And so it begins...

This evening at 6 p.m., Modernism Week gets its official send-off at the Palm Springs Convention Center with the opening of the Modernism Show. We hope to see many of our friends there for the kickoff, as it benefits the Palm Springs Preservation Foundation and it's the first crack at all of the great exhibits that will be on display until Sunday. 

Many Modernism fans find that if they don't get there tonight, a lot of good stuff is already taken. It's become quite competitive as the value of furniture, art and accessories increases year by year. (They ain't making any more of this original stuff, folks.)

I will be there tonight with photographer Tom Brewster and I hope you'll stop by the Palm Springs Preservation Foundation booth and say hello. Writer Alan Hess will be there signing copies of his books and we hear they may be a preview of his upcoming Julius Shulman book there, too, although that's unofficial. Forget I said anything about it.

Tomorrow night, also, don't forget the big Palm Springs Modernism Committee party at Jamie Kabler's "Leisureland" estate. Jamie always throws amazing parties and his theme this year is the 1960s with great music, dancing go-go boys and girls and a lot of that Rat Pack spirit you always hear about. Dress in 1960s style, too, if you want to. Just show up. It's a big money raiser for ModCom, which does such amazing work trying to preserve what we have here.

Speaking of that, props to the Los Angeles Times for its preview of the Modernism Week in yesterday's paper, along with a profile of the unsung architect William Krisel. And thanks for mentioning the big Retro Martini Party coming up on Friday, February 22.

And big kudos to this morning's Desert Sun newspaper which, while keeping an objective journalistic eye on things, delineated all of the problems we're having keeping our wonderful architecture from being plowed under by developers. Depressing comment by the new mayor Steve Pougnet who somehow confuses "progress" with "destruction." Listen, folks. If Palm Springs hadn't been through a huge depression during the 1980s and 1990s, all of this wonderful architecture would have been destroyed and we'd be looking like Orange County or another of those "Inland Empire" towns. 

This is why your support of Modernism Week is so important. The city needs to understand that there is real value in preserving our wonderful aesthetic here. It fills up hotel beds, supports local restaurants and makes this area a great place to buy homes.

See you tonight!

Modernismman