-husband.”

You can see the paintings on Shag’s site and read all those vignettes by clicking on the dots towards the bottom of the page. Animal Kingdom by Shag will be on display at the gallery through March 3, 2012.

Corey Helford Gallery
522 Washington Blvd.
Culver City, CA 90232
310-287-2340