About last night...

About last night...

Nearly 150 people stood waiting patiently outside the Oasis Room at the Palm Springs Convention Center last night, waiting for the doors to open to this year's Modernism Show. A lot of recognizable faces in the crowd: Fashion designer Trina Turk and her gifted photographer husband Jonathan Skol stood out in a sea of notables, including photographer Michael Childers, Christie's Realtor Kyle Morgan (the Kaufmann house goes up for bids soon, he tells us); new Palm Springs restaurateur Robert Kuenzi (his Tropicale restaurant is a stunner); Palm Springs Art Museum's president Steven Nash and his stylish wife Carol; fashion authority Shari Applebaum; Merle and Robert Lustbader with award-winning interior designer Sam Cardella; Annette Bloch from the Kansas City family of H&R Block; Leisa Austin from Imago Galleries; MJ Knappen, who created the colorful Modernism Show program; two men who have made touring Palm Springs architecture a must, Robert Imber and Toni Merchel, and Palm Springs Preservation Foundation president Wililam Kopelk, recently profiled in Town & Country.
The evening was a benefit for the PSPF folks, who work to educate the population of Palm Springs on the importance of the town's architectural style. In an age when so many developers want to come in from out of town and change the character of the place, the forces to preserve are still to be reckoned with. With very little money but a lot of enthusiasm, it's a pretty even match so far but the point of the evening was to declare that history has value here, too.
Nearly 100 booths were set up during the afternoon, featuring furniture, art, accessories, posters, photography. Bill Stern from the Museum of California Design was on hand. At the Show two years ago, Bill presented the Hollywood Regency style and this year's booth featured a photogravure book that he says was given away at hotels from the 1920s onward. The cover features a sepia print of a wedding in Santa Barbara, as contemporary looking as anything today and is given away free with every membership to the Museum. "I found a whole box of them while doing some research and nobody wanted them," he says. Apparently, a lack of historical perspective isn't confined only to our area.
Across the way, famed photographer Julius Shulman was signing many, many copies of a new book being published by the Palm Springs Art Museum and Rizzoli. Written by Michael Stern and Alan Hess, this glorious book flew off the tables as Julius, who just turned 97, drank Scotch ("one piece of ice, please") and chatted up with fans. Sidney Williams from the Museum, who is credited in the book for her invaluable help, was there, as was genius architect Philip Smith (from The Art Office) and his lovely bride Lisa Vossler and others from the Museum who manned the booth.
Charles Hollis Jones signed copies of his book at the PSPF booth to an appreciative crowd and copies of the magazine Season in the Sun were prominently displayed and quickly snapped up. Media folks from Miami noticed the magazine and were quite complimentary. Ahem. (Full disclosure: I publish this seasonal magazine which is privately circulated to the desert's philanthropic folks.)
Also in the crowd were formerly retired architect Bill Krisel, whose Palm Springs classic homes were featured in Thursday's Los Angeles Times in a glowing tribute; photographer David Glomb (his shots in the book "Palm Springs Modern" by Adele Cygelman practically started the stampede toward appreciating the city's style); that good-looking guy from Extreme Makeover who sort of mixed with the crowd but mostly stood apart; Modernism realtor Robert Parker, another good-looking guy but one who definitely knows how to mix.
In fact, handsome pretty much describes the crowd. Musician Pat Rizzo, whose three-piece band entertained during the evening, commented on how nice everyone looked. (His singing stopped many in their tracks; what a talent and how lucky we are to have him here.)
Some of the more interesting exhibitors included:
North Palm Canyon's furniture store, ModernWay, owned by Courtney and Joy Newman; Studio 101 owned by Axel D'Anthes; Robert Willson and David Serrano's Downtown; Dharam Damama's booth which year after year is always popular; Sam Kaufman's eponymous store and Bob King's Top Hat Antiques with its signature vintage clothing.
Other media in attendance were Los Angeles' Hollwood Confidential, recently purchased by the folks from the Las Vegas Sun. (The magazine's rep Judith Connelley told us that the issue being handed out featured all sorts of editorial about Palm Springs.) Also handing out free copies was Modernism Magazine, Atomic Ranch and Palm Springs Life (the magazine's rep Julie Rogers looking more beautiful than ever). All the publications touted the Modernism movement in grand pictorial style. We on the Modernism Week committee are eternally grateful.
At nine p.m. the lights turned off to signal the end of the affair. Dolphin Productions' amazing show continues Saturday and Sunday. Check the web site: www.modernismweek.com for details. This is the show that put Palm Springs on the map. And it looks like the city is doing the same for the show.
Tonight is the big ModCom party at 925 Paseo El Mirador. This is always one of the best parties of the year. Do not miss it.