What Modernism Week Actually Looks Like From Inside Old Las Palmas

If you live on Camino Real, Vereda Norte, or one of the walled lanes off Alejo, the second week of October reads differently than it does for the rest of Palm Springs. The private hedges you pass every morning open up. A neighbor you have never met is suddenly hosting a docent. And the coffee line at the south edge of the neighborhood stretches out the door.

This is a short guide, written for people who already sleep here, on how to make the most of the four days when Old Las Palmas turns semi-public, and on the smaller rituals that stitch October together once the crowds thin.

The four days that matter: October 15–18

Modernism Week – October 2026, the fall festival celebrating Greater Palm Springs' art, architecture, culture, and all things modernism, runs October 15-18, 2026. It is the smaller sibling of the February festival, which is precisely why it works better for residents. The signature 11-day festival is offered each February, and a smaller 4-day festival takes place each October. Four days is walkable. Eleven is a siege.

The single event most worth blocking on your calendar sits inside the neighborhood itself.

Morada La Estrella — the Spanish Colonial Revival estate designed by William Charles Tanner and built in 1932 — will open for a Palm Springs Preservation Foundation tour during Modernism Week October.

The Palm Springs Preservation Foundation will host a tour of historic "Morada La Estrella" designed by William Charles Tanner and built in 1932. If the name sounds familiar, it is because the house has been a quiet mystery on its block for decades. Its current owner, Steven J. Scott, spent years tracking down the architect. Steven J. Scott unravels the mystery of his Old Las Palmas neighborhood home, ultimately identifying it as a significant architectural design by William Charles Tanner.

The tour has a companion lecture. To learn more about William Charles Tanner and "Morada La Estrella," consider attending homeowner Steve Scott's presentation on the topic during PSPF's Free Lecture Series on Friday, October 16, 2026. Free is the key word. For a resident who has walked past the property for years and wondered, this is the closest anyone gets without an invitation.

Why this year is different for the neighborhood

Old Las Palmas usually plays supporting cast to Vista Las Palmas and the Movie Colony during Modernism Week. The Alexander tracts get the double-decker buses; the Spanish Colonials sit behind their walls. Having a Class-era 1932 estate on the official schedule flips that dynamic for a weekend. Expect polite foot traffic on your street, a few docent-led groups pausing at gates, and a real chance to see how a serious pre-war home in the neighborhood actually lives inside.

If you want to widen the aperture beyond one house, Modernism Week Architecture Tours take guests on an exploration of Palm Springs' neighborhoods, showcasing outstanding works of modern architecture by dozens of great American designers. These run in climate-controlled mini-coaches from October through May, so October is the opening weekend of a longer season, not a one-off.

The walkable loop: your neighborhood's south edge

The reason Old Las Palmas holds its value as a place to live full-time, and not just to visit, is the two-block seam where the neighborhood meets Uptown. You can leave your front door on foot and be inside a coffee shop, a design store, or a dinner reservation in under fifteen minutes. October is when that stops being theoretical and starts being pleasant.

A rough resident's map, from morning to late night:

Morning

• Ernest Coffee — a popular café that has become part of many residents' daily routines, known for specialty coffee and a welcoming atmosphere.
• Cheeky's — the brunch reference point. Cheeky's remains a popular brunch stop for visitors and locals, while nightlife venues like Bootlegger Tiki and Truss & Twine contribute to the neighborhood's evening energy.
• Coffeeism Co. — the newer downtown option worth walking a little farther for. A stylish new downtown café pulling shots of Intelligentsia espresso, with a rotating menu of iced coffee drinks featuring ingredients like passion fruit and prickly pear, open daily 6am-4pm.

Midday, if you are wandering

• The Shops at 1345 — worth going in even if you buy nothing. Housed inside a 1955 building designed by iconic architect E. Stewart Williams, this curated complex of 13 design-forward shops is a destination in itself.
• Trina Turk — the resort-wear anchor. Trina Turk is an oasis of chic desert style and one of the original shops to open in the Uptown District back in 2002, in a beautiful Albert Frey-designed building.
• The SHAG Store — the colorful gallery of artist Josh Agle, featuring playful midcentury-inspired artwork.
• Modern Way — one of the longest-running vintage shops in Palm Springs, specializing in indoor and outdoor furniture from the 1950s to 1970s, with a newer Listening Room showcasing collectible vintage hi-fi and stereo equipment.
• Bon Vivant — one of Palm Springs' most extensive collections of vintage glass bottles, along with pottery, lamps, and collectible objects that capture Atomic Age design.
• Re[x] Haus — formerly Haus of Rex, the largest vintage market in Palm Springs, spanning more than 11,000 square feet, with midcentury designer furniture, outdoor pieces, rugs, sculpture, wall art, and decorative books.

Evening

• Eight4Nine Restaurant & Lounge — the design-district dinner standby, and, tellingly, the mid-tour rest stop for the festival's cycle route through the historic neighborhoods.
• Beaton's at Bar Cecil — the new bar next door to the Michelin-recommended anchor. Expertly mixed cocktails, luxe bar bites, and a glamorous room; the talented folks at MICHELIN-recommended Bar Cecil have expanded their effortlessly chic spirit into a space next door, with a lively but relaxed vibe.
• Liv's — the museum tuck-away. Tucked into the lower level of the Palm Springs Art Museum, Liv's serves breakfast and lunch with outdoor seating next to the sculpture garden fountain; operated by Bar Cecil chef Gabriel Woo, it has been recognized by Eater as a standout dining spot.
• Bar Issi — the newer Italian scene inside the Thompson complex. Craft cocktails and Italian-inspired cuisine inside the Thompson hotel complex on the north end of downtown; a see-and-be-seen hotspot for both locals and travelers, with reservations highly recommended.
• Bootlegger Tiki and Truss & Twine — the cocktail pair Uptown regulars rotate between.
• Boozehounds — if the golden retriever wants dinner too.

None of these are more than a short walk or a two-minute drive from the neighborhood's south edge.

The interpretive part: what October actually changes

The temptation is to read Modernism Week as a tourist event that briefly inconveniences the neighborhood. A closer read is that October is the one weekend a year when the tools normally reserved for buyers, sellers, and architectural obsessives get pointed at Old Las Palmas itself. A homeowner-led lecture on a 1932 Tanner estate is not a market signal, but it is a preservation signal. It tells you which houses in the neighborhood are being taken seriously by the people who catalog them, and it tells you that the 1920s and 1930s Spanish Colonial layer of Old Las Palmas has finally caught up to the mid-century layer in the public imagination.

For most of the year the neighborhood's Spanish Colonials are shorthand for old-money privacy. In the third week of October, they become part of the conversation about what Palm Springs architecture actually is. That is worth noticing whether or not you plan to attend a single ticketed event.

After the crowds leave: the quieter half of the month

By October 19 the cyclists and the mini-coaches are gone, and the neighborhood settles into its best month. A short list of things residents tend to do once the calendar clears:

1. Walk the loop around Ruth Hardy Park in the early morning, when the temperature finally drops into the sixties.
2. Take a first cool-weather coffee outside at Ernest Coffee instead of inside.
3. Book a Friday dinner at Bar Cecil or Beaton's without a three-week wait.
4. Bring visiting family to the Palm Springs Art Museum and have lunch at Liv's afterward, in the sculpture garden.
5. Actually go inside the shops at 1345 you have been driving past all summer.

October is the payoff for surviving the August wall of heat. It is also, quietly, the month in which the neighborhood's character is most visible to the people who live in it.

A note on the season ahead

Modernism Week 2027 runs February 11-21, 2027, with tickets on sale November 1, 2026 at noon PDT. If the October Morada La Estrella tour leaves you wanting more, that is the calendar to mark.

If you own a home in Old Las Palmas and are thinking about how the neighborhood's rising preservation profile might affect your long-term plans, or if you have been quietly wondering what your specific block looks like in today's market, the team at Kyle Gilligan is happy to sit with you at a table at Ernest Coffee and talk it through. Get a free home valuation to start.