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With grace and charm, the storied La Quinta Resort & Club has reigned over the Coachella Valley as the desert´s queen of Greater Palm Springs hotels. Since its opening, this grand destination, nestled in the quiet of the Santa Rosa Mountains of Southern California, has been the favorite retreat of Hollywood legends like Greta Garbo, Clark Gable, and Frank Capra, and financial powerhouses such as Cornelius Vanderbilt IV and William H. Crocker.
A Grand Legacy Of Hospitality At This Greater Palm Springs Hotel
Today, among the guests of this extraordinary Greater Palm Springs hotel are a new generation of celebrities, including Hollywood stars, athletes, and CEOs, whose first names alone are enough to identify them. The resort has been recognized by prominent travel, lifestyle, golf and tennis publications as one of the top destination resorts in the world.
Over the years, our stunning Palm Springs historic hotel has grown from its original 20 casitas served by a lobby and a dining room to an expansive resort comprising 796 casitas, suites, and villas, vacation home rentals, 7 restaurants, 9 championship golf courses, an award-winning spa, 23 tennis courts, 41 sparkling pools and 53 hot spas, a children´s program, and more. Nevertheless, La Quinta Resort has maintained its commitment to the privacy and comfort of its guests, a legacy of graciousness given to the resort by its original owner, Walter H. Morgan.
About Walter H. Morgan
Born in San Francisco in 1874, Morgan was the youngest son of John S. Morgan, the wealthy owner of the Morgan Oyster Company. The distinguished-looking Morgan came to the desert in 1921 for health reasons and purchased 1,400 acres of land named "Happy Hollow" by the Cahuilla people, the original inhabitants of the area. Morgan envisioned creating a small, self-contained, secluded retreat where guests could enjoy being pampered in the privacy of their own guest-rooms. Many believe that Morgan chose the name "La Quinta" after hearing a local rancher in Mexico tell the tale of a big country house surrounded by cottages.
In 1925, to help him turn his dream into a reality, Morgan hired then-budding Pasadena architect, Gordon Kaufman. Famed for his architectural designs that include the Los Angeles Times Building, the Athenaeum at the California Institute of Technology and the Santa Anita Raceway, Kaufman was relatively unknown when hired by Morgan. La Quinta Hotel, as it was first called, was Kaufman´s first major success.
In 1931, two years after the stock market crashed, the local newspaper announced Walter H. Morgan's death due to carbon monoxide poisoning. Words of his last note to his wife were never disclosed; however, it was speculated that the decline of his family´s fortune in the Great Depression and word from his doctor that he should leave his beloved "country home" to move to a sanitarium for his tubercular condition were overwhelming. The great flag located at the hotel´s entrance flew at half-mast on its 125-foot pole. Morgan´s body was cremated, his ashes were spread over his precious date groves and flower gardens, and La Quinta Hotel closed its fifth season in financial turmoil.
Morgan's Dream Becomes a Reality
Together, Morgan and Kaufman devised the ultimate getaway. Kaufman planned main buildings, the lobby areas, the open-air, glassed-in dining room, the guest casitas and the grounds. In addition, he designed the furniture and lights and supervising all the construction, including the firing of the bricks used on the premises. The original kiln was located on the site that is currently La Quinta Resort´s Mountain Course. Mexican laborers crafted more than 100,000 adobe bricks, 60,000 roof tiles and 5,000 floor tiles.
The total construction cost was estimated at $150,000, at a time when a Ford touring car cost $250 and a pound of coffee was 50 cents. Morgan also brought the golf industry to the Coachella Valley, with the construction of a nine-hole course constructed at a cost of $50,000 and designed by golfer Norman Beth. It was the first golf course built in the valley and was open to the public for a greens fee of one dollar.
La Quinta Hotel Opens
La Quinta Hotel's doors were first opened to an elite group of Morgan´s friends during the Christmas holiday in 1926; the hotel's grand opening to the public was held in late January 1927. The resort entertained such guests as Charles Taft, son of President William Howard Taft, and William Crocker from San Francisco. After a successful first season, Morgan announced the building of another 14 casitas and then went to Los Angeles to pass the word of his retreat to the Hollywood community. Morgan was a well-educated, sophisticated man with charm and charisma. Through his family´s connections, he knew the right people in the business and social worlds. Although Morgan was opposed to advertising, he had a special talent for publicity and public relations. He made La Quinta Hotel a social "must" by carefully inviting Hollywood´s finest.
Hollywood Legends
a Quinta Hotel had a commodity Hollywood celebrities wanted – privacy. Accordingly, they came to La Quinta Hotel, riding the extra 20 miles past Palm Springs in "town cars," which lacked air-conditioning, to escape the studios, the deadlines, the pressures and the fans. In the "touring" days, the most sought-after and highly paid were the hotel´s discrete chauffeurs and footmen (relief drivers), who skillfully wheeled across the poor desert roads, often stopping to change a tire "blow out" while the passengers shared a picnic basket. Mari Dressler, Greta Garbo, Ginger Rogers, Bette Davis, Clark Gable, Robert Montgomery, Errol Flynn, and Joan Crawford are but a few of the many stars who routinely made the trek over the mountains and through the desert to La Quinta Hotel.
It is said that star Bette Davis told newspaper reporters, "I´m off to La Quinta," between scenes on the set of "Jezebel," and that movie director Frank Capra stated, "It was the kind of place everyone was looking for; it is a wonderful green oasis in the middle of the desert, and it is absolutely private." Legend has it that Capra first came to the desert in the late 1920s to turn the short story "Night Bus," (which he had read in a Palm Springs barber shop) into the script for "It Happened One Night." When the film swept the Academy Awards that year, Capra became superstitious about the desert and returned year after year to La Quinta Hotel, his "Shangri-La for script writing," to create film classics including "Mr. Deeds Goes to Town," "Lost Horizon," "You Can´t Take It With You," "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," and "Meet John Doe."
For most stars, however, the hotel was more a place of isolation than a source of inspiration. This was especially true for Greta Garbo. Garbo´s visits brought international fame to La Quinta Hotel.
It is said that Garbo´s first visit to La Quinta Hotel was at the suggestion of her agent, Harry Edington. With the help of his chauffeur, Edington rescued the world´s most admired actress from a phone booth that was surrounded by a mob of adoring fans. He suggested that the perfect getaway was La Quinta Hotel, which after her first visit became Garbo´s favorite place when she "wanted to be alone." Garbo and her companion John Gilbert were frequent guests at La Quinta Hotel and also leased La Casa, a private home built in the late 1920s on the southwest corner of the La Quinta Hotel property. La Casa was also located next to the home of Hollywood´s first female director, Dorothy Arzner.
La Quinta Resort During World War II
The Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor brought an end to those fun-filled days. Gasoline and automobile tire rationings prevented the Hollywood stars from traveling to their favorite desert retreat. The hotel closed in the spring of 1942 for the duration of the war. The cottages were locked; the pool, built in 1937, was drained and the flowers died. Only a skeleton crew remained to protect the cottages and grounds.
During the war, the United States Army requisitioned the property. Although troops never were officially stationed at the hotel, government signs forbidding unauthorized entry were posted at the hotel´s entrance. It is reported that both Army Tank Division and Army Air Corps Division used the hotel grounds and surrounding areas. Members of General George Patton´s staff reportedly used some of La Quinta Hotel's facilities.
As the war in both Europe and the Pacific was winding down, interest in the La Quinta property was renewed. In April 1945, Chicago hotelier Arnold S. Kirkeby purchased the hotel, then sold it three months later to another Chicagoan, John Balaban.
La Quinta's First Airport
Guests from further away also began to frequent the hotel. Following World War II, the private and commercial aviation industries grew. By the 1950s, air travel had become more common and Balaban´s friends and relatives chose to vacation in the warmth of La Quinta to escape the freezing northern winters. A private airstrip, installed at the hotel shortly after the war, made their trips even easier. By word of mouth, others became interested in spending their winters in the warm sunshine at La Quinta.
La Quinta Country Club
In the late 1950s, Chicago attorney Leonard Ettleson, who purchased the hotel from a fellow Chicagoan, John Balaban, brought golf back to La Quinta. Mr. Ettleson and a group of businessmen purchased property across the street to the east of the hotel and developed the La Quinta Country Club. The country club, which was later sold to the club members, became tremendously popular with golfers, celebrities and President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who first stayed at La Quinta while still in office to visit both his friends Mr. and Mrs. George Allen, whose home adjoined the hotel property, and his brother, who maintained a residence in La Quinta.
The Western Home of Golf in America
Acclaimed as "the Western Home of Golf in America," La Quinta hosts guests from around the world who come to test their skills on 90 championship holes, including the Pete Dye designed Dunes Course and Mountain Course and the PGA West TPC Stadium Course, Jack Nicklaus Tournament Course, and Greg Norman Course.
The resort has also continued its tradition of hosting major golf tournaments. Through the years, the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, Skins Game, PGA Grand Slam of Golf and PGA Tour Q-School, among others, have all taken place in the stunning venues of the resort's and nearby PGA West's courses.
Member of the Waldorf Astoria Collection
In 1932, Conrad N. Hilton wrote, "The Greatest of Them All," onto a photograph of the Waldorf=Astoria in New York City. It was his dream to own this legendary landmark and include it in his prestigious collection of hotels. That dream was realized in 1949. The hotel became the inspiration for the distinctive hotels of the Waldorf Astoria Collection, where stunning architecture and design, gracious service, elegance and excellence are the standards by which unique experiences are created.
Today, La Quinta is a proud to be a member of the Waldorf Astoria Collection, which includes some of the most extraordinary hotels found in spectacular destinations around the world.
A Legendary Destination Among Greater Palm Springs Historic Hotels
Discover a destination for all tastes at La Quinta Resort & Club – a unique desert hideaway designed for indulging in exceptional recreation and relaxation. Book your convenient Greater Palm Springs hotel reservations online for our Best Rates Guaranteed.
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