Lifestyles & Things To Do

Agua Caliente Casino Resort Spa

Every day’s a slice of paradise at this four-diamond resort. Spend the day at the pool, the night in the casino. Check out the megastar lineup at The Show, an award-winning destination for live entertainment.

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The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens

Experience the desert like never before with the 2-for-1 Behind-the-Scenes Summer Chill tour at The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens! Get up close to your favorite animals and explore the desert’s majestic beauty. Book today!

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The Need for Speed at The Thermal Club

The Thermal Club Is a Members-Only Mecca for Motorsports

The private playground for performance driving is also a residential resort community.

Miles Branman compliments of the Robb Report

The Palm Desert region of California is known for its hot springs, music festivals, and golf courses, but soon it may also be known for its racetracks. Hidden within blankets of arid terrain, a 344-acre oasis in the town of Thermal offers the finest amenities for motorsports enthusiasts. Unveiled in 2012, the Thermal Club is a members-only haven with proving grounds, resort luxuries, and, most importantly, 5.1 miles of winding tarmac.

Three racing circuits, with varying degrees of difficulty, test the limits of even the most extreme performance cars in a safe, controlled environment. Thermal wants its members to fret less and drive more. To that end, the club accommodates every aspect of storing, maintaining, and tuning vehicles so members can simply arrive and drive.

While most members hit the track in their own toys, Thermal offers Aston Martin GT4s, Porsche Caymans, and BMW M cars for members, their families, and their guests to enjoy. An on-site skid pad (wet and dry) and black lake give drivers a chance to find (and exceed) the grip threshold of their cars – training that informs on-track driving behavior. For some zero-risk fun, members can whip around a short autocross course in high-speed go-karts.

Even without logistical concerns, hours of racing in the desert sun are draining. To rejuvenate its members, the Thermal Club is developing a $150 million facility (scheduled to be finished in 18 months) that will house a gym, locker room, spa, pool, kitchen, kids room, and 48 guest suites

Thermal seeks only the most dedicated affiliates, and asks for a token of that commitment beyond the annual rate of $14,400. Each member must purchase a piece of property within the club grounds and build a home within five years. Residences can be custom built or constructed from several design plans provided. Trackside properties offer a spectacular view of the racing action, which includes GT3, GT4, Lotus Cup, and other hosted series.

Pledging an abode is no small consideration, but the benefits of a private, hyper-local getaway are undeniable. Multi-car garage space, ample room to host guests and parties, and access to Palm Springs (a mere 30-minute drive from the track) are among the main draws. For the Thermal Club, it’s about building a community of car enthusiasts and giving them the ideal private playground. A place for those who would rather master a tricky corner than perfect their golf swing.

Palm Springs Aerial Tramway Summer Passes

Summer Passes are available May 1 through August 31 and allow unlimited tram admissions for the pass-holder, 10% off on additional tram admissions and more! Adult passes are $80 and children (3-12) are $40.

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4th of July Celebration!

Fireworks Display at Agua Caliente Casino Resort Spa

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To Heck With Coachella: An Old-Timer’s Trip to Palm Springs

LAPL Photo Collection/Herald-Examiner Collection

The desert is a good litmus test of personality types, isn’t it? A certain kind of person loves the desert emphatically; another kind “hates” it emphatically. One finds it “empty” while the other takes to the bleached, tan-colored expansiveness of it all as inspiring, a place that encourages free-associative thinking and calm reflection…(you thought I would say something else, but I’ve always been a drug-free person, you see). Not to mention it’s the perfect place to listen to drone music (I recommend anything by either the Hafler Trio or Soviet France; maybe Terry Riley). Basically, the verdict is in: artists and other interesting people love the desert, so deal with it.

Some of my earliest memories are those of the desert areas in and around Palm Springs. My grandmother (Mona Eastley, 1902-2000) lived most of her life in Encino, but when I was a kid, she owned a second house down there, not far from Palm Canyon Drive. My brother and I loved the family trips to that house. My old aunt Nellie lived, throughout the 1960s, in nearby Yucca Valley, at the northern edge of Joshua Tree; thus one of my earliest memories is of waking up in a sleeping bag on the living room floor of her Yuck Valley bungalow, watching the blinding sun rise. That and, on the same trip (I think), taking a burro ride with my mother in Mexicali.

My grandmother’s Spanish-style house in Palm Springs (which her mother always pronounced as “Bum Sprinn”) had a big, delicious swimming pool, so for my brother and me, a weekend there was a case of oh-boy-and-hot-damn! The walls of the house were lined with oil paintings by my uncle, the artist Charles Mureau, very Mexican-flavored they were, with a touch of ‘60s kitsch about them, in retrospect …

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