El Mirasol Villas is a clothing-optional gay men’s resort. The name means to look at the “sun” and is loosely translated as “sunflower” or “flower in the sun.” It’s located in the Warm Sands neighborhood. This large 6-building private compound offers a meandering garden path with bougainvillea, oleander, olive, and citrus trees. Mexican paver walkways lead to fountains, two swimming pools, an outdoor shower, and a steam room. There is a larger saltwater heated pool on the south and a smaller pool on the north. There is also a large, comfortable lanai with a fireplace.
By the late 1940s, Warm Sands was sprouting dozens of small hotels, motels, and vacation apartments that catered to the city’s growing number of middle-class winter tourists, for whom the larger, more lavish hotels would have been off-putting or out of reach. El Mirasol was built in 1947, allegedly by Howard Hughes, to accommodate his friends and mistresses discreetly. It is a collection of stucco bungalows and pools set within a walled garden (525 S. Warm Sands Drive).
In 1975, an entrepreneur named Bob Cannon took advantage of the area’s depressed real estate values to purchase El Mirasol and rehabilitate it. He reopened the renovated property as El Mirasol Villas and catered exclusively to a clientele of gay men. El Mirasol Villas was a success, but it remained an isolated bright spot in the Warm Sands neighborhood for eight years.
Owners Paul and Bruce purchased the property in 2000 and are committed to continuing El Mirasol Villas’ tradition as a fine gay men’s resort.
A Los Angeles couple, Bob Mellen and Peter Tangel purchased a small apartment complex down the block from El Mirasol Villas and converted it into the Vista Grande (574 S. Warm Sands Drive), Palm Springs’s second exclusively gay hotel. It was also the city’s first gay men’s clothing-optional hotel.
There is a range of rooms, from studios by the pool, to larger bungalows. Most include a microwave and refrigerator. Expanded bungalows and poolside studios include a kitchenette and private patio.
The Bungalow Suite are their most spacious bungalows. California king bed in the bedroom and separate living room with queen sleeper sofa. It includes a full size kitchen with microwave, refrigerator and private patio.
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