Palm Springs, CA - Raisins, Hamburgers and Hats

As much as I talk about the mountains and the hiking in the Palm Springs area, I also recognize that there is much more here. And, over the times we’ve been here, we’ve done many of them: the tram which whisks you from the valley, up 8000’ to the mountains above, the polo matches with interactive fan involvement - divot stomping, into Joshua Tree National Park with its iconic rocks and Joshua trees, lots of tennis courts and golf courses, bike trails and tours of stars' former homes like the Bob Hope House and Liberace’s home. This trip we’ve visited two of the iconic tourist attractions: the College of the Desert Street Fair and the Palm Springs Village Fest. We also hit the Art Museum.

The College of the Desert is an actual college and one of its fund raisers is a weekly fair. It might have started out as a farmer’s market but has morphed into a plethora of vendors selling just about anything you could want in the Palm Springs area: big floppy hats,

pain medications, golf balls and putters, jewelry, clothing, patio furniture, shoes and socks, yard ornaments, home decor - you name it, they sell it. There is a even a car dealer and there is a guy selling trusts and other financial products. Oh, yeah there are about 6 vendors selling farm products on the far edge of the fair, almost as an afterthought.

Gary and I go for the raisins. Yep, the red flame raisins: as big as my thumb and as soft as a cloud. I found out about these the first time I hit the COD street fair several years ago. Marvelous and, every time we come here, we stock up. But, you’ve got to sample them all. This Saturday I tried the first vendor's raisins but they were not as large and not as soft as I had remembered. Ah, the second vendor had the real deal and I bought 4 lbs. Then I sampled the 3rd vendor and bought 3 more lbs. I think we have enough for now but this supply will run out before long. And, I’ll have to wait until we come again.

The food court is the fun place to sit and people-watch - people-watch people eating because everyone is eating here: burritos, wurst, crepes, corn dogs (yep, not just at the Iowa State Fair), But, there’s also entertainment. The guitarist has magic fingers on his two-neck guitar, the flute player hits all the right notes - but I’m not sure about the Charlie Chaplin figure in the front with the tambourine. 

Thursday evening the Art Museum is free and there is also a docent-led tour. Now, this is a contemporary art museum and I can look and look and never understand what the artist is trying to tell me. And, that is what the tour is for - someone to tell you what the artist is trying to tell you. After our docent, Jim, told us all about one piece of art, Gary asked him how he knew that his interpretation was correct. Jim told us that the artist had been there when the painting was first displayed and the artist explained it. Aha. He also said that one might get to the correct vision by knowing about the artist and by sitting and viewing the work of art. Yeah, sure. I could sit 24-7-365 and never understand some art. This is American Tan ii by Gary Hume.

For example, here’s a work of art that was in the museum. A set of swings but note the sharp edges on one side of the seat, the inside edge.

Here’s the interpretation: the artist is Palestinian and thinks that if two people swing at each other, they will get hurt on the edges. If they cooperate and swing in the same direction, they will have fun and will not get hurt. If the Palestinians and the Israelis cooperate they might get to peace. See how easy it is? Boy, this art interpretation isn’t complicated at all. What was I thinking? Why was I making it so difficult?

On the other hand, I can understand this one. By the way, this was actually cast in bronze and then painted by the artist.

But, I’m a historian and here is what Jim said that I found fascinating. Art was easy back in the days before the camera. Artists painted what they saw: landscapes, still lifes, people. With the invention of the camera, people decided that they didn’t need an artist to paint a scene, they could take a picture of it. They could do art themselves and have something that was more real than what artists were giving them. Artists then were left with interpretation and point of view and envisioning in different ways. Not just depicting something but presenting theme and ideas. Not ‘what is this?’ but ‘what does this mean?’

Here is a Hopi village out on the desert with the sun in the background. Love the colors.

Jim also told us the difference between Contemporary Art and Modern Art. Contemporary Artists are still alive while Modern Artists have all died. But, there’s always that grey zone: a Contemporary Art Museum has a piece of art from a living artist - what do they do with that piece of art when the artist dies? Contemporary Museums struggle with that predicament: sometimes they keep it and change their name, other times they sell it to a Modern Art Museum.

But, I’ll have to admit that I’m often lost in a Contemporary or Modern Art Museum. I can appreciate the artistry involved in a piece of art, I can appreciate the beauty that the artist has presented (this is a lake in Wyoming reflecting the sun over the forest),

I can appreciate the colors and shapes, I can appreciate the time and effort it took to compose this piece,

but I’ll be darned if I can understand what the artist is saying.

After the art museum, we ventured out to the Village Fest which takes over the main street of Palm Springs on Thursday evenings and creates a gala festive atmosphere. I’m sure that the businesses along this street concocted this to bring people downtown to eat in their restaurants and shop in their shops. Maybe I’m wrong but most of them are open on Thursday nights. Interesting: we saw many of the same vendors that we had seen at the COD on Sunday. I wonder why?

I think it's mostly tourists here on a Thursday since I saw t-shirts from Pennsylvania and Michigan and sweatshirts from Montana and Indiana. 

Lots of street musicians. Here is the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Coachella Valley.

The first two blocks are food vendors on each side of the street so there is lots to choose from and the aromas wafting around are heavenly. We indulged in a 1/2 - hamburg cooked over the open coals on a heated toasted bun. What a treat. Best hamburg I’ve had in a year at least. Hey, probably the only hamburger I’ve had in a year. Well, I’ll have to admit that we’ve eaten at In-N-Out at least twice this year but that is fast food and this was a real hamburger. It was delicious. However, lest you think we’ve fallen off the wagon, we shared this hamburger. We indulged but not too much.

Here’s one of the booths at the Village Fest. Gary thinks I should get a hat like this, not like the one at the top of the page. Now he tells me that for the blog, he should have photo-shopped my face here.