The Erawan Garden Hotel was constructed in 1963 in the City of Indian Wells, California, just down the road from Palm Springs in the Cochella Valley.
Image from the book Palm Springs Holiday
The Erawan was not Polynesian themed, it had a Far East design with some roadside flair added in. It advertised itself as the 'Luxury of the Orient'. The hotel included fourteen 2-story bungalows, a restaurant (Cambodia Dining Room) and a Lounge (Moongate Lounge). This fantastic signage looks like it had a gas torch at the top to light at night.
The color scheme of the Erawan was so simple and beautiful. The Hotel sat on 11 acres and included landscaped gardens and gas tiki torches between each of the bungalow buildings.
The Earwan operated for 34 years until it was purchased in 1996 by Marcus Hotels & Resorts. Marcus closed the hotel for a major refurbishment and reopened the doors a year later as the Miramonte Resort & Spa.
The Miramonte Resort today as an upscale Mediterranean Resort
At the time of the refurbishment, then Mayor of Indian Wells, Mr. Walter McIntyre, stated that "The heritage that was the Erawan will be displayed through renderings and photographs at City Hall."
I wonder if those images still hang on the wall of City Hall? I would love to see artist renderings and additional photos of this fantastic midcentury roadside marvel. Any readers of this blog live in the Coachella Valley?
Perhaps there is an archive file at Indian Wells City Hall but the pictures on the wall of the lobby reflect the people who formed the city to avoid being the tax base for a Palm Desert city incorporation. There is a Historical Preservation Society working to keep memories of Indian Wells alive.
ReplyDeleteThe Erawan was a great place. I used to get my haircut by the barber there. Hadn't thought of it in years.
Hi there -- love your blog! I used to live in a nearby town and frequent Palm Springs/Palm Desert with my grandparents when I was a child in the late 60s and 70s. I just posted the postcard above from my collection onto Flickr and added a little history from my research: http://www.flickr.com/photos/24047957@N06/5751395727
ReplyDeleteCheers and.... Aloha!
I grew up in Indio in the 70's and 80's and remember going to the Erawan to have my hair done and in December to visit Santa and his reindeer. I now live in Colorado and spend two weeks every year at the Miramonte...Absolutely LOVE it!
ReplyDeleteI have old matchbooks from the Erawan!!!!!
ReplyDeleteMy Dad, Frank Wylie played in a band there in the late 60's early 70's. Does anyone remember this band. The leader was Chico Vasquez.
ReplyDeleteI'm trying to put together info on my family since my dad passed away when me and my brother were very young.
Thanks Liz Wylie Lockie
Of course! Chico Vasquez was the bandleader, Frank(Grace?) was the drummer and my dad, Chris Abelardo was the bass player there. Good old days!
DeleteBack to the band members...I wasn't sure of all the members in the band or even the name of the group.
DeleteI know it is customary to "sit in" for others as well.
I did come across a very nice photo of the group, I could email a photo of the band if your are interested.
Thanks again,
Liz Wylie Lockie
I grew up in Indian Wells from 1975-1984, The Erawan Hotel was awesome for us few bored teens with nothing to do in a mostly senior retirement neighborhood, we used to pool hop , jacuzzi, terrorize the place on bikes, pick up on out of town girls and even managed to "find" free bottles of booze on occasion. Our ultimate dream was to try to skateboard the front double A-frame roof like a giant half-pipe, but nobody was ever brave enough to try. To young at the time to fully appreciate the decor, with tiki torches, wooden bridge over the pools, and a fire breathing dragon statue in the restaurant lounge and the main front sign with its giant torch burning 24/7. I remember Baby Buddha's band played their lounge often, a local valley nightclub celebrity in the 70's & 80's. It was a great time to live in the desert, it had a much smaller town feel. I miss those days!
ReplyDeleteHey 3D Burns, I lived in Indian Wells from 1972 to 2001?? I was 12 when I moved there. So, who are you?
DeleteI remember the joint!
ReplyDeleteIt was during my disaster movie phase and I would fling myself off the pool bridge pretending to be in EARTHQUAKE. We stayed there over new years and my parents wouldnt let me go to the celebration in the lounge as I was just a kid. I thought the lighting fixtures on the cielings looked like a mini version of those in THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE. So I called my parents before midnight and told them my lil sister had drowned in the pool. They came running back to the room. Boy, Mom was not amused!!!!
I remember the fire breathing dragon and would love to see a picture of it.
I stayed at the Marijuana Garden (as my coworkers called it) many times during the 80's, but I can't say that I liked it. It had kind of a creepy Brady Bunch vibe, and while the rooms were clean, they were threadbare and somebody had drawn in the genitalia on all the murals of deities that adorned a wall of each room. They attempted to update the amenities at one point, by installing a plastic bathtub liner...but water got trapped between the tub and the liner, making it hard to stand on. I would have been happier if they had fixed the low water pressure instead. I had the misfortune of staying there during spring break one year...the noise from the partiers wasn't stopped by the thin walls at all. On the plus side, I encountered Scatman Crothers eating his breakfast one morning, and sunsets on the desert were magical, oh, and the dragon in the lobby was cool too.
ReplyDeleteThere's always a Debbie Downer in the bunch...thanks for your uplifting contribution at 1:22 AM.
DeleteI frequently worked at the Erawan as a musician in the 1970s and was booked by Al Anthony. I remember Chris Abelardo was a good friend. We worked together at the Palm Springs Racquet Club together for a season. I was with Chris at a senior center in Palm Springs the day we lost him. He was a fine musician.
ReplyDeleteHi! Thanks for the great information you havr provided! You have touched on crucuial points!
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Used to love staying at the Irawan Gardens with my parents in the mid 70s. My parents must have loved the Asian motif because I remember when we stayed there, we'd go out to a nearby Cantonese Style restaurant called House Of Bamboo on Hwy 111. My parents ordered Tiki drinks and pupu platters to complete the genre.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone have a photo of the Dragon that used to be in the lobby?
ReplyDeleteWhat memories, my family owned a house at Casa Dorado that was a weekend house, and going to the hotel was always a high point. Such a special area, especially since I now live in upstate NY.
ReplyDeleteWe stayed there the second week of June June for 5 years ( 1974-1978)for the City of Gardena's Golf Tournament. I can't rmember having a better time anywhere (though it was a bit hot and the last week the hotel was open before they closed down for the summer.)
ReplyDeleteWas the Erawan still a great place to stay in 1986 or was it beginning to get run down?
ReplyDeleteI worked here then, it was still nice at this time.
DeleteI remember the Erawan well, I worked the Switchboard for a season there and worked in the resrvations dept. for Two additional seasons.
ReplyDeleteI worked there from 1983-84 in Food and Beverage...Loved every minute of it.
ReplyDeleteWas this lovely site originally build by Tom McMillan? Does anyone know. He was such a visionary.
ReplyDeleteWorked here in the dining room about 84 to 86. Great place to work. Lots of memories, did poolside cocktails as well. Might stay at this new hotel for memories, I'm still local.
ReplyDeleteMy family dined there many a weekend when I was a youngster in the '60s. How I loved that place. Class all the way. The fire-breathing dragon was amazing. We always took a stroll around the pool before leaving. Fabulous memories during a fabulous era in the Coachella Valley.
ReplyDeleteLong ago, in the 110+ degree summer heat my best friend and I rode our (one speed – called Beach Cruisers now?) bikes from Indio to Palm Springs and back. That’s 27 miles each way. There were not plastic water bottles back then; and I don’t think we had the foresight to take army canteens. On the way back we stopped at then new luxury hotel in Indian Wells. There we each paid 50¢ for a ginger ale, when a bottle of Coke was 10¢ in a machine. We were desperate!
ReplyDeleteHoneymooned at Erawan in 1974. Just getting to breakfast before they stopped serving at 10:30 AM was the challenge of the day. Returned in 2010 not realizing that this was where we started out together. A happy surprise.
ReplyDeleteWho remembers Adele Girard, the harpist who played in the restaurant for a number of years in the 1980s. Adele was my mother.
ReplyDeleteWho remembers Adele Girard, the harpist who played in the restaurant for a number of years in the 1980s. Adele was my mother.
ReplyDeleteEleisa - my mother was so inspired by your mom’s harp playing during a vacation we took to the Erawan, that she purchased a harp, took lessons and became quite an accomplished harpist herself. It was because of your mom that I grew up waking to harp music through most of my childhood.
Delete8 July, 2020 Wednesday
ReplyDeleteGlad to see you are still around! I'm writing from Wooster, Ohio. Had breakfast at the Erawan during late spring of 1992 with my mother Helen Oster. Great food! Great experience! My mother knew the original Erawan in Bangkok, Thailand. So she wanted to visit your establishment to compare notes. She was very impressed (favorably). John Oster
Spent many Thanksgivings (Thu-Sun) there with my folks and the Encino Shrine Club in the early '70s.
ReplyDeleteI went there for dinner on prom night, 1968. So wonderful
ReplyDeleteI have pictures of the dragon. Can they be posted to this site?
ReplyDeleteI work at Miramonte now and would LOVE to see a photo of the dragon myself!
DeleteI work there in 1987ish first I started out as a reservationist then I became a waiter the owner son Glenn hired me it was a nice place to work.
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