Here’s a few of my favorite shots from Illuminated Modern, during Palm Springs Modernism Week 2015. 

Now in it’s fourth year, Illuminated Modern focuses on significant modernist buildings in Palm Springs. It happens every night of Modernism Week, from February 12 -22.  It’s a free self guided tour that simply requires you to get in your car and drive along Palm Canyon Drive between sundown and midnight. Therefore, no reservations are required, that is, unless you need to borrow a car or bicycle from someone.

I have no idea who came up with this brilliant idea, but it certainly adds another level of excitement to the full array of events happening  during modernism’s 10 day extravaganza. Even though it feels a bit like Vegas, I really like it and almost wish they’d keep it lit like this year round. It would force both the tourists and locals to take note of the significant structures in town. However, that’s highly impractical. See that beautiful gas station by William F. Cody? I had to scramble through the sage brush to reach that vantage point while using the flashlight on my iphone. I don’t think of February as rattlesnake season… but who wants to take chances. That said, once I snapped my photo, it made me think of Ed Ruscha’s famous Standard Station screen print. I absolutely love how the paper thin roof nearly floats over the gas pumps, and I’d never noticed it while driving past it on the 111.

Here’s a quick run down on the architects of these buildings.

Palm Springs Visitor Center, 2901 N. Palm Canyon Dr. Albert Frey & Robson Chambers, 1963. (Photos 1, 6 & 7)

Coachella Valley Savings & Loan, 383 S. Palm Canyon Drive, E. Stewart Williams, 1956.

Towne Palm Springs, Originally The Harold Hicks – Desert Water Building, 1345 N. Palm Canyon Drive,  E. Stewart Williams, 1955/1960

Kaplan Medical Building, 1492 N. Palm Canyon Drive, Bill Krisel

Gas Station, William F. Cody, 1961 – 62.

Click here to learn more about MODERNISM WEEK 2015