The Palm Springs Aerial Tramway ran its first car back up the mountain on October 5, after four weeks closed for maintenance. Eleven days later, on the morning of October 16, it hosts something new: the first tour of the Tram that Modernism Week has produced itself.
The Tram is the clearest example of what changed for Modernism Week – October, which runs October 15 to 18. Most of this year's new events aren't in event tents or a convention hall. They take place in places that are part of ordinary Palm Springs life: a restaurant in the Uptown Design District, two hotel bars, the Tram, and the Welwood Murray Memorial Library. In its July announcement, KESQ reported that the new programs were meant to bring residents and travelers closer to the city and its history. Because so much of it happens in real local businesses, the schedule has already changed once since that announcement.
The Tram Tour Is Sold Out. The Tram Itself Is Open.
The Tramway's maintenance notice set the annual closure for September 8 through October 4. The work included repainting cabin interiors, rebuilding a carriage, state testing, and servicing the controls system. NBC Palm Springs reported the reopening on October 5.
The Modernism Week tour starts at 9:45 a.m. on October 16 and lasts 3.75 hours. Tickets were $170, and the ticketing site showed it sold out as of October 12. The tour treats the ride as a piece of architecture. It covers Albert Frey's Valley Station on the desert floor and E. Stewart Williams's Mountain Station at the top, and it includes a film, an optional nature walk, and lunch at Peaks Restaurant.
If you missed a ticket, both stations are open to anyone riding the Tram that week. You'll be riding in freshly repainted cabins either way.
A Dining Series Set Inside the Buildings Themselves
The Fall Dining Series is new this year, and its official listing explains how venues were chosen. According to Modernism Week's event page, it is "a curated sampling of local favorite restaurants housed in iconic buildings with chef-prepared menus designed especially for Modernism Week." These are restaurants people already book on an ordinary Thursday. For one night, each one serves a menu written for the festival.
The new "After Dark" nightcaps work the same way, at bars with followings of their own. Here is the lineup from the July announcement, with the prices KESQ published then. The current official social lineup lists Bar Issi, Eight4Nine and King's Highway for the dining series.
| Date | Event | Venue | Price in July announcement |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thu., Oct. 15 | Fall Dining Series | Eight4Nine Restaurant & Lounge, Uptown Design District | $190 |
| Thu., Oct. 15 | Fall Dining Series | Bar Issi | $230 |
| Thu., Oct. 15 | Wined-Up wine tasting with CEO Lisa Vossler Smith | Hall Winery | $150 |
| Fri., Oct. 16 | After Dark, DJ Aylex Song | Spirit Animal at Hotel Zoso | $45 |
| Sat., Oct. 17 | Fall Dining Series | King's Highway at Ace Hotel & Swim Club | $120 |
| Sat., Oct. 17 | After Dark listening party, DJ Bobby | Amigo Room at Ace Hotel & Swim Club | $70 |
KESQ described Eight4Nine as a restaurant inside one of the city's notable midcentury-era buildings. It also listed King's Highway as part of the Ace Hotel & Swim Club, which means October 17 can be a full evening at one address: dinner, then the Amigo Room after.
The dinner that dropped off
The July list also had a Trio Restaurant dinner on October 16 for $165. In August, the Coachella Valley Independent reported that Trio's downtown location had closed after 17 years. The airport location is still operating. The Trio dinner is not on the current official lineup. If you saved the July schedule, check it against the official site before you plan around it.
When the festival announced its schedule, Vossler Smith told KESQ why these events were added:
"I am very excited about our new curated events that will allow our guests to participate in dining, social, and exclusive wine tasting experiences."
Saturday Has the Free and Low-Cost Events
Many of the tickets above cost more than $100. Saturday, October 17 is when most of the free and cheaper events fall, and like the dinners, they happen in places that are open all year. Here they are in roughly time order:
- Friends of the Palm Springs Library book sale, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., free, at Welwood Murray Memorial Library. The sale covers art, architecture and design books.
- Palm Springs Modernism Fall Show, opening at 10 a.m. at the Palm Springs Convention Center. Hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. A $30 ticket gets you in both days. The Palm Springs Post reports that this 12th annual show has 40 national exhibitors selling decorative and fine arts.
- "Arthur Elrod: Desert Cool" film screening, 11 a.m., $18.
- Modernism Art District Tour, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., free. It's a self-guided tour of more than 50 artists across five districts.
The Fall Show's preview party is Friday, October 16, from 6 to 8 p.m. Tickets are $95 in advance or $110 at the door and include a cocktail reception, first access to dealers, and entry for the rest of the weekend. It ends just before the Spirit Animal nightcap begins, which KESQ described as the next stop after the party. Rosemary Krieger, CEO of show producer Dolphin Promotions, told the Post that the show offers "a rare opportunity for people to connect with collectors and dealers from around the world."
Several other tickets cost less than the dinners. Tours of The Marquee at Twin Palms, a recently restored 1957 home, are $40 and run October 15 to 18. Frey House II tours, hosted by the Palm Springs Art Museum, are $75. They also include free admission to the museum and the Architecture & Design Center from October 15 to 18, except on days the museum is closed. A Sunny Cycle pedal tour of Palm Springs neighborhoods is $90, and the double-decker architectural bus tour is $130. Organizers have also launched a free digital guide to the festival.
The Tour That Goes to Rancho Mirage
One of the two first-ever tours leaves Palm Springs. Blue Skies Village is a gated community in Rancho Mirage. The tour visits seven mobile-home interiors, a hidden garden, the grounds, and the clubhouse William F. Cody designed between 1953 and 1956, according to the official tour page. In July, KESQ described six interiors and two outdoor spaces. The current page lists more.
The tour runs Saturday, October 17. It costs $85 and has start times from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. As of October 12, the 10 a.m. slot was sold out and several later slots were not. Availability changes quickly the week of the festival. The 11 a.m. art studio hours make the Blue Skies tour and the Art District Tour easy to combine on the same day.
The Same Places Stay Busy After October 18
Fall programming at these venues continues after the festival weekend. At the Agua Caliente Cultural Museum, A Beauty That Endures: Native Painting, Ritual, and Resilience in the 20th Century opened October 3 with more than 50 works and runs through May 30, 2027. NBC Palm Springs reported that the exhibit includes artists from more than a dozen tribal nations.
Two weeks after the Fall Show closes, Scoop Palm Springs returns to Downtown Park on Sunday, November 1, from noon to 4 p.m. The Independent reports that more than 20 local ice cream, gelato and paleta makers have signed up. The following weekend, November 6 to 8, Greater Palm Springs Pride holds its 40th annual celebration under the theme "Be Included." The parade starts at 10 a.m. on Sunday, November 8, and runs along Palm Canyon Drive to Amado Road.
For the festival itself, Saturday, October 17 has the most free and low-cost events: the library book sale at 10, the Fall Show at the Convention Center, and the Art District studios from 11.
Palm Springs' architecture draws attention year-round, and a Modernism Week weekend reminds owners how many people come here to see it. If you own a midcentury home, or you're managing one from out of state, the Darcey Deetz Team can tell you how its design history affects what it's worth today. Request your free home valuation.
