Feb 27, 200602:46 PMThe Life

Historic Site Preservation Board: missing or hidden plaques

· Photo of site #47 (Ship of the Desert), located at 1995 South Camino Monte:

Architects: Erle Webster & Adrian Wilson (a 1936 example of Streamline Moderne)

The new house was christened "Ship of the Desert" on the cover of the October 1937 Sunset magazine. It is obvious why. The cover photo shows what appears to be a handsome streamlined vessel, its decks lined with trim pipe railings, its leading edge appearing to plow through an ocean of sagebrush and sand. The master bedroom, windows flung open to the fresh air, looks like a ship's bridge. Perched partway up the mountain like a grounded Noah's Ark, the house must have looked like it was waiting for prehistoric Lake Cahuilla to refill the Coachella Valley basin so that it could set sail.

--Alan Hess, in the Feb. 2002 Palm Springs Life, p. 24.

· Photo of site #14 (Palm Canyon Mesa Tract Gate House), located at 101 West El Portal.

· Site #4: Miss Cornelia's "Little House", located at 221 South Palm Canyon.

· Site #19: O'Donnell House, located at 447 West Alejo Road.

· Site #25: Ingleside Inn, located at 200 West Ramon Road.

· Site #29B: Kaufman - Harris House, located at 470 West Vista Chino.

· Site #33(1): Loewy House, located at 600 West Panorama Road.

· Site #33(3): Albert Frey House II, located at 686 Palisades Drive.

· Site #34: The Willows, located at 412 West Tahquitz Canyon.

· Site #39: Fire Station #1, located at 277 North Indian Canyon.

· Site #42: Wexler Steel Homes (7), located at 290 East Simms Road, 3100 North Sunnyview Drive, 3125 North Sunnyview Drive, 3133 North Sunnyview Drive, 3165 North Sunnyview Drive, 300 East Molino Road and 330 East Molino Road.

· Site #44: Grace Lewis Miller (Neutra), located at 2311 North Indian Canyon.

· Site #46: Edris House, located at 1030 West Cielo Drive.

· Site #6: House of Murphy, located at 262 South Palm Canyon.

· Site #16: Indianoya Building, located at 232 North Palm Canyon.

· Site #17: Desert Fashion Plaza, located at 123 North Palm Canyon.

· Site #24: Dr. Reid's Sanitarium, located at 648 North Indian Canyon.

· Site #31: Cork 'n Bottle, located at 342 North Palm Canyon.

· Site #33(5): Carey-Pirozzi House, located at 651 West Via Escuela.

Unverified rumor: the current owner of one historic site supposedly turned down the plaque offered by the Historic Site Preservation Board, because they refused to put his name on it.

How many historic sites have you visited?