Architecture · Homes · Palm Springs

Inside a Wexler steel house, sixty-four years after the steel went up

Donald Wexler's prefab steel houses were meant to be built by the dozens. Only seven were. Here's how they went up, why the tract stopped, and what living in one is like.

By Corey Chambers · Photographs by Staff5 min read

Read the story →inside-a-wexler-steel-house-sixty-four-years-after-the-roof-went-on

Wexler Steel House, Palm Springs

Architecture Homes · Businesses · Churches

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The desert congregation: eight modernist sanctuaries that turned concrete and glass into something holy

St. Theresa Catholic Church, Palm Springs · William F. Cody, 1968

Architecture · Churches · Palm Springs

The desert congregation: eight modernist sanctuaries that turned concrete and glass into something holy

From William Cody's St. Theresa to a Frey church that is now a theater, the sanctuaries of the Palm Springs desert were built with total conviction. Most still hold services. One now holds a stage.

Read the story →the-desert-congregation-eight-modernist-sanctuaries

Homes

The Eichler kitchen everybody copies and nobody gets right

Businesses

Googie is back on the boulevard: a bank, a bowling alley, and a car wash get a second act

Homes

Cliff May's ranch houses were never meant to be beige. Here's what the records show.

Designers 32 names that built the look

Full encyclopedia →

Every designer page carries a signature, active years, the houses and objects we've documented, and the fakes to watch for. Each one links back to the homes, furniture, and listings that share it.

Real Estate For Sale · For Rent

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For Sale

$2,150,000

Fairhaven Tract · Orange, CA

1961Eichleratrium model · original mahogany

For Sale

$1,395,000

Twin Palms · Palm Springs, CA

1957Palmer & Kriselbutterfly roof

For Rent

$5,800 / mo

Balboa Highlands · Granada Hills, CA

1964Eichlerfurnished · 12-mo lease

For Rent

$3,200 / mo

Racquet Club Estates · Palm Springs, CA

1959Alexanderpool · seasonal or annual

Contractors Remodeling · Restoration

Directory →

Restoring tongue-and-groove ceilings without losing the grainWhat the good crews do differently, and what it costs per square foot

Radiant heat in an Eichler slab: repair, replace, or abandon?Three choices for a failing system, what each one involves, and what the published costs say

The window wall: single-pane glass, code, and the honest upgradeKeeping the sightlines when the inspector wants tempered

Find a contractor who has actually done this beforeWhere to look by region, how to check a license, and what to ask before you sign

Gardening Plants & Landscape

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Plants

The desert modern planting list: agave, olive, and nothing that needs a lawn

Landscape

Breeze block, gravel, and shade: how to rebuild a lost courtyard from one photograph

Lifestyle Christmas · Tiki · Collector Forum

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Christmas

The aluminum tree, unironically

Evergleam, color wheels and Shiny Brite: where the silver tree came from, why it vanished, and what to look for when you buy one.

Evergleam · 1961

Tiki

Where the last real tiki bars are

Not the revival ones. The rooms from the original era that are still pouring, the mugs they sell, and the carvers keeping the trade alive.

Mug · Carved 1958

Collector Forum

What did you find this weekend?

Estate-sale hauls, ID requests and price checks: how to read a mark, find a real price, and show us what you found.

Ashtray · Blenko

Art Paintings · Sculpture · Film · Artists · Art for Sale

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Paintings

Hard-edge: four California painters who belong with the Case Study houses

Sculpture

Bertoia's sounding sculptures, and what became of the barn they were made for

Film

Ten films where the house is the main character, from Lautner to Koenig

Artists · Art for Sale

Ten living artists who paint the era, and how to buy their work

Automobiles DeSoto · Continental · More

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1957 DeSoto Adventurer

DeSoto

The Adventurer was DeSoto's last great idea. Sixty-nine years later it still looks fast standing still.

Fins, gold trim and a Hemi. The story of the 1957 Adventurer, why DeSoto never topped it, what one costs now and what to know before you buy.

Entertainment Music · Television · Books

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Exotica, cocktail jazz, and the hi-fi that belongs in a post-and-beam living roomA listening guide, with the consoles to play it on

The sets behind the sets: production design in 1960s televisionWhere the props came from and where they went

Twelve books on the era that aren't coffee-table fillerSkip the picture books. These twelve have something to say.

Drive-in season, outdoor screenings, and the Continental you should arrive inWhere the screens are still lit, and what to check before you go

Events Tours · Fairs · Screenings · Sales

Full calendar →

Oct 15

Palm Springs Modernism Week · OctoberPalm Springs, CAFour days of tours, talks and the Modernism Show, October 15 to 18

Nov 15

Long Beach Antique MarketLong Beach, CAThird Sunday of the month at Veterans Stadium, 6:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Nov 25

Evergleams on EighthManitowoc, WIHundreds of aluminum Christmas trees in downtown windows, through January 3

Feb 11

Palm Springs Modernism Week 2027Palm Springs, CAEleven days of tours, talks and parties, February 11 to 21. Tickets go on sale November 1.

More Events →

Food Recipes · Restaurants · Cocktails

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Recipes

The fondue night, revised: three recipes from the 1960s that still hold up

Restaurants

Still open: the coffee shops, steakhouses and supper clubs that kept the room

Cocktails · This week's pour

The Mai Tai, the 1944 way

2 oz aged Jamaican rum
¾ oz fresh lime juice
½ oz orange curaçao
½ oz orgeat
¼ oz rich simple syrup
Spent lime shell, mint sprig

Shake hard with crushed ice, pour unstrained into a double old-fashioned, garnish with the lime shell and mint. No pineapple juice. Trader Vic would have words.

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