Scouting Palm Springs

[drscott]

I spent the last week in Palm Springs tooling about with excessor -- we stayed in formerly-half-his beautiful Mid-Century Modern home with perfect rectangular pool, slate floors throughout, and palm trees dramatically lit from below.

As a real estate scouting trip it was fairly successful. The "48 @ Baristo" condos I had been interested in are now so high in price it wouldn't make sense to buy -- sold at $300 or so last year, they're now getting up towards $500K in resale. The new phases are starting at $500K and rising fast. The 3000-sq-ft-with-casita houses in Montage at Cathedral City went from $350K two years ago to $750K now. Given the low incomes in the area and the amount of flipping and speculation, it looks like an overbuilding boom and subsequent bust are imminent, and indeed there are rumored to be new permits for thousands of units in Palm Springs alone.

We visited Randy C (Andy's ex) at his new place in 48@Arenas. He's put in many thousands of dollars of custom cabinetry and finishes, power shades, builtins, etc. -- the application of money and good taste has made his the only unit I'd actually want to live in. His new life seems to be going well, and he regaled us with stories of his recent dates and massages. The talk would not have been complete without some group worrying about Andy, but given that he would not listen to anyone it is always an unproductive discussion.

We saw a lot of qbear and rootbeer1 -- we first met them at the Sunday beerbust at the Barracks, which was crowded and warm enough to encourage shirtless men. Then we went to dinner with them -- charming Jack and puckish Steve, who I can finally see as younger than me despite his senior LJ status. We saw them again a few days later, when we went over to their friend Mike's house to hang out by the pool, then again Wednesday night for dinner with a few of their friends. I especially remember John, a big bearded schoolteacher who sat between excessor and me. I wanted to pack him in my suitcase and take him home with me, but I failed to give him the opportunity, alas. The food at El Mirasol was great.

I really look forward to getting to know Jack and Steve better. Jack's stories and Steve's smile are hard to resist. :)

My next scouting trip will be to Las Vegas. It will not be as fun without excessor along to liven things up.

Comments

Re: Palm Springs

[dr-scott.livejournal.com]

I didn't see any scorpions -- aieee! -- but there were plenty of gnats and flies, which I would guess are less of a problem later in the season when they've mostly died of heat exhaustion. :) One of the things that made it a gay haven, though, is gone -- low prices for housing. While it's still cheaper than Westwood or WeHo, it's no longer half the price. Gay people have tended to adopt towns that are depressed and low-rent, like Guerneville, P-Town, Key West, and Rehoboth Beach, but then prices rise as the trendoids adopt the place, which is what happened here. The River is still relatively cheap but only because of the flooding of a few years ago and less attractive environment -- no city services, no gyms, limited restaurant choices, etc., keep out the party people.