Palm Springs Update: Supper Clubs and Shining Stars

Palm Springs brings to mind desert views with palm trees and the iconic San Jacinto Mountains backdrop, mid-century modern architecture, glamorous old Hollywood, and fabulous food and drink. But there’s more! Here are two terrific examples of Palm Springs entertainment for you to explore while visiting this Coachella Valley oasis. First, PS Underground, a unique, over-the-top supper club. Next, the Rancho Mirage Observatory, offering spectacular celestial displays.

Snap Your Fingers to the Beat

PS Underground is a one-of-a-kind experience with culinary delights, live entertainment, and free-flowing libations. It’s an evening—or brunch—of gastronomic and artistic stimulation that will leave you smiling and raving about the great time you’ve had.

This is a supper club that presents a new show every week, and a bespoke multi-course meal accompanies the action. Here’s a snapshot: I attended Beatnik, featuring a talented troupe of actors and musicians bringing sounds of poetry, jazz, and bebop set in an atmosphere of 1950s cool. We sat at tables artfully arranged around a rectangular platform stage. Part of PS Underground’s enchantment is the expert lighting, skillfully evoking a mood.

Active participation is a must, so we donned our berets and black turtlenecks for this laid-back evening of hip counterculture celebration. Set in a casual living room with a white shag rug, colorful pillows, a mid-century modern coffee table topped with a vintage radio, the actors were sexy and sleek, and they inhabited their characters fully. We snapped our fingers to the smooth sounds of sax, congo, and keyboard. The highlight was a rousing rendition of Maya Angelou’s “Still I Rise”—a modern touch that we all appreciated.

Now for the Food and Drink

Cocktails and wine flowed freely, with servers circulating constantly. Selections presented included crudité with a fondue side, cherry tomatoes, pickles, and savory bread. Next, an antipasto arrived in cups filled with veggies, meats, cheeses, and thin breadsticks.

Two 1950s favorites rounded out the meal—a chicken Divan and an Ambrosia Salad. The chicken was accompanied by mashed potatoes and a vegetable medley while the Ambrosia was fabulously light, not too sweet, and served in a stunningly clear, shallow glass.

PS Underground is a stellar venue and throws a feast for the senses.

 Commune With the Cosmos

Another extraordinary sensory experience is an evening stargazing at the world-class Rancho Mirage Library and Observatory.

We spent two hours and it was nowhere near enough time. Astronomer Eric McLaughlin explains the stars as you gaze at celestial bodies hundreds and thousands of light-years away. Imagine the constellations swirling around you, vividly projected inside the observatory’s dome. This state-of-the-art facility opened in March 2018 and has become one of Palm Springs’ top attractions. Plus, it’s free to the public.

Arriving just after dusk, we started this stargazing party at the Observatory deck, where the telescopes provide up to 100 times magnification. Viewing the planets Jupiter and Saturn, situated close to the bright full moon, gave us a sense of how ideal a spot the Coachella Valley is to see the stars, located as it is far away from light pollution.

Next, we walked inside the observatory’s dome for viewing through the powerful CDK 700 telescope. Astronomer McLaughlin is a master narrator, and he was accompanied by long-time docent Ron Treat, an amateur astronomer in his own right. They were an engaging duo.

We “oohed” and “aahed” as Eric spun the CDK 700 into position and pressed a button that opened the retractable panel allowing the telescope to peer into the night sky. He locked it onto Saturn, and we took turns gazing at the planet, some 800,000,00 miles away. Saturn looked about the size of a dime and glowed white through the lens, with its signature rings encircling it. He snapped a picture through the telescope with my iPhone—amazing!

An Education Filled with Wonder

As we soaked in the stars, Eric and Ron filled us with wonder. We learned how atmospheric distortion causes the stars to twinkle. And how the moon is slowly pulling away from the Earth, at about three centimeters per year, measured with laser retro-reflectors that are placed on the moon’s surface.

The Observatory’s Integrated Space Theater system was the ultimate finale of this stargazing party. As their website explains, the system allows a real-time customized journey through outer space. The constellations twirl around the top of the dome in a full projection that simulates the actual night sky viewed from where you are. All of a sudden the moon loomed overhead, so massive that you could see the craters pockmarking its surface. Saturn spun above us, so powerfully magnified that its rings looked like the grooves on a vinyl record. The Milky Way glowed in the background.

The entire experience at the Rancho Mirage Observatory was a revelation. The evening of stargazing reminded us that the stars and contemplating our universe broadens your philosophical horizons. We ended the night thankful to have traveled along for this date with the cosmos.