December 6, 2020, Desert
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The Desert Sun - 12/06/2020 Page : A22 22A | SUNDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2020 | THE DESERT SUN THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES Nellie Coffman had a vision for Palm Springs Tracy Conrad town still depends. Special to Palm Springs Desert Sun She worked to establish the Board of USA TODAY NETWORK Trade, a precursor to the Chamber of Commerce. She founded the Welfare Where mighty Mt. San Jacinto gently and Friendly Aid Society, organizing the steps onto the valley floor may be found business community to provide for the site of The Desert Inn. Built through those in need. She was a trusted friend the imagination and vision of Nellie Nor- of her Indian neighbors. And she was a ton Coffman, The Desert Inn is the very tireless proponent of Palm Springs in- reason Palm Springs and the surround- corporating into a city. All the while im- ing Coachella Valley came into interna- proving the prospects for the town and tional consciousness over a century ago. for her hotel business. At its height, The That fame persists today and is directly Desert Inn employed over 200 workers attributable to the tenacity and fortitude to serve about the same number of hotel of Nellie Coffman, making the site of her guests. endeavors hallowed ground. She strug- World War II created a whirlwind in gled and built on this spot and “far above Palm Springs. Wealthy visitors could no our poor power to add or detract” we longer make the Grand Tour of Europe should not forget what she did here. Nel- and instead headed west to the allure lie arrived with big dreams of making and mystery of the desert. While The Palm Springs into “an attractive place for Desert Inn lost many of its employees to attractive people.” Her presence on the the war effort, more and more service- desert was transformative; a marvel of The Desert Inn, at the base of Mt. San Jacinto, is seen in this picture circa 1930. men and their families came to town, the fortitude and forward-thinking. PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE PALM SPRINGS HISTORICAL SOCIETY city saw a shift from wealthy tourists to She came with her husband, Dr. Har- everyman visitors. General George Pat- ry Coffman; Harry to start his medical ton brought troops to train at Chiriaco practice and tuberculosis sanatorium, ditch that ran across the property; and Summit and soldiers on leave from Nellie to start a little hotel. Marcus Pete, they built ramadas, covering porches Camp Young met their loved ones in a local Cahuilla man, met them at the with roofs made of palm fronds that pro- Palm Springs, filling hotels and admiring Seven Palms train station and loaded vided shade from the withering desert The Desert Inn. After the war ended, the their belongings into his buckboard sun. And they hung out a sign signifying city experienced a population boom led wagon. He transported them across the they were open for business. by soldiers returning to the lovely vil- seven-mile stretch of desert that led to Within a few years though, Harry was lage. the village of Palm Springs. As they gone. Nellie, now a single mother, perse- When Nellie died in 1950 she had ac- came around the base of Mt. San Jacin- vered. With the help of a substantial complished her dream: the town was to, the wind suddenly ceased, the swirl loan from oilman Thomas O’Donnell, the thriving. Glamorous celebrities were of dust abated, revealing the little vil- tents and clapboard houses of the early commonplace. The place was so attrac- lage. There was no electricity, no tele- hotel were replaced with solid concrete tive, wealthy elite visitors were import- phones, no air conditioning and no in the fashionable Spanish-Mediterra- Mr. and Mrs. Thomas O’Donnell — he ing their own architects to build them paved roads. There were a handful of nean style so popular in 1920s Califor- loaned money for The Desert Inn — fancy new houses in the avante-garde, white settlers and many more Cahuilla nia. Designed by William Charles Tan- attend a rodeo with Nellie Coffman. new modern style. Businesses of all Indians living in close proximity to the ner, The Desert Inn eventually sprawled types were prospering. Five years after hot mineral springs which bubbled up, lazily over 35 acres, carefully pieced to- her passing, Nellie’s two sons sold The defining the center of town. gether by Nellie at the foot of the moun- camp for the winter and take up resi- Desert Inn to movie star Marion Davies, In September 1909, the Coffmans tain. dence at her hotel in sunny Palm William Randolf Hearst’s longtime com- paid $2,000 down on a two-acre parcel Nellie soon became world-famous for Springs. The siren call of the town was, panion, in a transaction orchestrated by across the street from the Palm Springs her gracious hospitality, impeccable “It’s lovely here!” Indeed, it was. Nellie Gregson Bautzer, Hollywood lawyer and Hotel at the corner of Main and Spring taste, good nature, devotion to quality, was setting the standard not just for the raconteur. streets, today’s Palm Canyon Drive and generosity and kindness to her neigh- desert but for hotels everywhere. To- The subsequent demise of The Desert Tahquitz Canyon Way. A thick-walled bors, guests and employees. The Desert gether with Frank Bogert, Tony Burke Inn is a tangled, sad story that illustrates house with a granite fireplace sat in the Inn was known for its elegant architec- and others, she set about building a lack of foresight, reverence and under- center of their property. Harry Coffman ture, specimen landscaping, outdoor name for this lovely but unknown little standing in the blind pursuit of profit. took down the original fences and re- amusements, upscale shops, capacious spot on the edge of nowhere at the foot During construction of The Desert placed them with a white picket fence. dining room and incomparable service. of the mountain. She ended up creating They erected tents near the Tahquitz Guests from cooler climes would de- an international cache upon which the See MEMORIES, Page 24A December 6, 2020 6:49 am (GMT -8:00) Powered by TECNAVIA 25% Elizabeth Shutters’ quality, SHUTTER ** service and price have won SALE OFF every major customer satisfaction award for a 9th Record Year. • Low Price Guarantee – CALL TODAY FOR A Meet or Beat Any Big Box Store Bid FREE CONSULTATION • Free Installation • 100% Whole Basswood • 100% Made in California by Elizabeth Shutters 442-268-0929 *Elizabeth Shutters is the biggest manufacturer-direct shutter company in the Western U.S. **100 sf minimum. Cannot be combined with any other offer. Promo expires 12/31/20. CSLB#851645 DS-GCI0541476-01 The Desert Sun - 12/06/2020 Page : A24 24A | SUNDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2020 | THE DESERT SUN Memories Obituaries Continued from Page 22A Inn, Nellie was quoted as saying it was built to last for a hundred years. It was, in fact, incredibly difficult to de- molish, taking much longer and requiring the heaviest TODAY’S OBITUARIES AND DEATH NOTICES of equipment. Nellie would have built it that way: sol- Name Age Town, State Death Date Arrangements id, substantive. The lovely garden spot with scattered *Crist, Chris 85 - --- - bungalows and meandering paths was razed to the *Ferguson, Eugene 76 - 02-Oct - ground for parking and a shopping mall that failed *Gentry, Donald G. 82 Palm Desert 18-Nov - over multiple iterations, perhaps because of the sin of *Queen, Mary 71 Palm Springs 16-Nov Rose Mortuary & Crematory destroying The Desert Inn. *Rose, William J 87 - 04-Nov - Pausing now, 111 years later, in in tiny recognition of *Salinas, Amado Luis 85 Palm Springs 22-Nov - the work achieved by a singularly industrious woman, *Schwartz, Mary Jo 59 - 18-Nov - her dream of creating a destination out of barren des- *Segall, Eleanor Fae 92 - 16-Nov - ert does not seem so far-flung. Her efforts hallowed * Additional information in display obituaries the ground at the toe of the mountain. She defined the Obituaries appear in print and online at www.DesertSun.com/Obituaries Palm Springs desert for the decades after her arrival, inventing the very concept of a resort town, conjuring Eugene Ferguson it up out of mere sand and dust Nellie took the desert Amado Luis Salinas and with sheer ingenuity and industry transformed it Eugene Ferguson, 76, PALM SPRINGS - into an internationally recognized resort that balanced development with a congenial village life. More than passed away October Amado Luis Salinas, of 2, 2020, at Keck Hospi- one-hundred years later, a little deference to Nellie Palm Springs, passed Coffman seems just and entirely in order. tal of USC in Southern away on Sunday, No- California surrounded by The city’s new downtown park is sited on a small vember 22, 2020. He sliver of The Desert Inn, the hallowed ground that is his loving family. After was born in Combes, the true heart and soul of Palm Springs. The Desert undergoing 3 major sur- Texas on April 30, 1935, Inn, the life’s work of the remarkable Nellie Coffman, geries, his fragile condi- son of Antonio Salinas brought national renown to Palm Springs and secured tion finally succumbed Jr. and Felicitas Luis. He its reputation as not only a playground for the rich and to complications from famous, but a destination for those seeking the health was predeceased by his benefits of desert living. The city has a tradition and the final heart surgery. parents and brothers An- We are incredibly grate- long history of naming its parks after female pioneers tonio, Robert and Trine like Frances Stevens and Ruth Hardy.