The Hollywood Magic of Palm Springs Celebrity Homes

Palm Springs, California, would not be the enticing, hip and popular desert destination that is today if it were not for the Hollywood celebrities who turned the sleepy town into an A-List vacation getaway. Many of their luxurious homes are revealed in this documentary along with the stories of the stars who became legends and cast their celebrity spell on Palm Springs.
These include: Marylin Monroe, Elvis Presley, Leonardo DiCaprio, Sonny & Cher, Elizabeth Taylor, Goldie Hawn, Liberace, Kirk Douglas, Frank Sinatra, Lucille Ball, Tony Curtis, Janet Leigh, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Gene Autry, Cyd Charisse, Loretta Young, Dinah Shore, Ann Miller, Cary Grant, Debbie Reynolds, Eddie Fisher, Carrie Fisher, Suzanne Sommers, William Powell, Howard Hughes, Barry Manilow, Clark Gable, Carole Lombard, Za Za Gabor, Eva Gabor, Yul Brenner, Natalie Wood, Warren Beatty, Gregory Peck, Katherine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy, Burt Lancaster, John F. Kennedy Jr., Peter Lawford, Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker and more .....

ChristoExplore

Christopher Hines
Executive Producer

Adventurer, explorer, connoisseur, journalist, writer and filmmaker experiencing, enjoying and sharing the discovery of interesting places and intriguing people around the world. 

I’m just getting started ….

[silentstarr]

This video looked amazing and was very informative. It is great to see that the legends of Hollywood and music are so well represented in Palm Springs. Have been visiting there for 20 years so this was great to see. Thank you very much!

[callmecarmella]

I had the pleasure of living in Palm Desert right after my divorce. I rushed home from work everyday to get in my pool. I would float forever n stare up at the beautiful palm trees. It was one of the best times of my life. And yessss you can feel all the old Hollywood glam. This place is like a small paradise on earth.

[borninps]

I am 65 and I was born in Palm Springs!!!! It was so great growing up in the Mid-Century Modern Era.
I was a model in my 20s and did commercials for the various Country Clubs.
I could write a book, and I’m going to call it “Growing up in Paradise” 😊❤️🌴🌴🌴☀️☀️

[laurihines]

I worked for a bank in the 80s and Frank’s mother’s home came up after she died in an airplane crash. We were able to tour the home, and in the kitchen next to the land line telephone was a list of phone numbers, including Frank’s. There was a path through the garden that used to lead to his home, but was bricked off after her death. It was a perfect time capsule, and I feel fortunate to have seen it.

[tpolerex]

I moved to Palm Springs in late summer 1979 as an 18 y.o. fresh out of high school from a tiny foothill town in NorCa and lived there for three years- nearby Palm Desert had just been flooded by a monsoonal rain. It was a glamorous place to live for mountain boy as myself, then, still a Spring Break destination that brought a party atmosphere for a couple of weeks. My claim to fame (haha) was cooking a 22 oz T. Bone steak (I was a sous chef) for Liberace and very briefly meeting him as well as being gently bonked by an errant golf ball hit by former President Gerald Ford at his Golf Tournament. I remember then walking through the Las Palmas neighborhood often, dreaming and appreciating the architecture, landscaping and setting against the mountain -also being very intrigued by the Launtner, “mushroom” house of Bob Hope . Today, as an architect I now visit it for Modernism Week and tour the houses. Very special place and fantastic quality overview of its architecture and celebrity history.

[np]

If you have never been to Palm Springs or La Quinta, just south of the city, you have not lived. This area is absolutely gorgeous with majestic mountains, unsurpassed homes and lovely parks and gorgeous golf courses.

[billofrightsamend]

Frank Sinatra's first home is perfect, everything flows from one room to the other. The symmetry of the kitchen, it's so simple and elegant.

[lonewolffullmoon]

Been going to Palm Springs for over 50 years
My Father who was a Hollywood Actor lived out his last days in Palm Springs....
Thank you for the lovely Tour ❤️
If I had the money I would buy Dean Martins home and bring it back to its Hollywood heyday it’s sad to see some of these beautiful homes being neglected and in disrepair
A Great presentation you have a wonderful voice! ❤️

[michaelschonauer]

Palm Springs and the surrounding area truly are beautiful. The backdrop of the San Jacinto Mountains are dramatic in every sense of the word...

[wowjef]

40.43-42.08. The house of Maga Gabor, Zsa Zsa Gabor's elder sister. I was Magda's chauffeur back around 1977-79. When she didn't need me to drive, she would often get me to garden and clean the pool. She had two Alsatian dogs out the back that I used to feed. I painted Eva's picket fence. She also had a house in the desert. Magda's house is vastly changed. it was always white on the outside, but in Magda's day it was also white everywhere on the inside with red leather lounge suites. Kind of glitzy, kitschy. The interior of the house in this video is not Magda's original interior design. Magda was always a bit miserable. People at the Palm Springs Racquet Club used to cringe when she turned up because she was so mouthy and pushy. She had had a stroke in New York and had difficult speech and one arm just hung by here side. She was said to be the best actress among the sisters, but because she wasn't as pretty, never got a call from Hollywood. She was married for a while to British actor George Sanders. Among her neighbours were George Hamilton's mother and Frederik Loewe (Lerner & Loewe). Elvis also had a house down Cielo Drive a bit. Once I drove Magda to LA to drop her furs off to get cut for a more modern style. We went to Zsa Zsa's in Bel Air and had Hungarian take-out in the kitchen with her 7th husband, Mike, who helped her fleece her 6th husband. Zsa Zsa's mansion used to belong to Howard Hughes and had genuine Roman statues round the pool. Magda treated me well. I was an Australian hippie guy who lived in the Coachella Valley for 6 years. All of the above is true.

[dondevine]

I have had the pleasure of playing several tennis matches at both the Dinah Shore House and the Kirk Douglas estate when friends owned both houses. Many dinner parties too. The decoupage posters of Kirk’s films line the walls of the tennis pavilion. Magical times!! I also have been in the Elvis honeymoon house numerous times. Great history!!

[crystalmeier]

I grew up in a California neighborhood quite like this and near this, although the homes were smaller yet similar replicas. As a teen, I created my own job and became a pool cleaner. It was the perfect job! If I got hot or tired, I'd just jump into one of the gorgeous pools and cool off. Really fond memories. I live in a different state now. I've noticed that the sunshine dosnt feel or look the same, like California has its own unique sunshine. It makes me sad and miss home. ☀

[sunnyhill]

I love the architecture of these homes....some are ranch style, some have that beautiful spanish style. Beautiful. And those mediterranean tile roofs are to die for.

[nan]

I had a friend who had one of these designed mid century homes. It was fabulous and the large windows were always a wonder to me of the beauty of nature around us.

[amt]

I grew up /lived in the same PS home from 1962 to 2018 and you have captured the magic
of living there ( apart from summer then it's a furnace ) LOL
🌴🌴🌴

[nancyhoskins]

It's easy to forget, these houses were homes. Certainly there were parties, a mix of Hollywood's Who's Who and the likes of celebrity governmental figures. Most of all it was a place to retreat, from the glitz and glamour, to the quiet and serene desert privacy. Families enjoyed swimming in the pools. Golf, tennis, and water sports at the Salton Sea were a big deal. The fishing was great then. I miss the cool winter nights when millions of stars spread over the blackest sky. We could watch the satellites cross over head. We'd shop the summer sales on Memorial Day weekend because much of the area closed during the heat of summer. We had water coolers back then. Central air was not wide spread, even for the wealthy. You could always get a date ice cream shake under the palms or a cone at Froster's Freeze on the way back from the the Salton Sea, and cool off. The biggest pomegranates grew along old Hwy 86. The magic of memories, makes you young again. Thank you for a wonderful video!

[PennyPincher]

This is an extremely high production tour of the celebrity history of Palm Springs. Really enjoyed it.

[dianawettstein]

As I watch this walk down memory lane, do to a loss of my parents. I have started cleaning out there homes and came across old 8 mm. Film of old parties my parents went to. It was so cool, to see everyone having a great time.

[fkwa]

The quality and production of this video is excellent, thank you, very professional. We owned a condo in Palm Springs 2013-2016 and love it there. We’d often tour these neighbourhoods, we were aware of some of the previous owners but you’ve shown us many more, thank you. Looking forward to going back again, obviously during the winter time!🌴

[Ange]

What gets me is that some of these homes have such amazing history and these renovation companies come in and demolish them, building something better and more modern in its place. I wish I had that kind of money bc I'd be buying old motels & hotels, renovating them & renting them out to our veterans and homeless in a manner that starts them back up on their feet so they can eventually move out & have their own place to call HOME.