How Nowhere Attracts Artists to East Jesus

Today, your GPS or smartphone might just lead you to the middle of nowhere – East Jesus. This artist’s colony is a couple of dusty miles away from Slab City, a squatters’ settlement that feels like an Imperial Valley desert metropolis once you reach this commune, literally at the end of the road.

East Jesus #EastJesus #California @GingerandNutmeg

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Far from Reality Slab City and Salvation Mountain

As Nutmeg stood in front of a crayon-coloured mound of dirt, clay and straw she thought what would Antoni Gaudí i Cornet (Gaudi) have thought of this? The “summit” of Salvation Mountain stands almost 45-feet high, a mass that is easily recognisable in the otherwise pancake-flat California desert.

Salvation Mountain #California @GingerandNutmeg

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5 Reasons to Visit Joshua Tree National Park

It was President Franklin D. Roosevelt who with the stroke of his pen made Joshua Tree a National Monument on August 10, 1936 (it became a National Park in 1994). However, those 825,000 acres (now: 792,510 acres) would never have been recognized as worth protecting had it not been for Minerva Hamilton Hoyt, a southern belle and unlikely activist from Mississippi, who lived in Pasadena with her surgeon husband.

Joshua Tree #California Joshua Tree National Park #JoshuaTree

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Pappy and Harriet’s Rocks Pioneertown

Fault lines, droughts and dust storms are the realities of the California desert where nothing can be too permanent or too real.

Pioneertown may look like a Wild West frontier town from gold rush days, but it in reality it was created in 1946 for western-themed Hollywood movies. Complete with facades of banks, jails, saloons and stables this veneer of a town was the stage set for over 50 movies through the end of the 1950s.

@pappy_harriets #Pioneertown #California

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Palm Springs ABCs for the Desert

The Coachella Valley:

Palms to Pines
Golf holes to Polo fields
Hiking boots to Stilettos
Date trees to Dance floors
Swimming pools to Concerts

Ginger and Nutmeg are ‘relative’ newbies to the Palm Springs area and want to thank their friends for the locals’ tips. Nutmeg has created one of her ABC lists to provide all G&N readers a snapshot of the valley.

Crazy January Shadows

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Walking Through Palm Springs History

Sombreros, sunshine and margaritas were the fuel for a series of historical walking tours in Palm Springs. Kathryn Leonard and her husband were visiting friends in and the Mexican city of San Miguel de Allende five years ago when the idea for historic walks sprouted in her head.

McCallum Adobe built in 1884 - The first house built in PS by the first white settler John McCallum and his family #PalmSprings
Kathryn is a retired schoolteacher with enough energy to challenge the energizer bunny. An avid tennis player and skier she may have finished with her professional career, but she is certainly not prepared to be idle. Kathryn told Nutmeg that during a walking tour in San Miguel de Allende she thought that the concept would work well in Palm Springs. Continue reading

What is Cooking in Palm Springs at Le Vallauris

Without water, movie stars and artists Palm Springs, California would not exist. In many ways neither would the Cote d’Azur town of Vallauris in France.

Andreas Canyon Panorama #PalmSprings #California #IndianCanyons

Le Vallauris owner Paul Bruggemans was born in Belgium where he studied culinary arts at the Ecole d’Hôtellerie et de Tourisme in Liege. Sunny California lured him away from overcast Northern European skies. In 1970, he and his partner opened Le St. Germain on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles. Just two years, later they decided to open a second restaurant, but they could not agree on the location between Palm Springs and Newport Beach. The answer was decided by the flip of a coin – lucky for Palm Springs.

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