LGBTQ tourism boosts Palm Springs’ COVID-19 pandemic recovery

Downtown Palm SpringsEd Walsh

“We’re back Palm Springs.” That slogan in a heart on an Instagramable sign next to the city’s modern Starbucks on Palm Canyon Drive in the heart of downtown deserves to have the addendum: “and the LGBTQs are the first to come back.”

Despite California’s restrictive lockdowns, LGBTQs were very quick to return. Jason Hull, a front desk agent at the popular InnDulge resort told NewsBreak that weekends at the resort have been fully booked since Presidents Day weekend in mid-February. On June 15, Governor Gavin Newsom fully reopened the state, lifting the restrictive rules on businesses.

Dawn at the popular InnDuldge resort in Palm SpringsEd Walsh

Despite Palm Springs’ tourist dependency, the desert city is emerging from the pandemic with all of its legendary gay resorts intact. All of the city’s gay bars have also survived. The three gay bars and gay resort in neighboring Cathedral City have also managed to stay afloat despite California’s restrictive closures.

Palm Springs has long been one of the gayest cities in the world and LGBT visitor loyalty combined with being an easy driving distance from Los Angeles has been enough of a lifeline to keep the city’s small LGBT businesses from going under.

Giant Babies on the Move in downtown Palm SpringsEd Walsh

Year over year occupancy for May increased 8.1% from 2020 to 2021, according to the Greater Palm Springs Visitors and Convention Bureau. The average daily rate for a hotel room increased 2.4% over the same period. The tourism board notes that anecdotally, it is hearing from its partners that weekends are extremely busy, with high hotel occupancy rates and prime time dinner reservations being tough to snag at restaurants.

The first post-pandemic LGBTQ event will be the film festival, Cinema Diverse, September 16-30. It will overlap this year for the first time with The Dinah, which is usually held in the early spring. The lesbian-centric extended weekend runs Wednesday, Sept. 29 through Sunday, October 3, 2021 The Dinah schedule is packed with parties and a comedy show on Thursday, Sept. 30.

The Dinah will be followed a month later by the traditional Halloween block party on E. Arenas Road, just east of Indian Canyon Drive, the city’s gayest block where most of the gay bars and LGBT-oriented shops are located. The street party will be on Halloween eve, Saturday, October 30, 2021. Leather Pride 2021 overlaps with Halloween, Oct. 28-31. Palm Springs Pride runs Nov. 5 -7, 2021, highlighted by a parade on Sunday, Nov. 7.

Marilyn Monroe sculpture in downtown Palm Springs, which finally return to the city in JuneEd Walsh

Gay resorts

Palm Springs has eleven gay resorts or an even dozen if you count the area’s largest gay resort, CCBC, in Cathedral City. All are marketed to gay men and all are clothing optional. Most serve a free continental breakfast and most thankfully do not have resort fees. Palm Springs used to have two lesbian resorts but sadly the last remaining women’s resort, Casitas Laquita, closed five years ago. If you are traveling in the summer, most of the resorts have misters, which spray cool mist in the air making sunbathing tolerable in 100+ temperatures.

The gay resorts are one of the biggest draws for many gay men who return to the same resort ever year and often several times a year. The social atmosphere in the resorts make it easy to meet other gay men from all over the world.

The aforementioned InnDulge always seems to stay busy, drawing a loyal crowd even during the slower summer months. The owners, Sandy and Jon, took advantage of a three-month forced closure last year to renovate the hotel taking an already beautiful property to and an even higher level. InnDulge serves up a free continental breakfast and a 6-7:30 p.m. cocktail hour make it an ideal setting to meet gay men from all over the world.

Popular InnDullge resort at dawnEd Walsh

The Triangle Inn, about a 15-minute walk from downtown Palm Springs,is a good example of a resort that like InnDuldge deservedly attracts a big repeat crowd. The resort is owned by a gay couple, Michael Green and Stephen Boyd, who live on he midcentury-modern property and make new and repeat visitors feel like family. They are longtime boosters for gay tourism to Palm Springs. Green is one of the driving forces behind Cinema Diverse as the Executive Director of the Palm Springs Cultural Center.

The Triangle Inn resortEd Walsh

The Triangle Inn is kitty-corner from the Santiago. The beautiful hacienda-style property has two floors overlooking a huge pool and hot tub.

The biggest cluster of gay hotels is in the Warm Sands neighborhood, about a mile east of downtown. It includes the city’s oldest gay resort, El Mirasol Villas, which was once owned by reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes and has been gay since 1975. It is next door to All Worlds Annex, a cruisy resort that is open for day passes. The fabulous Vista Grande Resort is just around the corner and offers two pools, a huge hot tub grotto, cooling waterfall grotto and steam room. The Hacienda is one of Palm Springs’ most luxurious resorts and it pampers guests with breakfast and lunch included in the service. Desert Paradise is kitty corner from the Hacienda. It changed ownership recently but still offers the top-notch quality for which it is famous. InnDulge is just across from Desert Paradise.

On the north end of downtown are the Canyon Club Hotel, which includes a huge outdoor maze and koi pond. It is open for day passes. The Barefoot Inn is kitty-corner from the back of Canyon Club and welcomes all men, not just bears. The intimate resort also has a loyal clientele.

Nightlife

Most of the gay nightlife in the Palm Springs area is on E. Arenas Road, just east of Indian Canyon Drive, in downtown Palm Springs. That is where you will find Hunters, the block’s largest gay club with a main bar and patio and adjacent dance space. There are no lesbian bars in Palm Springs since the closure of Delilahs years ago but Hunters is women-popular StreetBar is just a few steps from Hunters and always attracts a big crowd of locals. The patio is always crowded. The Levi-leather popular Eagle 501 and piano lounge Stacy’s are the newest bars on the block. Quadz is a very popular video bar that keeps regulars coming back on its show tunes nights. Chill has a great open-air feel and always attracts a crowd. BlackBook is known for its gourmet bar food and is the place to eat late. The pandemic has resulted in bars and restaurants expanding outdoor spaces and many of the businesses are hopeful they can convince the city to make those outdoor spaces permanent.

StreetBar on Arenas RoadEd Walsh

The Toolshed is on Sunny Dunes Road, about a half mile south of downtown. It is next to the gay stores Q Trading and Gear Leather and Fetish. Toolshed is popular with bears and the leather crowd but attracts a wide variety of gay men. Its Thursday underwear night is legendary.

On the north end of town, you will find the fabulous Toucans Tiki Lounge. The women-popular club is known for its drag shows and dancing. The bar reopened June 18.

Toucans Tiki LoungeEd Walsh

Cathedral City is just to the south of Palm Springs. Gay nightlife used to be there before it migrated to Arenas Road in the 1990s. But there are still three gay bars there, The Barracks with its own underwear night on Wednesdays. The Barracks has always had a large outdoor space perfect for the desert’s warm summer nights. The piano bar Studio One 11, is part of a strip mall a little farther south of the Barracks. Trunks has the same owners as the famed West Hollywood bar by the same name. As of late April, After an extended closure, Trunks reopened in June.

The sights

A must-do for any visitor to Palm Springs is the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway, which takes visitors through four seasons to the summit of Mount San Jacinto in just ten minutes. It typically gets up to 110 degrees or more in the summer in Palm Springs but it will be about 30 degrees cooler on the summit. There are a number of trails you can explore at the top as well as a couple of restaurants at the summit tram station.

Vertical car in front of the Palm Springs Art MuseumEd Walsh

Every Thursday evening Palm Springs shuts down the city’s main drag, Palm Canyon Drive, for the VillageFest street fair. Local businesses sell food, art and crafts and you can enjoy live music on every block. The festival resumes on July 1, 2021 after an extended closure for the COVID-19 pandemic. Even in the hot days of summer, the heat becomes bearable once the sun goes behind the mountains. By the way, Palm Springs has two sunsets, the time when the sun goes behind the mountains leaving the city in shade, and when it goes below the horizon about an hour later.

The Palm Springs Art Museum is in the heart of downtown and free on Thursday evenings. Be sure to stop by if you are going to VillageFest anyway. The museum benefits from artwork that is donated or loaned to the museum from many of the city’s wealthy residents who call Palm Springs their first or second home.

The Indian Canyons oasis showcase a palm tree-lined stream where Native Americans lived for generations. The Indian tribe that owns the property had recreated the huts where California’s first residents lived. Be sure to check out the grinding holes in the rocks just to the right of the parking lot. If you are visiting in the summer, go in the morning and stay in the shade as much as possible. The fee to enter is $9. The free ranger-led hikes are temporarily suspended because of the pandemic.

A couple of free great hikes in Palm Springs are the Museum Trail, which starts in the parking lot of the Palm Springs Art Museum in the heart of downtown and zigzags up a mountainside offering great views of the city. Another great hike is the Araby Trail. It starts south of downtown and makes its way up to the famous Bob Hope house, with a roof that is shaped like a gigantic turtle shell. The trail goes along and above the house where you can take in a birdseye view of the putting green and golf course the late comic built on the property. The trails offer almost no shade so if you hike in the summer bring plenty of water and only hike in the early morning.

Getting there and getting around

Palm Springs International Airport is one of the most convenient airports in the country. It is just two miles east of downtown. Renting a car at the airport couldn’t be easier. The rental car lot is just steps from baggage claim. The Ontario airport is about an hour’s drive away from Palm Springs. Los Angeles International is about a two hour drive in good traffic. But the traffic is seldom good.

You can easily get by in Palm Springs without a rental car. Uber and Lyft operate in the city and are allowed to drop off and pick up at the airport. The city’s public transit, SunBus has a stop a block from the airport to downtown. The city also offers a free shuttle bus called The Palm Springs Buzz that operates Thursday-Sundays in a loop through the tourist-popular spots in the city. The shuttle has a starring role in the new William Shatner movie Senior Moment when the Shatner character has his license taken away and has to take the bus.

If you do rent a car, driving around Palm Springs is very easy. You will have no trouble finding free parking anywhere in the city. The city has no parking meters but has a posted time limit on parking in some areas.

For more information, the Greater Palm Springs’ official tourist Web site is https://www.visitgreaterpalmsprings.com. It includes a great LGBTQ travel guide.

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