Frank sinatra palm springs address

A Tour of His Hangouts

Jason Cochran

By Jason Cochran

He sang about Chicago and New York, but Frank Sinatra, who would have turned 100 in 2015, usually did it his way at his California home, Palm Springs. You can still visit the places Ol' Blue Eyes ate (like Melvyn's, pictured), drank (a lot), and slept—and pay respects at his final resting place.

SinatraHouse.com

1148 East Alejo Road: Twin Palms

Frank commissioned midcentury architect E. Stewart Williams to craft a desert home, which was his primary residence between 1948 and 1957. Frank originally wanted a Georgian-style mansion, but Williams convinced him to go a different way—and the California Desert style took off. The current owners have kept it in top shape and added udpated conveniences, and it rents to vacationers for $2,600 a night. For that, you get four bedrooms, 6.5 bathrooms, a piano-shaped pool, and Sinatra's original sound and recording system, which is still in place. If you can't afford to rent it for yourself, groups of 20 can arrange to take a guided tour.

SinatraHouse.com

1148 East Alejo Road: Twin Palms

It's said Frank planted a flagpole between the two palms of Twin Palms, and he would raise a flag to let his guests know it was cocktail hour. He had a special Jack Daniel's banner made to announce his favorite drink, which he helped popularize. Sales of the whiskey doubled in 1955 after Sinatra began referring to it as "the nectar of the gods"—and of course Twin Palms has a well-used wet bar featured prominently in the living room. In the master suite bathroom, a chip in the sink put there, legend goes, by a flying bottle of champagne that was hurled during one of Frank and Ava Gardner's many battles. (Yeah, right, drink another one.) Still, Ava later recalled, "“It was the site of probably the most spectacular fight of our young married life, and, honey, don’t think I don’t know that’s really saying something..."

Jason Cochran

70588 Frank Sinatra Drive, Rancho Mirage: The Compound

In 1957, Frank left Twin Palms and traded up to a much larger compound in the town of Rancho Mirage, a 15-minute drive west of downtown Palm Springs. There's a plaque in the driveway to honor him—be careful, because the street is busy and there's not space to pull over. The walled property sits along the 17th fairway of the Tamarisk Country Club. Here, the guest quarters are as large as Twin Palms alone, and the main house is some 8,000 square feet. Each guest bungalow was built with both "his" and "her" bathrooms. In 1995, the compound was purchased by multi-billionaire Jim Pattison, who owns the Ripley's Believe It Or Not! attractions, among other things. He has kept it largely the way Frank had it, including retaining his huge collection of toy trains, but tourists may not enter.

VillaMaggio.com

70300 San Lorenzo Road, Mountain Center: Villa Maggio

Frank commissioned architect Ross Patton to built a 7.5-acre mountain escape near Pinyon Crest expressly for private entertaining—eight bedrooms, nine bathrooms, a guest house that doubles as a studio, and views you can't believe. He named it after the character that won him an Oscar in From Here to Eternity, Pvt. Angelo Maggio. After John F. Kennedy spent the night in 1960, Frank, a Democrat, installed a commemorative plaque, but after a return trip, when Kennedy dodged rumors of Frank's mob ties by staying with Bing Crosby instead, it's said Frank got so angry he became a Republican. Other guests included Princess Grace, Elizabeth Taylor, and Richard Burton. You can only reach it by a gated road or its private helipad. In 2014, it was selling for $4.4 million and was marked down to $3.95 by the summer of 2015.

VillaMaggio.com

70300 San Lorenzo Road, Mountain Center: Villa Maggio

Even though Villa Maggio is off-limits to you, down in Palm Springs, several homes of the Rat Packers still stand and are visible on a driving tour, including Sammy Davis Jr.'s (at 444 Chino Road), Dean Martin’s mid-century modern Alexander house (at 1123 Via Monte Vista) and Peter Lawford, who lived so near Martin he could walk there without spilling his martini (1295 Via Monte Vista).

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457 Hermosa Place, Palm Springs: The martini incident

In 1958, actress and hoofer Ann Miller lived in this lavish 1928 Moorish mansion with a Texas oilman. Their four-acre spread in the Las Palmas neighborhood was dubbed "Villa Paradiso" by an envious Cary Grant, and at one party, it's said, Frank decked a barman for not knowing how to make an extra dry martini. (As you have learned, drunken misbehavior is something of a theme of any Sinatra tour.) Even if that story is apocryphal, the mansion is a lush example of desert luxury that once attracted Hollywood types to the Coachella Valley.

Melvyn's Restaurant

200 W. Ramon Road, Palm Springs: Melvyn's Restaurant

Brian Ellis, then and now the maître d’ at Melvyn’s Restaurant, told the Los Angeles Times: "When Mr. Sinatra came into the dining room, everything stopped. Silence came over this room." Frank chose Melvyn's, the restaurant at the Ingleside Inn, as the location for his pre-wedding party to Barbara, and he was a regular. Little seems to have changed since then—not even the waiters, many of whom have worked here for decades. The patio room with a faux-leaf draped ceiling is still a select spot for a Palm Springs luncheon. Although he could often be found glued to the bar, his corner table is still there, and you can still order pepper steak prepared tableside, as he did. John Travolta still loves this place.

The Purple Room

1900 East Palm Canyon Drive in Palm Springs: The Purple Room

Many of the old Rat Pack hangouts have gone, including Don the Beachcomber, Sorrentino’s, and Ruby’s Dunes, but The Purple Room at Club Trinidad, built in 1960, is still around, undergoing a revitalization in 2014. The motel to which it's attached it less than fresh, but inside, the Purple Room is once again a cool place to sip a vintage cocktail—lots of brown liquor, strong enough to make your liver cry—or slip into a booth for a supper-club evening. The Purple Room's co-owner, Tony Marchese, says Frank got engaged to Barbara here, and Frank was known to regularly turn up to drink and hear musicians. Even now, the singers still croon the songs that made Frank and his brood big.

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47225 Washington St. , La Quinta: St. Francis of Assisi Church

Frank worshipped (allegedly) here, in the town of La Quinta, 25 minutes east of Palm Springs near the legendary resort of the same name. It was designed by the famous Italian director Franco Zeffirelli. Frank Capra, who wrote nearly all his movies at the resort, also attended. Frank's daughter Nancy got married at St. Louis Catholic Church (68633 C St., Cathedral City), which thrived thanks to donations from Frank's mother Dolly.

Riviera Palm Springs

1600 North Indian Canyon Drive, Palm Springs: Riviera Palm Springs

Frank sometimes performed in the ballroom (the original one; now there are two) of the still-operating Riviera, built in 1959 near downtown Palm Springs. Usually, his appearances were for benefits featuring some of his other show business pals, including Bing Crosby or Jerry Lewis.

Jason Cochran

70385 Highway 111, Rancho Mirage: Lord Fletcher's

In his later years, Frank drew pleasure from dining at Lord Fletcher's, an English-themed restaurant and pub. It was the location of his 70th birthday party. In one well-known story, Frank would secretly sprinkle $20 bills under the table to give the cleaning crew a pleasant surprise after he left. Then there was the time he brought astronaut Alan Shepard here and both wound up behind the bar belting "Fly Me to the Moon." It still serves his favorite dish: braised short ribs with red cabbage or pot roast with potato pancakes, with a dessert of English rice pudding.

Jason Cochran

70001 Frank Sinatra Dr., Rancho Mirage: Michael S. Wolfson Park

You can still hear Ol' Blue Eyes if you press this button. But he's not singing: As a late-life gift to his local politico buddies, he recorded a 58-second welcome spiel to visitors of this otherwise unremarkable park. The information he delivers is strangely sheep-obsessed. After a few generic facts about the political career of Mr. Wolfson, he extolls the nearby Santa Rosa mountains, "Realm of the Bighorn Sheep" and then Bradley Peak, "home for the Bighorn Sheep during the lambing season. .. If only for a brief interlude may this park bring you peace and happiness. I thank you." The speaker is hidden in a fake rock.

Palm Springs

123 N. Palm Canyon Dr.: The Walk of Stars

In 1994, four years before his death in West Hollywood, Frank was on hand to christen his entry on Palm Springs' version of the Walk of Fame, known here as the Walk of Stars. The Walk honors famous people with strong ties to the area. You'll find it (unless construction has moved it to a temporary safe location) near the heart of downtown.

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31705 DaVall Drive, Cathedral City: Desert Memorial Park

And in 1998, he faced his final curtain. Under a fading and surprisingly mundane headstone that reads, unconvincingly, "The Best Is Yet to Come," the wonder boy from Hoboken rests—reportedly with a flask of Jack Daniel's beside him. He looks like he's mostly alone here, but nearby you'll also find his prizefighter father Anthony Martin Sinatra, his brash and fascinating mother "Dolly" (look for Natalie Sinatra; she was killed flying to her son's opening night at Caesars Palace), his dear friend Jilly Rizzo, his uncle Vincent Mazzola, and the composer Jimmy Van Heusen, the co-writer of such Sinatra standards as "Come Fly With Me," "My Kind of Town," and "Love and Marriage." Hollywood director Busby Berkeley, Betty Hutton, and Sonny Bono are also here. You'll find Frank a little north of the marker for Section B-8, not far from a tree. There are often dimes or bottles of Jack on his grave—tributes from fans for a larger-than-life icon of American culture.

Want more? Palm Springs' tourism office also connects visitors with Sinatra-themed attractions from modernist homes to directions to see his contract and jacket on display at the Hard Rock Hotel in town.

Twin Palms - Frank Sinatra's House in Palm Springs

Each year, visitors flock to Palm Springs to view the iconic former homes of Hollywood legends, and there are few more so than Frank Sinatra. Sinatra loved the desert and spent a good deal of time in his homes in both Palm Springs and Rancho Mirage.

Frank Sinatra’s home: Twin Palms

Designed by the famed architect E. Stewart Williams, the Frank Sinatra Twin Palms Estate was built for Frank Sinatra and his first wife, Nancy. Natural elements paired perfectly with angular constructs of aluminum and steel and these are Williams’s calling cards, and those of the mid-century modern architecture movement of the mid-1900s in Southern California.

Bringing the outside in: Modernism in the desert

Walls of gleaming glass were incorporated to bring the desert landscape into the living area of Frank Sinatra’s Twin Palms home. This shining gem in Palm Springs, California eventually became a standard for mid-century modern design and has been recognized for seven decades as a star in the desert landscape of Southern California.

The house was completed at 1148 East Alejo Road in Palm Springs in 1947 and Sinatra lived here until 1957. It was then sold to a couple from Texas and it deteriorated somewhat until it was sold again in 1997.

E. Stewart Williams: Modernist architect

Before Frank Sinatra waltzed through his door, E. Stewart Williams was an expert in modernism. He came late to joining his family’s design firm, since after college he taught, and then worked for a retail store.

Eventually, E. Stewart Williams became known for his works exhibiting the “desert modern niche,” and this iconic Twin Palms home enjoys prestige as the architect’s first residential property in what has come be known as timeless yet modern desert architecture.

He is also known for other private residences including the Edris, Koerner and Kenaston homes as well as commercial fixtures such as the Palm Springs Art Museum. Even though Twin Palms was not his last extraordinary work, the home itself, its famous first owner, and the history of Hollywood elite guests keep visitors eager to live the life of Tinseltown glamour from its 1950’s heyday.

When Frank asks, you listen. Then change his mind.

The Williams-Sinatra pairing was unusual. Sinatra had ideas for a grandiose Georgian mansion in Palm Springs when he entered William’s offices, holding an ice cream cone and wearing a sailor’s cap, as the story goes.

This idea was a way for Sinatra to show off his newly found wealth and prestige after he made his first million dollars. In an incredible act of foresight, Williams was able to convince Sinatra that the site of his planned home would instead be the perfect landscape for a mid-century modern offering.

Williams had a vision and knew this location needed to be used for something special, but even so, it never pays to tick off the client by ignoring his wishes, so he provided Sinatra with designs for the requested Georgian -style design as well as Williams’ mid-century design. To his great relief, Sinatra chose the second design. The house would eventually become a 4,500 square foot design with sleek lines, spacious living areas and open concept indicative of mid-century modern style.

Sinatra’s Twin Palms home in Palm Springs

The front elevation of the home presents a gently sloping “shed-style” roofline that nestles its angles into the natural environment of the desert landscape. Framed by the shallow foothills of Mt. San Jacinto State Park, the two palm trees that sit poolside were known to be the tallest in the area during Sinatra’s tenure (hence the name “Twin Palms”). While the crooner’s original Georgian request would have stuck out against the views, Twin Palms looks as if it was a natural fit against the stark beauty of the Palm Springs desertscape.

The home is intended for indoor/outdoor living and entertaining, as walls of windows invite guests to relax in its spacious interior, or saunter outside for a dip in its piano-shaped pool.

The now famous piano-shape was a coincidental result of the design that needed to bring two wings of the home into a cohesive unit.

The straight steel columns as well as stone and wood facades function as intended, providing a clean and spacious-feeling residence in the California desert. Opening the wall-sized sliding glass doors truly brings the veranda into the home and would give Sinatra the feeling of openness and serenity he sought while escaping the pressures of Hollywood fame and its prying eyes. As Sinatra intended, the retreat allowed him “to get away from it all, but not too far away.”

Sinatra did bring a bit of Hollywood to the desert. He invited his friends to stay in one of the four bedrooms, creating a Hollywood home away from Hollywood home. The comfortably designed but well-appointed rooms served visitors and the host well both when his wife and children made Twin Palms a family residence, and when he was living the solo party life. With seven coral-colored and desert inspired bathrooms, guests would never need to wait to freshen up or slip into a suit for a late night dip.

Sinatra family leaves its mark on Twin Palms with cracked sink

The guests seem to have avoided leaving a mark on the home during their visits, but the same is not the case with the Sinatra family

In a now famous and well documented story about the home, actress Ava Gardner cracked a bathroom sink after hurling something (a champagne bottle? A rocks glass? Ashtray?) at Sinatra. Some versions of the tale have Sinatra doing the hurling, but regardless of whose errant aim cracked the porcelain vanity, the mark stays as testament to just one of the wild and historic nights Twin Palms has seen.

Twin Palms : Historic home

Today Twin Palms is a Class 1 Historic Site as designated by the City of Palm Springs in 2001. The home epitomizes all that’s right and beautiful about desert modernism. The home’s application to the National Registry of Historic Places was accepted as an architectural gem which “embodies the distinctive characteristics of mid-century residential architecture as interpreted by E. Stewart Williams.”

If you’re looking for a swank place to stay during a visit to Palm Springs, this home can be rented out, sleeping eight people for about $2,200 a night. Guests can still party like the Rat Pack with the use of a vintage 1950s recording system built into the main living area by Valentino Electronics.

Frank Sinatra’s songs may still waft through the air on any given night, but it is the architectural design of E. Stewart Williams’ Twin Palms that carries the melody of desert modernism in the heart of Palm Springs.

Frank Sinatra House in Palm Springs

Legendary singer Frank Sinatra turns 100 years old. We are talking about his favorite home in California.

Dec. 12, 2015

In 1947, Palm Springs was an army SUV: unpaved roads, dunes, tumbleweeds. The real American desert, like in a movie about cowboys. Frank Sinatra built the famous Twin Palms house there - several pages are devoted to him in the guide to Palm Springs. Every day when it was cocktail time, Sinatra would raise a special flag on the flagpole in front of the entrance so that other famous residents of Palm Springs would look at the light.

Sinatra built his first house in Palm Springs in 1947. In the mid-1950s, he purchased a larger piece of land nearby, the Mirage Ranch. Here he lived until 1995 in the company of various wives, numerous friends, seven dogs and four cats.