Modernism Week Kicks Off With Tours, Cocktails, Music

PALM SPRINGS (CNS) – Modernism Week, an annual celebration of Palm Springs mid-century design and architecture, began Thursday with opening day festivities including tours, a ribbon-cutting ceremony, cocktails, live music and more.

Festivities kicked 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.

Events continued at 9 a.m. in the Hyatt Palm Springs featuring live music, refreshments and a free professional color consultation, before city officials and the Modernism Board of Directors hosted a ribbon-cutting at around 10 a.m. for the Community And Meeting Place, which will serve as a central hub of activity throughout the 11-day festival.

Also at 9 a.m. began a sold-out Frey House II Tour with museum day passes and a House of Friday Home Tour featuring the newly renovated home where Elvis and Priscilla Presley honeymooned in 1967, according to event officials.

More than a dozen tours were scheduled throughout the morning, followed by a sold-out Midcentury Mixology Cocktail Clinic at Mr. Lyons, where attendees could 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.

At 4:30 p.m., there will be a free festive celebration of permanent nighttime lighting of Albert Frey’s modern sculptural masterpiece at the Palm Springs Visitor Center.

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. The night will end with the festival’s opening night party at Studio 74 in Palm Springs featuring a 1970s disco nightclub atmosphere.

Tickets and more information about Modernism Week are available at ModernismWeek.com. Event organizers will host more tours and similar events through Feb. 26.

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