Ingleside Inn
Palm Springs was the first really hot place on this Spring trip.
Yes, Three Rivers, at the entrace to Sequoia National Park, had been nice and warm. Which was lucky – they’d had snow there two weeks earlier.
But stopping for a break, on the way to Palm Springs, we got out of the car and knew that the temperature had been taken up a notch.
Our hotel was a fantatstic gem – the Ingleside Inn. This has been the haunt of the rich and famous ever since escapees from Hollywood film industry began coming here 50 years ago. The hotel is a delight: the pool is wonderful and secluded, the welcome warm, and the hotel itself is intimate – a single storey place with only 30 rooms.
Rather like Palm Springs itself, really – classy, intimate.
Driving over the city limit on the way in, you see nothing at all scrubland. Yet you know you are only a couple of miles from the city centre. Urban sprawl there isn’t. They call it a ‘village’ and you can feel why.
As you arrive into the city itself yoou get the feel of a “one-street town” – a very nice one-street town. It has a community feel to it: and the shops are pleasant and the town has a good feel to it. Yes – Palm Springs has heart.
Lying by the Ingleside Inn pool in the afternoon, 25 feet from our room, the temperature was hitting the early 30s/late 80s. With shade offered by many trees and having the pool to dip into, that was not a problem.
Come the evening we walked ten minutes to the main “strip” and were listening to a live band performing note-perfect covers. America teams with such bands of highly competant musicians. We shared a huge chicken salad, downed a drink or two, and danced the night away – all for an extremely modest sum of money.
We returned to Ingleside Inn to the restaurant for a nightcap. A brilliant lounge pianist was there as well as several singers with absolutely excellent voices – clealy professionals. Friends of the pianist it turned out. They took it in turns to sing old classics which I would usually turn my nose up at – but listening there, hearing live, flawless performances it was a great pleasure to listen.
It is easiy to see why Palm Springs is such an attractive place for many – including celebs. A couple of McCartneys were staying at the Ingleside at the same time as us.
Yes – I recommend a trip to Palm Springs, and yes, I recommend the Ingleside Inn for a quiet, secluded, welcoming stay.
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