Tag: Rancho Mirage

  • The Ritz-Carlton, Rancho Mirage

    The Ritz-Carlton, Rancho Mirage

    68900 FRANK SINATRA DRIVE
    RANCHO MIRAGE

    The Ritz is one of the desert’s premier properties! Situated atop a 650-foot bluff, the views of the surrounding area are unparalleled – as are the amenities, which include four restaurants, a gym, multiple pools and a truly luxe spa. The customer service is also wholly singular. They say you get what you pay for, and a stay here is definitely an exclusive experience. As such, the place has welcomed quite a few celebrities like Katharine McPhee, Robert Herjavec, and Justin Bieber. Most famously, the hotel hosted the much-watched nuptials of OG Bachelorette Trista Rehn and her pick, Ryan Sutter, back in 2003.

    ★★★★★

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  • Omni Rancho Las Palmas Resort & Spa

    Omni Rancho Las Palmas Resort & Spa

    41000 BOB HOPE DRIVE
    RANCHO MIRAGE

    Planning a desert getaway with children? Omni Rancho Las Palmas is the spot I’d book. Boasting a two-acre Splashtopia water park complete with a lazy river, a pool, two waterslides and a man-made beach, this lodging is kid-friendly in all the best ways. The sprawling 240-acre resort has plenty for adults to enjoy, as well, including a golf course, a spa, four restaurants, a bar, two additional pools, stunning grounds, a fabulous gift shop and one very memorable “Beverly Hills, 90210” connection.

    ★★★★

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  • Omni Rancho Las Palmas Resort & Spa

    Omni Rancho Las Palmas Resort & Spa

    41000 BOB HOPE DRIVE
    RANCHO MIRAGE

    This gorgeous lodging was the site of one of the darkest moments in ‘90s TV! Portraying the Palm Springs resort where Brandon Walsh and the gang headed for a getaway in the season five finale of “Beverly Hills, 90210,” it was at the hotel that Donna Martin was infamously pushed down the stairs by her increasingly abusive boyfriend, Ray Pruit. In real life, the infamous staircase can be found in Building 5, on the south side of the property, leading up to Room 520. The Omni’s entrance and Azure Pool were also used in the episode, but all interior scenes were shot back in Los Angeles at the Hyatt Regency Westlake in Westlake Village.

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  • Sunnylands Center & Gardens

    Sunnylands Center & Gardens

    37977 BOB HOPE DRIVE
    RANCHO MIRAGE

    The longtime winter home of philanthropists Walter and Leonore Annenberg now serves as a public space where guests can wonder at the stunning desert landscape. Open Wednesday through Sunday, admission to the 15-acre visitors center is free, with plenty to peruse, including changing exhibitions, an informational film, a fabulous gift shop, a café (one of my favorite spots to grab lunch) and myriad garden paths. Guided tours are also offered of the Annenbergs’ former home, the Sunnylands Estate, a 25,000-square-foot midcentury marvel designed by A. Quincy Jones in 1960. Tours do book up far in advance, though, so plan accordingly.

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  • Rancho Super Car Wash

    Rancho Super Car Wash

    71490 CA-111
    RANCHO MIRAGE

    Anyone who has driven along CA-111 in Rancho Mirage is familiar with Rancho Super Car Wash’s famous retro signage. The neon pink display, which showcases an elephant showering itself with its trunk, initially stood at the Portland outpost of Dean, Archie and Eldon Anderson’s Elephant Super Car Wash chain, based in the Pacific Northwest. When Eldon’s daughter, Marilyn, and her husband, Richard Fromme, expanded the enterprise to the Palm Springs area in 1966, they carted the sign with them. The piece has been an icon ever since. Recently restored (and designated a historic landmark), it shines brighter and pinker than ever before and is one of the desert’s definitive must-photograph spots. Bonus – Rancho Super Car Wash offers some of the best auto clean-ups in the entire Valley.

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  • Rancho Mirage Library & Observatory

    Rancho Mirage Library & Observatory

    71-100 CA-111
    RANCHO MIRAGE

    Completed in 2018, this state-of-the-art facility was built for the public in every sense, with locals and tourists alike welcomed regularly forin-depth tours (offered each Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday at 3 p.m.) and Observatory Public Exploration Nights(O.P.E.N.), during which visitors catch glimpses of our night skies via a research-grade PlaneWave Instruments CDK700 telescope. There’s even a lending program available to library card holders, enabling stargazers to bring an Orion StarBlast 4.5″ Astro Reflector tabletop telescope home for a week to explore the solar system on their own!

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  • Bob Hope House

    Bob Hope House

    2466 SOUTHRIDGE DRIVE
    RANCHO MIRAGE

    Crafted by John Lautner in 1979, Bob Hope’s infamous former house, one of the area’s most recognizable landmarks, sits perched like a beacon above the 111 Freeway in Rancho Mirage. While tucked behind gates in the ultra-exclusive Southridge Community, hikers can catch an up-close-and-personal view of the place while venturing along Araby Trail (chronicled in my attractions section above). And it is certainly worth a looksie! Canopied under a draping cement plaster roofline marked by a 60-foot circular opening, the gargantuan 25,000-square-foot residence is Lautner’s largest and most ambitious commission ever. It is also one of his most contentious, requiring more than six years to complete, mainly due to design disagreements with the Hopes, with the comedian famously lamenting of its otherworldly shape, “At least when they come down from Mars, they’ll know where to go.”

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  • Sunnylands Estate

    Sunnylands Estate

    37977 BOB HOPE DRIVE
    RANCHO MIRAGE

    Completed in 1966, this 25,000-square-foot monolith was designed by modernist master A. Quincy Jones as a winter home for Walter and Leonore Annenberg. The couple welcomed U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower to the premises that same year. The residence has gone on to host countless other dignitaries, statesmen and celebrities in the years since, including Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, who visited in 1983, and crooner Frank Sinatra, who wed his fourth wife, Barbara, there in 1976. One of the only properties on this list open to the public, Sunnylands offers a variety of daily tours of the estate’s interiors and vast grounds. Tickets sell out quickly, so be sure to plan your visit far in advance.

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  • Maranz Residence

    Maranz Residence

    70551 TAMARISK LANE
    RANCHO MIRAGE

    This 1960 midcentury icon is a true showstopper. With its dramatic, sweeping gull-wing roofline—seemingly poised to take flight—the Maranz House is a dazzling architectural feat defined by bold angles and razor-sharp lines. Overlooking the third fairway of Tamarisk Country Club, the residence was designed by architect Val Powelson for mechanical engineer, artist, and Tastee-Freez founder Leo S. Maranz. Boasting a pedigree as legendary as its design, fabled developer Robert Alexander and four of the Marx Brothers were among the notable guests at Maranz’s housewarming party. Today, the property holds the distinction of being one of the first entries on Rancho Mirage’s Register of Historic Places, and its cinematic profile has made it a favorite backdrop for photo shoots, including a cover feature for Palm Springs Weekend.

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  • Kenaston House

    Kenaston House

    39767 DESERT SUN DRIVE
    RANCHO MIRAGE

    E. Stewart Williams designed this Desert Modern-style treasure in 1957 for wealthy rancher Roderick W. Kenaston and his wife, silent film star Billie Dove. Laid out in a U-shape, the home is accented with rock walls, corrugated aluminum siding and a zig-zagging cement path leading to bright orange double doors. Pristinely preserved (the only Williams design in Rancho Mirage to remain fully intact!), when it was last sold in 2017, listing information noted the place brought in a cool $50,000 annually from photoshoots! Just a few of the celebrities who have posed on the premises include Madonna, James Blunt, and, most famously, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie for W magazine’s much-ballyhooed July 2005 “Domestic Bliss” feature, in which the duo created moody tableaus depicting a doomed marriage against the pad’s sleekly styled walls.

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