Modernism Week Kicks Off With Tours And Cocktails

PALM SPRINGS (CNS) – Modernism Week, an annual celebration of mid- century design and architecture, will begin its opening day festivities Thursday featuring tours, cocktails, live music and more. The opening day event will kick off at 8 a.m. with a sold-out Twin Palms Guided Walking Tour featuring an insider’s perspective of the desert’s first modernist neighborhood, followed by the sold-out Premier Double Decker Architectural Bus Tour featuring an overview of Palm Springs’ most significant mid-century architectural treasures, according to event organizers. The festivities will continue at 9 a.m. in the Hyatt Palm Springs featuring live music, refreshments, live entertainment and a free professional color consultation, before city officials and the Modernism Board of Directors host a ribbon-cutting event at 10 a.m. for the Community And Meeting Place (CAMP) — which will serve as a free and daily central hub of activity throughout the 11-day festival. Also set to begin at 9 a.m. is a sold-out Frey House II Tour with museum day passes, and a $55 House of Tuesday Home Tour featuring the newly renovated home where Elvis and Priscilla Presley honeymooned in 1967, according to event officials. Over a dozen tours are scheduled throughout the morning, and the evening will begin to close at 4 p.m. with a sold-out Midcentury Mixology Cocktail Clinic at Mr. Lyons, where attendees can learn to make iconic, class cocktails from the mid-century era while enjoying a welcome cocktail. The VIP opening weekend hosted by retro pop culture humorist Charles Phoenix will also begin at 4 p.m. at Azure Sky Hotel, in which 24 modernist guests will enjoy the newly opened deluxe hotel for four nights and five days, event organizers said. At 4:30 p.m., a free festive celebration of permanent nighttime lighting of Albert Frey’s modern sculptural masterpiece at the Palm Springs Visitor Center will be held. Two free events will begin at 5 p.m. — one at CAMP featuring DJ Daizy Van Tassel Vinyl Disco Set and one at The Penney Spirits Library in Rancho Mirage featuring a mid-century modern séance on Desert Island — before the night ends with the festival’s opening night party at Studio 74 in Palm Springs featuring a 70’s disco nightclub atmosphere. Tickets and more information about Modernism Week is available at ModernismWeek.com. Event organizers will host more tours and similar events through Feb. 26. Copyright 2023, City News Service, Inc.