As a 2007 Palm Springs Life article recounted, “Palm Springs was their safe haven, their Shangri-La, their escape from the ever increasing stresses of their unexpected success, a green grass, majestic happy place they could take refuge in … and remind themselves they wanted more than anything to have a family.” Williams to design a house at Thunderbird Country Club. In the early ’50s, with their kids, Lucie and Desi Jr., they commissioned architect Paul R. As much as the SAG Awards and Golden Globes are indicators of what to expect on Oscar night, it is PSIFF, Bono’s crazy little dream, that is the true insider’s barometer of the season. Whether by design or by kismet, PSIFF is perfectly positioned in terms of timing and geography to be the key festival leading into awards season. Now, there are more than a half-dozen honorees … and all are A-listers. In his day, it was tradition to honor one of Hollywood’s old guard, such as James Stewart. House of Representatives in 1994, Bono continued to attend the festival and, with wife Mary, host a gala. That bit of luck legitimized the festival.Īfter his election to the U.S. However, that first year did feature Cinema Paradiso, which won the fest’s highest honor and went on to grab the Oscar for foreign language film. To everyone’s surprise (even Bono’s), some 17,000 patrons showed up - even though the event wasn’t exactly bursting with A-listers. “Everybody thought it was the stupidest idea they’d ever heard,” Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF) board vice chairman David Baron told Palm Springs Life last year. He thought a film festival might do the trick. “Surprise me,” he saidĪmong his goals upon taking office was to resuscitate the city’s glamour and prestige. Never at a loss for a good comeback, he was on his deathbed when Dolores asked where he wanted to be buried. Though often remembered in the valley these days for his magnificent Lautner-designed home on Southridge (the landmark home sold in 2016 for $13 million), he left a legacy of good works that would make a dozen philanthropists proud. But his biggest philanthropic legacy was his successful effort with Dolores to make the Eisenhower Medical Center a reality. His Bob Hope Chrysler Classic Golf Tournament (now known as the CareerBuilder Challenge) grew to become one of the best-known celebrity pro-ams in the country. For the next five decades, Hope was an integral part of every significant social or philanthropic event in the valley. A savvy investor, he bought significant parcels of land around the valley and in 1948 was named Honorary Mayor of Palm Springs, a recognition he would enjoy repeatedly. Hope began spending more time in the desert and always seemed willing to lend a hand to charitable events such as the annual Palm Springs Police Show to raise money for boys’ and girls’ clubs.
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While this success enabled him to buy a considerable estate in Toluca Lake, Hope was irresistibly drawn to the desert and in 1946 traded the cottage for a more conventional house with a pool in Movie Colony East.
Hope’s career in radio and film began picking up speed in the ’30s (The Big Broadcast from 1932 is considered his breakout role), and in the ’40s, his road movies with Bing Crosby broke box office records and established him among the top tier of American comedians. When he and his former vaudeville colleague, Dolores, came to Palm Springs (records are a bit hazy on their actual marriage date), they rented a small Spanish revival house in the Movie Colony that they named Honeymoon Cottage.