Twin Palms was our desert’s first completed Modernist neighborhood and it established concepts and techniques later emulated throughout Palm Springs and the Coachella Valley. This tour will introduce you to the innovative, insightful and influential architecture of William Krisel—our neighborhood’s founding architect—and his extraordinarily productive relationship with the Alexander Construction Company. It will also familiarize you with significant midcentury works from architects Hugh Kaptur, Donald Wexler and Hal Levitt, as well as notable and one-of-a-kind contributions of more-recent vintage.
Beyond architecture, many prominent writers and entertainers have called the neighborhood home, and Twin Palms currently hosts two pieces in the City’s public art collection. It’s no wonder the neighborhood’s residential designs, rich cultural history and enduring appeal continue to make it a subject of coffee-table books, articles in travel and lifestyle publications and a frequent location for television commercials, print advertising, music videos and sell-out tours for Modernism Week.
Your guide for this 2.25-hour, two-mile excursion will be Eric Chiel, a 18-year Twin Palms resident and founding past-Chairperson of the Twin Palms Neighborhood Organization. Eric was co-creator, creative director, and author of The ONE-PS Guide to Palm Springs Neighborhoods published by Palm Springs Life, and he specializes in the stories of Palm Springs neighborhoods. His uniquely engaging narrative will reveal the origin of his neighborhood’s design, its history and culture and its lasting impact on the community. It’s all designed so you’ll appreciate Twin Palms as an insider.
A portion of tour proceeds is donated to the Twin Palms Neighborhood Organization to help preserve, beautify and encourage appreciation of this distinctive destination.