Star Struck!

For anyone visiting Palm Springs for the first time, the Celebrity Homes Tour is a must. Not only do you discover who actually lived here and where, but you also gain an insight into the development of this community.

The city is currently undergoing an ever accelerating transformation from its former roots as a getaway haven for the biggest names in show business, to being a tourist centric vacation spot, complete with casinos and mobile bars! Apart from Leo Di Caprio, current celebrity homeowners now prefer to habit gated communities in Rancho Mirage, away from prying paparazzi. The current owners of properties once inhabited by yesterday's stars also prefer to preserve there privacy by planting high hedges, formerly anathema to their original owners. The list of former celebrity home owners is endless: Carry Grant; Frank Sinatra; Dean Martin; Elvis Presley; Marilyn Monroe; Bob Hope; Bing Crosby etc. (One well known resident, the legendary Hedy Lamour, was the co-inventor and patent owner to over forty major patents relating to wide spectrum radio technology, the basis of microwave and mobile phone technology!)

The number and close proximity of the celebrity properties is startling. Major celebrity inhabitants were and remain active supporters of the local community. Frank Sinatra, Barry Mannilow and others have raised millions of dollars for charitable foundations here and have helped in other ways too. For instance, the lady who greeted us before the tour was a Brazilian immigrant  and on arriving into the US, her three children spoke Portuguese, only. The two older children qualified for state support to learn English, but the youngest child didn't. Accordingly, she searched for a voluntary tutor and who stepped up? Desi Arnez Junior! Frank Sinatra raised funds to build the local hospital and financed the building of a church in Cathedral City for his mother.

During the tour we heard the back story to the famous Racket Club (where Norma Gene went in and Marilyn Monroe came out!) and the Millionaires golf course. Another anecdote from the tour concerned the origin of the Rat Pack ... In fact. Frank Sinatra assumed the mantle of being head of the Rat Pack after the death of Humphrey Bogart. The latter was playing cards with Sinatra and others when Lauren Bacall happened to say "You look like a pack of rats" and the rest is history! (Half-way through the tour, we also visited a mom and pop shop to sample the best 'date shake' there is, mad, of course, with local Palm Spring dates!)

Driving back to the hotel through the palm-lined highway we heard a track that just seemed right ....
Ronny and the Daytonas "Little GTO"