Palm Springs Modern Hike

One of the most amazing homes in Palm Springs is the Bob Hope house.  Perched like a giant turtle on an exclusive hill above Palm Springs, the house by John Lautner – built in the 70s – can be seen for miles around.  It really captures the imagination.  Unfortunately, it is at the top of a private drive that has an armed guard who isn’t sympathetic to modernism fans (I’ve tried to sneak in a few times).  The house sits at the top of the drive, and there’s many amazing homes up there.  The Elrod house, also by Lautner, was the amazingly cool evil lair featured at the end of Diamonds Are Forever, is right by the armed guard gate.  Right after that is Steve McQueen’s home.  There’s a William Cody house up there, as well as William Holden’s residence.  It’s an exclusive community, to say the least.  No wonder they won’t let me in!

On my trip to Palm Springs I was using the Google Maps satellite view on my iPhone to get a birds eye view of the house and noticed a series of trails in the hills around the house.  A quick Google search later and I found info on the Araby trail, which is exactly what I was looking for.  The next day, my wife and I were up early with a few bottles of water and on the trail.  Here’s some of what we saw.  You can click on any photo for a larger version.

The trail ironically starts behind some sort of giant desert trailer park.  From there it winds past some swank modern apartments perched low on the hill.  Then it goes straight up and soon you are in mod heaven, looking at these amazing houses both large and enormous to the right, a mountain valley to the left, and the Coachella Valley spreading out below you.  I don’t know who designed the home pictured above, but it very large and very elaborate.  It seems to have a Lautner influence in the shape of the roof, integration with the landscape, and sense of drama.

Eventually you come out of a valley and get an amazing view of the Hope house and its neighbors from below.

Although it looks small next to the massive Bob Hope house, this round home perched on the hill right under it is quite cool.

You get pretty close to the house, although your views of it aren’t quite perfect.  You are around the side and back and really just get a view of the maintenance area and water towers.  You can’t see the pool, or the lawn, or the approach.  You do get a great view of the roof, which is really something else.  It must be quite impressive inside, although I’ve heard its decorations don’t do it justice.  Here’s some interesting internet dirt on the house.

Once you get up past the house, the view is awesome.  The Hope house is in the foreground.  You can see how tiny a pickup truck looks next to the house.  It’s said the circular area in the middle is big enough to land a helicopter in it!  Behind it is the house in the first photo of the post, and spreading out in the valley behind is Palm Springs.  That’s the airport straight out ahead.  I would have loved to explore the neighborhood, but there are signs everywhere basically saying you will go to jail if you step one foot on their private road.

A close-up of the neighborhood.  You can see the circular house to the lower left, and the Cody house is the white one with the white roof right in the center.

The biggest disappointment of the hike is that the James Bond Elrod house cannot be seen from the trail.  I was really hoping to get a view of it.  It is perched on a cliff on the other side, lower down the hill.  You can see it from the valley floor if you drive in the neighborhood to the north of the hill, but you really just see the retaining wall and hints of the roof, nothing exciting.

I found that several of the houses up there are available for rent while researching this post, including the Cody house.  If you have some extra cash, like modern architecture, and want to spend some time in an amazing neighborhood – this looks like an excellent option.

Here’s the satellite view of the neighborhood.

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