One of our days in Palm Springs was spent driving around from neighborhood to neighborhood to see what the more residential areas were like. We started out at Koffi (best coffee in Palm Springs) to plan our route and we ended up downloading a really cool iPhone app called FanGuide Palm Springs Modern Architecture that had different routes with addresses mapped out and the story behind each spot.

Palm Springs has a large concentration of architecture from the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. Many architects adapted ideas from the Bauhaus movement and the International Style, creating an elegant yet informal style called Desert Modernism. Other popular styles in Palm Springs are Art Moderne, Spanish Eclectic, Googie and Tiki.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation named Palm Springs to its 2006 list of America’s Dozen Distinctive Destinations, an annual national list of only 12 cultural tourism destinations for architecture. In 2009, Palm Springs was designated a Preserve America City.

It’s so crazy how different the architecture and landscaping is from what I’m used to, I’ve really never seen anything like Palm Springs. It was a great day of exploring!

Next up will be photos from Mount San Jacinto State Park and a little road trip to LA! In the meantime you can check out ACE Hotel & King’s Highway Diner, Salvation Mountain, The Saguaro, Parker Palm Springs and our instagrams here.