Moorten Botanical Garden

Located at 1701 S Palm Canyon Drive, Moorten Botanical Garden was a nice 20-minute walk from our Airbnb apartment on the south end of downtown Palm Springs. Established in 1938, this private arboretum features 3,000 varieties of desert trees and plants on a half a block site (1-acre site). In the world’s first Cactarium (aka greenhouse or arboretum), a word coined by the Moortens, you will find an exhibition including some rare desert plants seen nowhere else.

We enjoyed wandering the trails and marvelling at the intense colour of the flowers despite it being December. (FYI: The best time to experience the magical colours of desert plants is from March to May.) We loved how sculptural many of the plants were. It inspired me to think about how I might add more xerophytic plants to our garden in Calgary.

Here are some photos to show you what to expect. It is easily a 30 to 60-minute experience and well worth the $10 entrance fee. There is a cool gift shop that has lots of cacti for sale, but sadly we couldn’t take any home with us.

FYI: There is lots of free parking.

Market Market

This 40,000 square foot emporium of upscale vintage apparel, accessories, furniture, art and design items is truly a hidden gem. We walked by it twice, before we found it despite having the address! It is in an old SteinMart grocery store, tucked away at the back of shopping center at 1555 S Palm Canyon Dr. but you can’t see it from the street due to other building facing the Drive, you have to know to turn or walk west at E Sonora Road to find it.

When you walk in you can’t help but go “WOW!” as there are no walls and high ceiling. It is literally a wide-open space filled with dozens of boutique-like installation of various luxury vendors wares, that are curated and professionally presented. Wandering the exhibits is like being in a contemporary art gallery with its many exhibition spaces; this is definitely not your over-crowed antique mall.

We wandered for over an hour and stopped for a free coffee to just sit and absorb the space. We even bought at Norwegian contemporary serving tray, which unfortunately didn’t survive the plane trip home.

Here are some photos to give you a taste of what you will see at Market Market.

H3K Home + Design

H3K Home Design (501 S Palm Canyon Dr) could easily be missed as its modest entrance is above the sidewalk. And even if you did see it, it looks more like an interior design office than a mid-century modern boutique. It was our last day when I suggested we check it out as it was just a short walk from our apartment.

It was another “WOW!” moment when we walked in and were assaulted by the mid-century colour. While it is mostly new furniture based on mid-century colour and design, there are some touristy take-home items like clocks, housewares and books. I bought myself a two-toned Pantone coffee mug in my favourite colours - yellow and grey. I regret not buying the Keith Haring pop-up book.

Hot Tip: Across the street at the entrance to the US Bank there are two major relief artworks (12 feet by 8 feet) that depict the history of the Palm Springs area. It was a fun public art find.

We first saw H3K Home + Design when we were waiting at this bus stop and thought it was an interior design office.

This is the entrance from the parking lot.

Townie Café & Bakery

Located in a playful mid-century modern building (650 E Sunny Dunes Rd) in the Vintage District is Townie Café & Bakery. It opens at 6:30 am (we didn’t experience the early bird vibe), and was a happening place when we visited at 9:30am - unfortunately it is all over by noon as that is when they close. When I suggested it would be nice if they were open until 2ish for lunch, I got a quick “that’s not going to happen.”

It is a great place for just a coffee, maybe a muffin, or grab a bagel breakfast sandwich. I loved my decadent pumpkin cream cheese muffin. It is also great for people watching…we could have sat there all morning. Quite a buzz!

Plant This

Across the street from the Bakery at 693 E Sunny Dunes Rd is “Plant This,” a shop devoted to cacti plants. If I lived in the greater Palm Springs area, I would be commissioning them to create a small garden for me - perhaps a custom hanging garden for a fence, or a big bowl of cacti for my house. We loved it so much we visited twice. Even if you can’t buy anything to take home, you can get ideas from visiting places like this while on vacation.

FYI: Look closely at the cacti and you will find fun sayings like - “I am vibrant,” and “I am powerful” and “I am grateful” and “I am thick.” Talking plants?

You can see the bakery in the background

You can see in the background some of the other items of interest.

Reduezx2 Thrift Store

Not far from Moorten is Reduex2 (1574 S Palm Canyon Dr), a thrift/resale store that specializes in men’s clothing. This recently opened boutique-like store has a diversity of clothing and artifacts that makes it worth a visit if you are in the area (it is not far from Moortens Botanical Garden). I picked up a pair of like-new Merrell loafers for $10. The shop is so new you won’t find it on Google Maps.