On this page we feature other sorts of media about the Palm Springs area including View-Master reels, a promotional film strip, a few slides, a couple yearbooks, and even some music. The captions in [brackets], whenever possible, include labels from the original item in “quotation marks.” We add estimated dates and other details. For best viewing experience, choose the 720p or higher setting on the player.Click images to enlarge.
View-Masters & Film Strips
FS#1. [“Palm Springs” 1940.] 35mm. Silent. Faded color. Stereoscopic filmstrip originally produced by Tru-Vue for tourists. Digitized (sadly not stereoscopically) and music added by Melissa.
VM#1. [Sawyer’s View-Master “Palm Springs, California” #186, ca. 1940s.] Silent. By View-Master Manufacturing Inc.
VM#2. [View-Master 3-D Tour, Reel A “Resort Area, Palm Springs, California,” 1978.] Silent. By View-Master Manufacturing Inc.
VM#3. [View-Master 3-D Tour, Reel B “Indio and Coachella Valley, Palm Springs, California,” 1978.] Silent. By View-Master Manufacturing Inc.
VM#4. [View-Master 3-D Tour, Reel C “Aerial Tramway, Palm Springs, California,” 1978 (or 1968? Others in 3-pack say 1978.)] Silent. By View-Master Manufacturing Inc.
Reels VM#1-4 were projected with this 1949 View-Master Projector made by Sawyer’s Inc.
Stereo Realist Slides
Realist#1. Palm Springs Float in Rose Bowl Parade, ca. 1950s-60s
Realist#2. “Salton Sea”, n.d.
Realist#3. Salton Sea Sign, n.d.
Realist#4. “Coachella Date Palms”, n.d.
Realist#5. “Date Palms”, n.d.
Music & Stuff
Plaza Theatre Poster, March 30, 1957
Indio National Date Festival Pageant Souvenir Album 1983 featuring John Easton Stuart as Prince Kassim and Kathy Westmoreland as Princess Scheherazade. Produced and Directed by Larry Canady. Listen here on Internet Archive. (We nearly put this album in the “Weird Stuff” category, but it was recorded for the Date Festival.)
Premiere of the film THE TALL “T” starring Randolph Scott, who was also Grand Marshall for that day’s Desert Circus parade.
The Miami Herald, September 7, 1958. AP News (feature by John Beckler on Coachella Valley.) “Palm Springs: Incredible Oasis in the Desert” Caption reads: “Wealth and poverty in the famed desert resort of Palm Springs, Calif., are contrasted in these pictures. Top photo shows one of the many plush homes, some costing up to $250,000, that give the city an appearance of a modern Baghdad. Below is the shack home of one of the 2,500 people who perform the menial chores that make the good life possible for wealthy visitors. There is a movement afoot to clear the slum section of Palm Springs to make way for a housing development…” To read more.
Handbill for the January 24, 1981, gala opening for “A Film Retrospective in Honor of Frank Sinatra” at the Palm Springs Desert Museum. Click to read.
Slides
Slide #1. Palm Springs Airport, 1950s
Slide #2. Barbara & Frank Sinatra and Jill St. John at 1993 Palm Springs Film Festival
Slide #3. Palm Canyon Road Sign, 1973
Slide #4. Palm Canyon (now Indian Canyons) Trading Post, 1973
Slide #5. Indio Date Festival Princesses, 1958
Slide #6. Indio Date Festival Princesses, 1958
Slide #7. Indio Date Festival Princesses, 1958
Slide #8. Indio Date Festival Princesses, 1958
Slide #9. Indio Date Festival Princesses, 1958
Slide #10. Palm Springs Air Museum, ca. 1950s-60s
Slide #11 Field of Flowers near Palm Springs, ca. 1960s
Slide #12 Help Keep Palm Springs Clean, ca. 1970s
Postcards
1920s postcard – front. Caption reads: “Palo Verde trees in bloom on the desert near Palm Springs, California”
1920s postcard – back. Caption reads: “The Palo Verde (Spanish for Green Stick) blooms in April and is undoubtedly the showiest thing on the desert.” Handwritten note says, “this is typical of the main roads.”
ca. 1950s postcard featuring Shields Date Farm and Indio Date Festival Princesses.
“Shields Date Garden. Here amid stately date palms is one of the most popular tourist attractions on Highway 111, between Palm Springs and Indio, California. Visitors enjoy the free color motion pictures on the Date Story and visit one of the most modern showrooms and colorful rose gardens in the state.”
“Joshua Palms on the Desert in Southern California” postcard, ca. 1920s
“Joshua Palms on the Desert in Southern California” postcard back. “As awe inspiring night — green trees and multi-color desert vegetation greet the eye at the desert’s edge. Palm Springs, California.”
“A Few Varieties of Desert Cacti” postcard ca. 1920s
“A Few Varieties of Desert Cacti” postcard back. No text.
“I Want You Babe”/Sonny Bono postcard, 1988 – front.
“I Want You Babe”/Sonny Bono postcard, 1988 – back.
“Desert Inn Fashion Plaza” postcard, ca. 1980s – front.
“Desert Inn Fashion Plaza” postcard, ca. 1980s – back.
“Color-Letter of Palm Springs, Calif.”, – front.
“Color-Letter of Palm Springs, Calif.”, ca. 1950s – “Semi-Aerial of City Center.”
“Color-Letter of Palm Springs, Calif.”, ca. 1950s – “Dusk View of Palm Canyon Drive.”
“Color-Letter of Palm Springs, Calif.”, ca. 1950s – “Winter Golfing Capital of the World.”
“Color-Letter of Palm Springs, Calif.”, ca. 1950s – “Typical ‘Pool Side’ Resort Atmosphere.”
“Color-Letter of Palm Springs, Calif.”, ca. 1950s – “World-Famous Tennis Club Resort.”
“Color-Letter of Palm Springs, Calif.”, ca. 1950s – #6.
From travelogue maps for The Happy Wanderers television (KCOP then later KNBC and KTLA, Los Angeles). Click each to read.
See article on the right about Willie McDavid.
Life Magazine article about “Hubcap” Willie McDavid who lived outside Palm Springs (probably the Whitewater area?) and sold found hubcaps and bottles in Banning.