Palm Springs trying for a comeback

It’s the Sonny & Share Show. In his role as mayor, Sonny Bono is flagging down balloonists, bicyclists, race-car drivers, marathon runners and conventioneers--or anyone else he can dissuade from passing up his desert domain for Rancho Mirage, Palm Desert, Indian Wells or La Quinta, destinations that are siphoning off an audience once enjoyed exclusively by Palm Springs.

By sharing Palm Springs with vacationers, Cher’s former sidekick is attempting a comeback for the desert resort. The problem is, productions being staged by other communities are snuffing out Sonny’s star. And to quote from a popular ballad, it’s only just begun.

Developer Bill Bone is preparing the scenario for a mega-resort by turning two square miles of sandscape in Indian Wells into an oasis featuring fountains, waterfalls, lagoons, major hotels and a lake with 10 miles of shoreline.

Only the Matterhorn and a Mississippi paddle-wheeler will be missing.

This is to be no mirage. Not with millions of gallons of water flushing against beaches and coves in a scene reminiscent of a travel agent’s South Seas poster.

If all this has the familiar ring of those enormous mega-resorts developed by Hawaii’s own Walt Disney, Chris Hemmeter, it’s no coincidence. Hemmeter has taken on the task of designing the desert hotels with lagoons, waterfalls, fountains and ponds.

Presently Sunterra, which is the name given to the new resort, is drier than a slice of the Sahara. Bone intends to remedy this with an infusion of $1.3 billion. Twenty thousand palm trees will be trucked in. Islands will rise from the 150-acre lake. Five golf courses will turn the desert green. And scattered across the terrain will be three hotels--one with 1,625 rooms--plus a health spa that the developer says will dwarf La Costa’s.

At Sunterra it will be difficult to determine if one is vacationing in the South Seas or somewhere along the sunny Mediterranean.

Sidewalk cafes like those found in Portofino will line the waterfront, and vacationers will shop in a village crowded with clubs, cafes, bars and bazaars.

Hotels will resemble European palaces, Mediterranean villas and a California mission. One will rise on an island; tropical birds will nest on another.

If this begins to sound like a fantasy, that’s precisely what Bone (and Hemmeter) have in mind. Their lake would swallow Disney’s at Epcot Center. At Sunterra, guests will be delivered on cocktail cruises aboard a 90-foot boat, New Orleans jazz will spill from one club and country and Western from another. Waterfalls will tumble into swimming pools with water slides, and a campanile will rise over a village with the Moorish charm of old Tangier.

What this means is competition for Sonny Bono.

While Bone is busy with his development in Indian Wells, the sprawling PGA West Resort at La Quinta is to feature three golf courses, a 1,000-room hotel, 60 tennis courts, homes, condos and a spa nearly the size of the White House.

Down the road where Dwight Eisenhower got in his licks on the links, dozens of new Spanish-style casitas have boosted the room count to 600 in a $45-million expansion at the venerable La Quinta Hotel. La Quinta remains a gem, a 45-acre enclave that harks back to the golden era of Hollywood when film stars lined up at the door--Bette Davis, Charlie Chaplin, Clark Gable, Greta Garbo, Gloria Swanson, Marlene Dietrich and Katharine Hepburn.

In the interim, La Quinta has lost none of its charm. Guests still gather in the lounge, with its deep sofas, beamed ceiling, the lazy ticking of a grandfather clock and the fragrance of burning mesquite.

Outside, a harpist along with a classical guitarist play for romantics. Flush against the Santa Rosa Mountains, La Quinta features three championship golf courses, 30 tennis courts and 23 swimming pools. In a day of high-rise mania, low-rise La Quinta rates at the very least five stars for service, five hearts for romance.

Other traffic passing through Palm Springs is being siphoned off by Marriott’s $300-million Desert Springs Resort & Spa in Palm Desert. While gondolas cruise to the lobby with its immense atrium, one can’t help asking: Is this Venice, Italy, or Palm Desert, U.S.A.?

Fish the size of small sharks dart through the lagoon, and a player piano turns out ragtime tunes. It’s obvious that this is not the little desert inn Hollywood once idolized. Indeed, the Desert Springs Resort is a showplace with a dozen restaurants and snack bars serving everything from sushi to steak tartare.

Its perimeter takes in three miles of shoreline, 16 tennis courts and 36 holes of golf. The resort is spread across 420 acres, with 27 acres devoted to water, including the lake in the lobby.

Swans cruise alongside flamingos, and flamingos cruise past three swimming pools, one with a white-sand beach. Doormen gussied up like French Foreign Legionnaires lend a hand at the door, and airport arrivals are picked up by limousine.

Other vacationers zip off to the Ritz-Carlton, the Mission Hills Resort Hotel and the Hyatt Grand Champion in Indian Wells. At the Hyatt a musician trained by Segovia strums the guitar, and Wolfgang Puck checks out the kitchens. With 300 rooms and 18 villas, the Hyatt provides butlers trained in Britain and masseuses schooled on the Continent.

The Hyatt (it’s big on tennis) is another of those waterlogged resorts awash with lagoons, swimming pools, fountains and waterfalls. Books are found in the baths, robes in the closets, a piano in the lobby, and an Aida Grey salon welcomes the ladies.

In Rancho Mirage the Ritz-Carlton faces the valley from a lofty perch in the Santa Rosa Mountains. Bighorn sheep graze on a hillside, Persian rugs are scattered across marble floors, walls are lined with priceless paintings and Baccarat chandeliers glitter from the ceiling.

At the Ritz-Carlton guests dine on goat cheese marinated with thyme, pheasant braised with red cabbage and venison prepared with a goose-liver sauce. Omelets filled with caviar are served at breakfast, and afternoon tea features scones with Devonshire cream, fruit tarts and finger sandwiches. The Ritz-Carlton would fit nicely in Brentwood or Beverly Hills. But the desert where celebrities once sought surcease from the real world? Make that the make-believe world.

Likewise, Rancho Mirage is home to the new Mission Hills Resort Hotel, with its 18-hole Pete Dye golf course, a couple of swimming pools, spas and a tennis center. On Sundays, Truffles restaurant prepares a champagne brunch known as “Around the World in 80 Dishes.”

The desert, some fear, is going the way of Waikiki and Vail and Scottsdale, and the tragedy is that forever is a long, long time.

Other competition for Palm Springs is due in September with the opening of the $110-million Stouffer Esmeralda Resort in Indian Wells where guests will play golf, sunbathe on a white-sand beach, check out a water temple and paddle boats across lakes facing the Santa Rosa Mountains. And in order for vacationers to keep current with the latest news, baths will be equipped with TVs.

Resort operators suggest that Palm Springs should resurrect its beloved village atmosphere and let the rest of the Coachella Valley race toward high-rise oblivion. Once, visitors flocked to Palm Springs for restful weekends. Small was beautiful. Palm Springs was a sleepy retreat, an oasis that provided a sanctuary for the rich and famous. It was, indeed, a sandbox for celebrities.

Now with the shift to the high-rise hedonism beyond its borders, Mayor Sonny Bono is grabbing for the stars. Last fall, vintage cars roared through the streets in what the mayor described as a “desert Grand Prix.” Bono was ecstatic. Resort owner Ken Irwin was furious. Cars thundered past his peaceful La Mancha Villas for three consecutive days. It was a roar that could be heard blocks away.

Irwin fumed. “How would you like to listen to all those noisy cars revving up when you’ve paid $300 a day to relax? This isn’t Long Beach!”

In the ongoing campaign to recapture the vanishing vacationer, the roar of cars will be heard again this fall. Small resort owners fear the highway high jinks (along with a proposed new race car stadium) will encourage an audience of undesirables while driving away the vacationer seeking the dignified Palm Springs. Bono argues that last fall’s race netted the city $200,000 in hotel taxes. City Manager Norman King says he favors the proposed stadium and is “very much looking forward to this year’s road race.”

With a string of T-shirt shops lining Palm Canyon Drive, one ex-city councilman sadly admits that “Palm Springs is becoming more and more like Coney Island.”

Bono’s other proposals to attract vacationers include bicycle and marathon races, music concerts and a film festival. The idea of rock crowds invading the village paralyzes residents. Conversely, the town applauds the film festival, inasmuch as Palm Springs has always bid for the movie crowd.

To prepare for the festival, the city bought the old Plaza Theater. Bono sees the festival as an annual event that will attract celebrities and film makers from around the world. “And that,” says Bono, “is what Palm Springs is all about.”

Ignores Detractors

Cher’s ex-spouse is a hero to some, an enigma to others. The mayor showed up for an interview wearing a jogging outfit and a cap with Bono stitched across the crown.

“Palm Springs can become the St. Tropez of America!” he enthused, to which a resort owner responded: “But where’s the Mediterranean?”

Bono ignores his detractors. “Palm Springs can become the playground of California. We have a fabulous setting--the mountains, the village, the weather.”

“He’s well-meaning,” said one resort owner, “but unfortunately, his lack of knowledge has led him to make decisions that could alter the image of Palm Springs as a place of quiet elegance and privacy, as well as escape from the daily grind. What we’re going to get are guys riding into town on motorcycles, wearing tank-top T-shirts and lugging six-packs.”

Sonny Bono’s bid to become mayor was not altogether altruistic. Miffed because of what he described as “antiquated” city codes, he sought office. In particular, he admits, he wanted a bigger sign outside his restaurant on Indian Avenue.

Tourist Attraction

“My point,” said the mayor, “is that if you have a tourist attraction--and I am a tourist attraction--why not exploit it?”

So much for modesty.

Cracking his knuckles, the mayor remarked that, “To me, Palm Springs is one of the biggest sleepers in America.”

So how does he propose to jog it from its lethargy? Well, there’s talk of creating a river down Palm Canyon Drive with sidewalk cafes lining its banks. A Disney visionary has been contacted to develop a theme for the resort.

And Bono has in mind a 500-room hotel and a 54-hole golf course near the newly landscaped airport. A new Convention Center and hotel (the Wyndham) are already realities.

When Bono arrived in Palm Springs 15 years ago he decided to “kick back a little.” Six months later, bored, he opened his restaurant. Bono shrugs. “Only someone with severe brain damage would get into this business.”

With Cher’s ex cast in the role of mayor, his audience became his Palm Springs constituents. (Show biz, Sonny admits, was a heck of a lot more fun.) As mayor, one gets few fan letters. Still, he’s on stage during weekly council meetings and he’s seen in his office regularly.

And instead of crying the blues, Sonny’s singing an old ballad with a play on lyrics. It’s a melody aimed at those motorists passing through town.

“I want you, babe.”

Palm Springs’ Summer Rates:

Wyndham Palm Springs, 888 S. Tahquitz Way, Palm Springs 92262. Telephone (619) 322-6000. ($74/$105).

Maxim’s de Paris Suite Hotel, 285 N. Palm Canyon Drive, Palm Springs 92262. Telephone (619) 322-9000. ($75/$105).

Palm Springs Marquis Hotel, 150 S. Indian Ave., Palm Springs 92262. Telephone (619) 322-2121. ($69/$140).

Palm Springs Hilton Resort & Racquet Club, 400 E. Tahquitz Way, Palm Springs 92262. Telephone (619) 320-6868. ($65/$90).

Spa Hotel & Mineral Springs, 100 N. Indian Ave., Palm Springs 92263. Telephone (619) 325-1461. ($55/$95).

Doubletree Resort at Desert Princess, Vista Chino at Landau. Telephone (619) 322-7000. ($70/$90).

Gene Autry Hotel, 4200 E. Palm Canyon Drive. Telephone (619) 328-1171. (Summer rates start at $49).

Radisson Palm Springs Resort & Convention Center, 1600 N. Indian Ave., Palm Springs 92262. Telephone (619) 327-8311. (Summer rates, $89).

La Mancha Villas, 444 Avenida Caballeros, Palm Springs 92262. Telephone toll-free (800) 255-1773 (California) or (800) 854-1298 (outside the state). Rates: $110/$165 weekends, less weekdays.

Ingleside Inn, 200 W. Ramon Road, Palm Springs 92264. Telephone (800) 826-4162 (California) or (800) 772-6655 (outside the state). ($70/$425).

International Resort Hotel, 1800 E. Palm Canyon Drive, Palm Springs 92264. Telephone (619) 323-1711. (49/$89).

For other hotel rates in Palm Springs (along with a listing of the resort’s popular small inns), write to the Greater Palm Springs Convention & Visitors Bureau, Airport Park Plaza (Suite 315), 255 N. El Cielo Road, Palm Springs 92262-6974. Telephone (619) 327-8411.

Information concerning Bill Bone’s new Sunterra Resort in Indian Wells is available from the Sunrise Co., 42-600 Cook St., Suite 200, Palm Desert 92260.

Other Coachella Valley Summer Rates:

La Quinta Hotel Golf & Tennis Resort, 49-499 Eisenhower Drive, La Quinta 92253. Telephone (619) 564-4111, or (800) 472-4316 (California). Outside California dial (800) 854-1271. ($50/$75).

Marriott Desert Springs Resort & Spa, 74-855 Country Club Drive, Palm Desert 92260. Telephone (619) 341-2211. ($110/$165).

Hyatt Grand Champion, 44-600 Indian Wells Lane, Indian Wells 92210. Telephone (619) 341-1000. ($80, up).

Ritz-Carlton, 68-9000 Frank Sinatra Drive, Rancho Mirage 92270. Telephone (619) 321-8282 or (800) 241-3333. ($95/$240).

Mission Hills Resort Hotel, 71-333 Dinah Shore Drive, Rancho Mirage 92270. Telephone (619) 328-5955 or (800) 843-8988. ($75/$155).

Marriott’s Rancho Las Palmas, 41-000 Bob Hope Drive, Rancho Mirage 92270. Telephone (800) 228-9290 or (619) 568-2727. ($95/$115).

Stouffer Esmeralda, 44-400 Indian Wells Lane, Indian Wells 92210-9971. Opens Sept. 12. Telephone (619) 773-4444.