Mid-Century Moderns: The Homes That Define Palm Springs

When Father and Son team George and Bob Alexander started building affordable architect designed homes in Palm Springs in 1955, they had no idea they would be the catalyst of what is today a city filled with modern design. This documentary film goes beyond the walls and hedges of Mid-Century homes that were built in neighborhoods like Twin Palms, Vista Las Palmas and Racquet Club Estates. The film features interviews with noted architects James Harlan, author of The Alexanders: A Desert Legacy and Hugh M. Kaptur, a contemporary of Palmer and Krisel, as they articulate their knowledge of the innovations made in construction these mid-century marvels of design. Also well-know preservationists including Gary Johns, Vice President of the Palm Springs Preservation Foundation and Robert Imber, owner and operator of Palm Springs Modern Tours and Chairman of the PS ModCom Education Committee, discuss the impact of the Alexander Construction Company on California Living and the "built environment". Joe Contreras, a journeyman carpenter employed by the Alexander Construction Company, gives a first hand account of what it was like working for Bob Alexander while building these unique structures. Palm Springs ModCom Founder and President, Chris Menrad, discusses his Twin Palms home and the impact the Alexanders had on Palm Springs society, and homeowner Brian Maguire gives us a tour of his Don Wexler designed steel home, now on the National Registry of Historic Places. Watch as home owners in various Palm Springs neighborhoods speak directly to the pride that goes beyond home ownership as they tour us through their homes. They gladly accept that they are the stewards of these mid-Century monuments that they live with everyday. —Bert Simonis