Mid Century Palm Springs home with vintage Lincoln Continental Mark V parked in driveway.
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Mid-century Modernism is the historic style favored by today’s young people. While Victorian, Arts and Crafts, Colonial and other formerly beloved historic house styles have faded in popularity, the functional, rational and technologically driven designs of the 20th century are the hot historic styles of our time. Examples of these styles include Art Deco, Art Moderne, Bauhaus, International style, Streamline Moderne and Organic architecture.
Of all the places where it is celebrated, no American community is more associated with Modernism than Palm Springs, California. The desert resort city is the largest in Riverside County, within the Colorado Desert’s Coachella Valley. It became popular with movie stars in the 1930s, and Hollywood personalities including Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra, Estée Lauder, Carmen Miranda and Bing Crosby built getaways from their Los Angeles area estates. An ever-increasing number of developments built on the trend to turn Palm Springs into one of the West Coast’s favorite second-home destinations.
Following a successful 2006 Palm Springs Modernism Show and the annual symposium organized by the Palm Springs Art Museum’s Architecture and Design Council, a group of local design and architecture aficionados created Modernism Week, an 11-day event in February that showcases the midcentury modern architecture of Palm Springs. The event includes more than 350 events including the Palm Springs Modernism Show, Signature Home Tours, films, lectures, Premier Double Decker Architectural Bus Tours, nightly parties and live music, walking and bike tours, tours of Sunnylands, fashion, classic cars, modern garden tours, a vintage travel trailer exhibition, and more. Modernism Week is also a charitable organization, providing scholarships to local students pursuing college educations in the fields of architecture and design; as well as supporting local and state preservation organizations and neighborhood groups in their efforts to preserve modernist architecture throughout the state of California.
From 2012 to 2018, annual attendance increased from 12,000 to 125,000.
The event has become so successful that now there is Modernism Week-October, a “mini-Modernism Week” to kick-off the active social and recreational season in Palm Springs. The event takes place October 13 to 16, 2022. It features more than 50 events, including tours, talks, and parties in unique locations not regularly open to the public. It also includes the Palm Springs Modernism Show & Sale Fall Edition, including an opening night preview party on October 14, offering attendees a cocktail reception, live music and an exclusive first chance to shop at the show before it opens to the public. The Show & Sale continues October 15-16 and will feature more than 40 premier national and international decorative and fine arts dealers.
One of the beloved events of Modernism Week is the combination of houses and cars from the middle of the 20th century; seeing a 1957 Cadillac Eldorado in the driveway of a home of the same vintage brings joy, and Modernism Week-October delivers such visual treats. After all, a reason we love the styles of this time is because it reflects a period of American optimism.
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For a detailed schedule of events, to purchase tickets and to see more information, go to