A Dreamy Read

I love to read history books- but I really love to read history books written by people I know. My dear friend, and Hollywood history idol, Steve Vaught has, along with co-author Tracy Conrad, just completed a gorgeous book about the historic Palms Springs home/inn, The Willows. Einstein Dreamt Here achieves the wonderful goal of making a home the main character in a story that stretches all the way back to the beginning of Palm Springs itself. With plentiful pictures and immersive detail, the book chronicles the story of the design, subsequent ownership, and revitalization of a true desert icon. Einstein's stay at the Willows is the titular focus- but he wasn't the only luminary to put their feet up in this oasis. Of particular Hollywood history note, the silent-film star Marion Davies owned the Willows for five years in the mid-'50's.

Davies is one of those stars who have undergone substantial revisiting due to the passage of time. Her legacy was originally tarnished in the early '40's when Orson Welles publicly based the drunken, washed-up singer Susan Alexander Kane on Davies. The only problem is, that Davies and her career bore little semblance to the tragic character Dorothy Comingore portrayed in Citizen Kane (1941). But in true Liberty Valance style, it's the legend that people remembered. I highly recommend reading up on Davies and if you can, catch one of her films. I am particularly fond of The Red Mill (1927) where Davies is a sheer delight as an imaginative barmaid. And it's directed by another silent film star whose career went south due to bad press, Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle.

But before you do that, grab a copy of Einstein Dreamt Here and luxuriate in some great California architectural history from one of the most knowledgeable writers on the topic.