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Attention, Social Butterflies

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Three people hiking in Indian Canyons

Great Instagram Locations in Palm Springs

If a photo opportunity pops up and you don’t post it on Instagram, did it even happen? Half the fun of traveling is showing off your dazzling destinations on social media! Luckily, our eye-popping vistas and jaw-dropping attractions offer enough selfie worthy selections to fuel your feed long after your visit ends.

So, ‘Gram with gusto at the following picturesque Palm Springs places…

A Warm Welcome

What better way to start than at the iconic Palm Springs Visitor Center.

visitor center credit @theprint_thief
Credit @theprint_thief

Next to the Visitor Center is our beautiful Welcome Sign which makes a great backdrop.

palm springs sign

And there’s also another photo opportunity at the Palm Springs mural just behind the Visitor Center.

palm springs welcome sign mural

Those Colored Doors

If you’re on Instagram, then you’ve probably seen the famous Palm Springs colored doors. The Palm Springs colored doors are one of the city’s most popular tourist attractions. People come from all over to take photos of these colorful doors. And it’s not just tourists; even celebrities have been known to snap a selfie with these doors! You will find these throughout the city, but with a concentration in the neighborhoods of South Palm Springs.

orange door

Colorful Places

If you like color, then the place you’ll want to stay is at Saguaro Palm Springs. Not only are they know for their pool parties, there are photo opportunities throughout the property.

saguaro credit @colormecourtney
Credit @colormecourtney

One of the most photographed edifices in town is the iconic entryway of The Parker. Characterized by a sunny orange door flanked by dreamy white lattice, this landmark is your portal to popularity – just snap, post, and voila!

parker credit @graymalin
Credit @graymalin

Public Art

You’re ready for your close-up! Now’s your chance to star alongside one of the most iconic silver screen personalities of all time, Marilyn Monroe. Her towering likeness draws film fans and pop culture enthusiasts from all over the world. Pose against the San Jacinto Mountains or swivel around and capture downtown in your background. Any way you turn, you’re in the lap of legacy!

In fact, our visionary vistas are peppered with public art. Even the benches in Palm Springs evoke desert whimsy and inviting vignettes. From the floral brilliance of Tysen Knight’s work to the pop-art realness of Emeline Tate’s benches to the playful patterns in designs by Paul Andrew Berry and Ernesto Ramirez, these seats will get you on your feet!

Right downtown next to The Rowan is our PS I Love You sign, where you can become the “I” in I Love You. This is a great location because there is public art all around.

PS I love U sign

But no selfie-respecting shutterbug should miss the opportunity to take flight with the rainbow-drenched Angel Wings downtown. Colette Miller created the inspiring initiative back in 2012, and her brainchild has since flourished into a global phenomenon. When you perch between these celestial appendages, you are part of a truly transcendent flock!

art wings

Next-Level Views

Indian Canyons in Palm Springs are a must-see for some spectacular social media content. The canyons are home to a variety of plant and animal life, and the views are simply breathtaking.  Indian Canyons is sure to please.

indian canyon credit @halesyah
Credit @halesyah
indian canyons credit @travelwith.dna
Credit @travelwith.dna

From swirls to twirls, take a spin with Palm Springs Windmill Tours. Just as the churning turbines have powered classic movies like Rain Man, they will also electrify your vacation photos!

windmills credit @asyatravels
Credit @asyatravels

For ultimate elevation, the Aerial Tramway is your ticket! Explore the mighty mountain ridge and discover photo opps on high. Depending on the time of year, you can see snow, waterfalls and even endangered species like bald eagles and bighorn sheep. Your portfolio will be wild and your followers will be totes jelz!

Family at the top of the tramway

tram credit @luis_ivol
Credit @luis_ivol

Architecture & Design

Star power shimmers from every corner of Palm Springs. You can selfie the day away at Frank Sinatra’s Twin Palms Estate. Don’t forget to include a shot of the piano-shaped swimming pool!

frank sinatra palm springs home

Elvis Presley’s honeymoon hideaway. You’ll be the king (or queen) of Instagram! This is a private residence, so please take your images/video from the street.

elvis honeymoon hideaway

If your feed is more understated, consider a trip to Kaufmann Desert House, an architectural marvel. You’ll recognize this from one of the locations in the movie Don’t Worry Darling.

https://www.distractify.com/p/dont-worry-darling-filming-locations “Don’t Worry Darling” Filmed in Palm Springs Palm Springs filming locations. By Randy Garner Don’t Worry Darling is a new psychological thriller film that takes place in a 1950’s fictional California town called Victory. Official Trailer https://youtu.be/FgmnKsED-jU Why Palm Springs? The location plays a role in telling the story. While the neighborhood you see looks too picturesque to be real, in does, in fact, exist in real life. It’s not a tame and controlled conservative suburban life. Victory is a spectacular place full of opulence. It depicts something of a secret society in America, so it doesn’t represent traditional 1950s America or its values. As such, the production team descended upon Palm Springs, the longtime playground of the Hollywood elite, to create their desert utopia. A land of ever-present sunshine, blue skies and midcentury architecture galore, the area proved the quintessential backdrop for the storyline. The Storyline The Victory Corporation is building a city called Victory. It is meant to be a suburban utopia complete with sprawling greenbelts, a clubhouse, a sparkling pool and even an onsite boutique. Victory residents will want for nothing and have little reason to every leave. It is the one place to stay and be safe. The storyline follows Alice (portrayed by Florence Pugh) and Jack (played by Harry Styles), who are a married couple with a troublesome relationship. They just moved to Victory, a company town created by and paid for by Jack’s new employer, Frank (played by Chris Pine). While Jack and his colleagues go to work on the “Victory Project”, their wives are left to enjoy the beauty and luxury of their community. Here’s a look at some more specific Palm Springs filming locations in Don’t Worry Darling. The Kaufmann House The Kaufmann House was used was for the home of Victory Corporation founder, Frank, portrayed by Chris Pine. The home is fragile and extremely valuable, so much care had to be take to ensure nothing was damaged. This included bubble wrapping portions of the home and having docents in every room. Department store owner Edgar Kaufmann hired architect Richard Neutra to design a desert home for his family. A decade earlier, Frank Lloyd Wright had built Fallingwater for Mr. Kaufmann. But Kaufmann, having seen Taliesin West, thought that Wright didn’t understand desert design and chose Neutra instead. The home turned out so well, that when Wright saw it, he admitted to that is was beautiful (uncharacteristic of him). The building remains the most famous in Palm Springs in terms of international recognition. The flat roof, steel frame, and glass walls embody one prominent version of Modernism by using sharp, clean, lines and contrasting them to the rugged slopes of Mt. San Jacinto as a backdrop. When photographed by Julius Shulman, the Kaufmann House became an iconic image of modern architecture. The north wing is the guest’s quarters, separated from the rest of the house. The secluded west wing is the service wing. It would be purchased by Joseph and Nelda Linsk. She was the glamorous woman wearing yellow depicted in legendary photographer Slim Aaron’s iconic photograph highlighting the good life in Palm Springs, dubbed “Poolside Gossip.” In 1968, Eugene and Francis Klein, owners of the San Diego Chargers, purchased it. Then in 1973, Barry Manilow purchased the property and owned it until 1993. Beth and Brent Harris become the new owners and were eager to restore the property.They found a home once originally open and light-filled now dense and dark thanks to 2,200 square feet of additions that turned courtyards into interior spaces. The iconic upstairs room visible from the street, an open-air deck that really is one of the house's main features, had its views of mountains and palm trees blocked by air-conditioning compressors. Linsk addition, designed by William Cody, was compatible and relatively seamless, but removed the glass corridor to the master bedroom and drastically reduced the amount of light to the interior. Modernist furnishings selected by Neutra were replaced with those chosen by prominent Palm Springs interior designer Arthur Elrod. The Harris’s dismantled the crumbling fireplaces and numbering each stone for reassembly. To repair gashes in the walls of Utah sandstone, the firm convinced the original quarry in Utah to return to a long-closed portion of its site so the color and texture of the new stone would match that of the old. To find a source for mica, a crystalline sand which workers applied to the house's exterior to provide a subtle, starry-night glow, the architects had to work with the U.S. Bureau of Mines. Can I Visit? The Kaufmann House is privately owned and not available for tours or a rental. However, you can take a peek of the home by driving by 470 West Vista Chino. Canyon View Estates This is where Alice and Jack live in the film. Their residence was on a circular cul-de-sac with their neighbors’ houses facing inwards on the perimeter. For filming at this location, every driveway had to be cleared for blocks and blocks of non-period elements. This affected the daily routine for hundreds of people and property owners. Canyon View Estates was designed by Dan Palmer and William Krisel. These local architects also designed Ocotillo Lodge, Las Palmas Estates, Kings Point and Racquet Club Estates. The “House of Tomorrow” was designed by Krisel for Robert Alexander and his wife Helen. They made it their personal residence and lived in it until their premature death in a plane crash in 1965. The house later gained fame as the honeymoon home of Elvis and Priscilla Presley. The design of these quaint one-story duplex-style condominiums offered floor-to-ceiling windows, and characteristic Palm Springs geometric stonework. It included post-and-beam construction, open floor plans in which the living room, dining room and kitchen flow together. Built in six stages in the 1960s by developer Roy Fey, it has a utopian neighborhood feel, with a shared pool, spa and green space. It includes 180 units with attached carports. Can I Visit? Properties in Canyon View Estates are privately owned and few are available as a vacation rental. However, the neighborhood is not gated, so grab a cruiser bike and explore. Palm Springs City Hall The Palm Springs City Hall was shown briefly in the film. It is centrally located and just steps away from the Palm Springs International Airport, another beautiful midcentury modern style building. Palm Springs City Hall was one of Clark, Frey and Chambers’ most important public buildings, built between 1952 and 1957. Although a collaborative effort with the local architectural firm of Williams and Williams, the building’s initial phase was primarily the design work of John Porter Clark and Albert Frey. An unusual detail of the council chamber is its corner treatment consisting of projecting concrete blocks cut at a diagonal at every other paired row, which allows the blocks to cast light and shadow. Albert Frey was a leading early architect to Palm Springs and left a large design footprint on the city. His own residence, Frey House II, is also an architecturally significant building as was willed to the Palm Springs Art Museum upon his death. It is perched above Palm Springs with sweeping views and is available for tours through the museum. Can I Visit? Palm Springs City Hall is a popular spot on Palm Springs’ midcentury modern design tours, but visitors are also welcome to walk around and take photos. It is located at 3200 E. Tahquitz Canyon Way. Palm Springs Visitor Center Look for the Palm Springs Visitor Center, which was also shown briefly in the film. Like City Hall, it was also designed by architect Albert Frey. In 1965, it began as an Esso gas station situated in North Palm Springs. With a swooping and wing-shaped roof, it immediately captures the attention of visitors as they arrive in the city. In the 1990s, the building was converted into an art gallery, and subsequently taken over by the Palm Springs Bureau of Tourism.

 

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