BoomerGirl.com

Palm Springs, Calif. — When most people think of a desert, they picture a dry, barren, scorchingly hot stretch of land. That mental image alone has kept many from visiting Palm Springs. But Palm Springs is anything but a typical desert.

"We're built on a natural aquifer," says Mary Perry, associate director of tourism for the Palm Springs Bureau of Tourism. "We are made up of a number of oases, completely surrounded by mountains. We're a green desert."

The Cahuilla, the Native Americans that originally lived in what is now called Palm Springs, called the land Se-Khi (boiling water) after the mineral springs in the area. Spanish explorers later named it Agua Caliente (hot water), which the United States government used when it established the Agua Caliente Reservation in the Palm Springs area in 1896. The hot springs may have been the initial draw to the area, but the warm climate and scenic beauty soon became the main reason people flocked to it.

"It is difficult to describe the natural beauty of this wonderful place," says Bob Ruo, 21-year resident. "You really have to see it for yourself. The most obvious attraction is the beautiful mountains surrounding the Valley. You can't go anywhere without seeing them."

The Palm Springs Aerial Tramway is the most popular tourist attraction in the area. Journey up the cliffs of the Chino Canyon in a rotating tram car, up 8,500 feet above the city into the San Jacinto Mountains, all in 10 minutes. In winter, you can go from desert up to snow-covered peaks for cross-country skiing. In summer, some locals like to rise above the desert heat for a cool picnic or to go hiking.

"On a clear day you truly can see forever," Ruo says.

In addition to the mountains, the world-famous Indian Canyons_Andreas, Palm, Tahqitz and Murray_are open to the public, including Tahqitz Canyon after being closed for more than 30 years. Guided tours are available, but the canyons have also become popular destinations for horseback riding, hiking and Jeep excursions.

In the 1940s and `50s, Hollywood's elite started moving out to Palm Springs to escape from the everyday congestion and smog of Los Angeles. Among the show business legends who made a second home in the area were Bob Hope, Lucille Ball, Dinah Shore, Kirk Douglas and Frank Sinatra. They wanted their desert homes to be distinctive and different than those they left in Beverly Hills. The result is a slew of Mid-Century Modern architecture_buildings using clean lines and glass, and making use of indoor and outdoor spaces_for which Palm Springs has become known.

"We have more of those buildings here than anywhere else in the world," Perry says.

"People come here from all over the world to see the beautiful examples we have here," Ruo says. "Many of them are owned by the (new) Hollywood crowd and other very famous people. When you go out to a restaurant, you never know whether the person sitting beside you is a CEO of a Fortune 500 company, a major celebrity or your next door neighbor."

Author Thom Racina bought his home 25 years ago when he was head writer of TV's "General Hospital." Like the Hollywood of old, he used the house mostly as a weekend residence. For the last nine years, after leaving Tinseltown to become a full-time novelist, Palm Springs has been his home.

"There is a creative aura about the desert that touches something deep in me," he says.

Racina says that, like the celebrities before him, he was drawn to Palm Springs for the weather and natural beauty. "I live on a country club because of the open space, the beauty of the greens and the gorgeous mountains behind it," he says.

Palm Springs developed a reputation as a retirement community in the 1970s. And while it is popular with retirees, it has increasingly been attracting younger visitors and residents.

"The first couple of years, I thought I made a big mistake moving from Sacramento to the desert," Ruo says.

Ruo took an early retirement when he moved to the desert in 1987. During the first few years he lived there, despite the city's connections to Hollywood, it was still a small town. During the summer off-season, it was difficult to find anything open. But Ruo says all of that began to change in the early `90s. Palm Springs started to blossom and become the destination it is today. Part of that change had to do with the influx of people.

"In the past 10 years the average age of the population has constantly gone down," he says. "The last figure I heard was that the average age was in the 50s. There are more and more people moving here in their 30s and 40s now."

Racina agrees. "The interesting thing is we are a true melting pot," he says. "People are here from all over the world. I've seen it get younger and younger and hipper over the years as young people have discovered its charms. I personally love the mix of old and young."

According to Ruo, Sonny Bono, former mayor of Palm Springs, had a lot to do with pumping new life into the area and bringing people in. "Palm Springs owes so much to the late Sonny Bono," he says. "He was the brains behind the Palm Springs International Film Festival, which runs every January. This festival went a long way in putting Palm Springs back on the international map and brought us from a sleepy village to where we are now."

The festival, which celebrated its 19th anniversary this year, brought in a big influx of people. This led to more businesses, shops, restaurants and other forms of entertainment, which have only increased the appeal of Palm Springs, especially in the vibrant downtown area. Perry, who is a year-round resident, says that many visitors are surprised at just how easy it is to get around. She says that while Palm Springs has its share of huge hotels, most visitors prefer to stay in the many boutique hotels that dot the downtown area. She says that the locations of the boutique hotels combined with the layout of downtown Palm Springs, make things very convenient.

"We're a walking city," she says. "You can walk to get your cup of coffee in the morning, walk to the art museum, walk to the boutique shops. You can even walk to the casino."

The Spa Resort and Casino is owned and operated by the Aqua Caliente band of the Cahuilla Indians. Inside the resort's spa, the naturally occurring mineral waters that originally put Palm Springs on the map are used on the guests.

Downtown is also the scene of the weekly VillageFest. Every Thursday night, Palm Canyon Drive in the center of town is closed down. Vendors sell interesting art pieces, food and a variety of other items.

"I was out in front of a bookstore there every Thursday for five years signing autographs," Racina says. One of his books, a thriller called "The Madman's Diary," takes place in Palm Springs. Many visitors found it to be the perfect souvenir, he says.

But all of this doesn't even begin to describe all that Palm Springs has going for it. As Perry says, "The only thing we don't have is an ocean, but we have the sand."