Itâs always been my achievable gay dream to visit Palm Springs. The midcentury design, desert landscapes, swimming pools, glamour, old gays – literally everything Iâve ever dreamed of. Itâs where Iâll spend the Liberace era of my life, Iâm sure of it. My friends had been discussing taking a trip to celebrate the New Year and thatâs when I began my Palm Springs campaign. Luckily, theyâre gay, too and heeded the calling of the gay mecca.
If youâre thinking of making a trip out west, hereâs my guide to making the best of it.
Eats
When a group of gays goes out to the desert, thereâs a fine balance between dining in trendy restaurants and showing off culinary skills at home. This trip was mostly to hang out and relax, so we didnât hit up too many restaurants. But our first night in town, we did order take out from Pepperâs Thai Cuisine. It was actually pretty authentic and delicious. Plus, there was a long wait for a table, so ordering to go is the best way to get a meal here. We also had a great Italian dinner at Appetito another night. They have excellent paninis and I couldnât resist their brussels sprouts. One afternoon we hit up Tylerâs Burgers, which is a local favorite. Do be warned, itâs quite the wait. They also donât really have any indoor seating, which probably isnât an issue in the summer. It happened to be somewhere below 50 when we visited and they also donât have heaters.
Drinks
The Amigo Room at the Ace Hotel is a great spot to grab a drink. Itâs pretty intimate and if you stop in on karaoke night, itâs a tight squeeze. Hunterâs Palm Springs is allegedly the âyoungâ dance club. The crowd was pretty mixed the night we stopped in, which was great, and thereâs a separate dance room.
Sights
Joshua Tree National Park is probably one of my favorite hiking spots now and itâs so close. You should definitely make a day trip out here if youâre in Palm Springs. Most of the hiking trails seemed pretty easy and there are tons of photo ops. Iâm already planning to make a camping trip to the park in the future.
Shops
Palm Springs is home to an amazing amount of midcentury modern home interior stores and vintage clothing stores. Like, tons. So many that I actually got tired of browsing furniture and I thought that would never be possible. My favorites were Modern Way and Just Modern. I also loved checking out the Mr. Turk store. Definitely pick up some gay garbs if youâve got some coins to drop.
Let me know if you have any favorite Palm Spring spots in the comments below! Iâd love to hear them for my next visit.
