1. Marriott’S Desert Springs Villas
City: Palm Desert, CA
Category: Accommodations
Telephone: (760) 779-1200, (888) 236-2427
Address: 1091 Pinehurst Lane
Description: Like it’s newer sister property, Shadow Ridge, this time-share resort offers spacious guest rooms and one- and two-bedroom condo-type accommodations, with the latter two having complete kitchens. The nearly 500 units are nestled in multiple two-story buildings scattered about the southeastern portion of the massive JW Marriott property of the same name, with many fronting portions of the resort’s two golf courses. The villas have a large pool complex, game room, and barbecue and picnic areas, and guests get access to the facilities of the JW Marriott. The environment here is a bit more active and frenzied that at Shadow Ridge.
2. Desert Falls Country Club
City: Palm Desert, CA
Category: Golf
Telephone: (760) 340-4653
Address: 1111 Desert Falls Parkway
Description: Desert Falls is a private club that for seemingly eons has freely accepted outside play. It’s a very friendly and collegial club, with members not worried they’ll be sullied by such close association with the hoi polloi. It’s also part of the ClubCorp network so if you are a ClubCorper elsewhere with Signature Gold, cash in on your two freebie rounds. The course sits right about where the south side of the valley tumbles away to the low-lying center, and as such there’s a load of elevation change on both nines. It’s a strategic design more so than brawny and heroic, with doglegging that puts a premium on where to hit driver (or often, something smaller), an easily reachable par 5 with a no man’s land of chaotic bunkering usually determining if you are a stud or a goat, water everywhere, and two of the best returning holes—9 and 18—anywhere to be found and they’re a bit of eye candy to boot.
3. Marriott’S Shadow Ridge
City: Palm Desert, CA
Category: Golf
Telephone: (760) 674-2700
Address: 9002 Shadow Ridge Rd.
Description: Shadow Ridge is the handiwork of one Sir Nick Faldo—yes, he was knighted—and two guys who between them have worked for many of the best in the design game and who have for the past 10 or so years quietly placed themselves near the top of the golf architect pile, Lee Schmidt and Brian Curley. This course of one of the Forgotten Triad, three of the valley’s best courses that no one really talks about that much, along with the Westin’s Gary Player course and Desert Dunes, a trickster tucked away at the west end of the valley that has long needed the love it’s now getting. Schmidt and Curley like to freewheel as much as possible, and they’ve pulled off some remarkable tracks where residential and resort demands might’ve failed others. They’re old school in the sense of not being tied to one way of doing things and they aren’t put off by a blind tee shot, an obscured green, or collection areas. Their bunkering is wild, with ragged lines and footprints that would seem to have been originally traced by three Labs chasing two Frisbees, and there’s a sense of the vertical at play which makes you realize that golf is not simply a down range endeavor. Faldo’s worked with them on other signature courses, and the three have a good thing going.
4. The Faldo Golf Institute
City: Palm Desert, CA
Category: Golf
Telephone: (888) 463-2536
Address: 9002 Shadow Ridge Rd.
Description: Multi-facet, multi-day schools for players of all ability levels. Can be done a la carte or in conjunction with a stay-and-play package through Marriott’s Shadow Ridge time-share resort. Individual lessons are offered, as are programs for corporate or incentive groups.
5. Spectacular Shades
City: Palm Desert, CA
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (760) 568-4500, (800) 800-9067
Address: 73910 El Paseo Dr.
Description: If there’s one person in the desert who knows fabulous sunglasses, it’s owner Sonia Campbell, who’s been stocking the largest selection of upscale shades for many years. Brand names include Oliver People’s, Carrera, Dior, Armani, Persol, Fendi, Diva, Kieselstein-Cord, Picasso, Nicole Miller, Calvin Klein, and a lot more. Gosh, whatever happened to good old Ray-Ban and Vuarnet?
6. College Of The Desert Street Fair
City: Palm Desert, CA
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (760) 773-2567
Address: 43500 Monterey Ave.
Description: This event is run by the College of the Desert Alumni Association to benefit the community college, and it’s been a profitable venture since its beginning, to say the least: Some $7 million raised to date. Hundreds of vendors set up for this weekly event on the COD campus just north of Highway 111 in central Palm Desert. The parking lots are clogged with shoppers by 8 a.m., so it’s a good idea to get there early. The competition for vendor space is fierce, and the rules are strict. It’s a very well-run event with free admission and free entertainment. Wear your walking shoes and bring cash for small purchases such as produce and food. Most vendors accept credit cards, but do you really want to use your Visa for that tie-dye souvenir T-shirt? The street fair runs both Sat and Sun year-round, starting at 7 a.m. both days. It closes at noon from June through Sept and at 2 p.m. Oct through May.
7. Gallery 1000
City: Palm Desert, CA
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (760) 346-2230
Address: 73400 El Paseo Dr., Suite 1
Description: Noted European artists are represented here, with an emphasis on quality across a variety of media, including Impressionistic oil paintings, dry-point engravings, sculptures, and bas-relief. Major artists include Marcel Demagny, Duaiv, Anatoly Dverin, and Karl Jensen.
8. Mccallum Theatre For The Performing Arts
City: Palm Desert, CA
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (866) 889-2787
Address: 73000 Fred Waring Dr.
Description: Barry Manilow has been a common sight here, though more so before he started headlining at the Las Vegas Hilton, and that says a lot about the age group of the audience. With Bill Maher, Penn & Teller, Bill Cosby, Vince Gill, Dana Carvey, Stomp, Dave Koz, Tim Conway, and Andy Williams, no one is pushing this as a cutting-edge venue for entertainment and music. Where the McCallum excels is in being a Jack of Many Trades—and ages—and in its symphonic and occasional stage productions.A desert institution, the McCallum had its beginning in 1973 with a group that called itself Friends of the Cultural Center, Inc. They had a vision of creating a year-round permanent home for performing arts of all types for all residents. Named for a longtime desert family and supported with funding from all the desert cities, the McCallum opened in 1988 and has been expanding and improving its space and offerings ever since. The McCallum Theatre Institute introduces thousands of young people and adults to the joys of the performing arts, filling a void created by the elimination of arts programs in public schools. Each year the McCallum offers free performances and arts education programs to 43 local schools, involving almost 35,000 kids and teachers. With a growing reputation as one of the country’s most beautiful and prestigious small theaters, the McCallum attracts more than 150,000 theatergoers annually, with an average occupancy rate of 86 percent, versus a national average of 60 percent. The theater is a striking midsize venue with continental-style seating on three levels, a carpeted floor to improve acoustics, and a top seating capacity of 1,100-plus. This is the desert, and it’s a stretch to find any place where the crowd is consistently well dressed for evening events, so for those folks for whom such public demeanor is a treat, arriving at the McCallum and seeing that most of the crowd took the same care in choosing their clothing and buffing up their appearance should produce a smile. The McCallum’s performances can be fairly pricey, so be sure to check for matinee tickets, which are often substantially cheaper than those at night.