Palm Desert, CA (IMG) (Images of America)
Title: New Historical Society book tells story of Palm DesertAuthor: Gina TenorioPublisher: The Desert SunDate: 2/12/2009The Historical Society of Palm Desert is ready to debut the first history book written about the city.The release of “Images of America, Palm Desert,” will be celebrated from 3 to 6 p.m. Feb. 20 at the Palm Desert Visitor Center.The 128-page book contains dozens of photos of the city's history.Members of the Historical Society of Palm Desert who contributed to the book are scheduled to attend and answer questions.Hal Rover, past president of the historical society, teamed with society board member Kim Housken and board vice president Brett Romer to create the book.The book's authors, who spent months putting it together, are anticipating the release.“We basically spent every day in July and August that the historical society was closed working on this,” Rover said. “We were there every day. For two months we were pretty much married to the historical society building.”But it was well worth it, because the book tells Palm Desert's story, and it will serve as a fundraiser for the historical society, he said.The photo-heavy book was published by Arcadia Publishing, which publishes local history books.The project was labor of love, Rover said. He is surprised that the book appears to be the only historical piece about Palm Desert.“You go to Palm Springs, there might be five or 10,” Rover said. “Not for Palm Desert. And we have a lot of great history.”Prominently featured are the Henderson brothers, Palm Desert's founding fathers.Randall and Cliff Henderson, native Iowans, moved to California to make their mark and wound up starting businesses in the area in the 1940s.Title: Palm Desert prepares to tell its story in old photographs; more are soughtAuthor: Steve MoorePublisher: The Press-EnterpriseDate: 1/5/2008PALM DESERT will soon join a growing list of Inland-area cities, communities and institutions featured in a national publisher's local-history series.With its celebrity past and evolution from small town to resort/retail giant in the Coachella Valley, Palm Desert fits perfectly into the Images of America series, said Hal Rover, a board member of The Historical Society of Palm Desert."We've needed this book for a long time," he said. "People will throw it on their coffee table, and visitors will take it home with them."Pick almost any place or institution in Riverside or San Bernardino county and Arcadia Publishing has produced a book about it. In all, more than 40 local-history books have been done about some aspect of the Inland area.Some featured titles include: "Vintage Postcards of Palm Springs," "San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department," "The Marine Corps in Twentynine Palms," "San Bernardino," "Lake Arrowhead," "Native Americans of Riverside County," "Kaiser Steel,Fontana," "Banning," "San Timoteo Canyon," "Redlands," "Corona," "Temecula" and "Blythe and the Palo Verde Valley."Some experts say the easily accessible format of about 200 captioned pictures gets local history to the masses. It also may encourage people to do a little digging into and writing about the past."It's bringing local history to a much wider audience," said historian Steve Leech, who has done four of the Arcadia volumes as well as written a book of his own, "Along the Old Roads -- A History of the Portion of Southern California That Became Riverside County, 1772-1893."Leech is the author of Arcadia's "Riverside in Vintage Postcards," "Resorts of Riverside County," "Riverside's Mission Inn" and "Riverside: 1870-1940."Colorful PastRover flipped through desert photos showing the likes of presidents John F. Kennedy and Dwight D. Eisenhower as well as Ronald Reagan before the actor-turned-governor became president."It's time we had something like this for Palm Desert," he said. "Many areas have had huge success with this kind of book, selling up to 5,000 copies."At his elbow were shots of a preteen Candice Bergen sitting with her father, ventriloquist Edgar Bergen, who ran a local grape ranch long before Palm Desert incorporated in 1973. A black-and-white shot from 1947 depicts two women in bathing suits sailing across a new lake at the Shadow Mountain Resort.The Historical Society has thousands of photos already, but it needs more -- particularly ones that have never been published.Rover believes there are gems tucked away in drawers, in family albums and elsewhere."Hopefully, we'll see photos of some people who visited here but that we don't even know about."Pictures considered for publication will be scanned and returned to their owners. Volunteers will even pick up and return the photos, Rover said.He's counting on the public supplying 20 to 25 photos for the book.A committee will select pictures and decide on chapter subjects for a book that will be written by Ann Japenga, a member of the Historical Society. Decisions on some chapters have already been made. They will feature the pioneering Henderson family, celebrities, water, agriculture, Highway 74 and education, beginning with the founding of College of the Desert.Local FundraiserFinal contract details are being worked out for an initial press run of 2,500 books, Rover said. The society's first order will be 400 books.The book, which will be priced at $20, should hit the shelves about Dec. 1, he said.Copies will be sold at chain bookstores, the Palm Desert Visitors Center and the Historical Society of Palm Desert.In all, 2,500 to 5,000 books could be sold, Rover said.Book sales could trigger a tidy fundraiser for the nonprofit organization -- possibly $25,000 to $40,000 -- Rover said.And there's already demand for a pictorial history of Palm Desert."People always want something to take with them," Rover said, glancing at nearby memorabilia. "Now, we will have it."The Historical Society Museum is open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the old Palm Desert Firehouse, 72-861 El Paseo Drive. It is closed Sunday.The mailing address is Historical Society of Palm Desert, Box 77, Palm Desert, CA 92261-0077.Information: 760-346-6588 or hspd.orgTitle: Vintage postcards offer slice of Palm Desert lifeAuthor: Jamie Lee PricerPublisher: Desert SunDate: 3/16/09When Arcadia Publishing released its “Images of America” book on Palm Desert in February, it also printed a set of 15 postcards featuring a selection of vintage photos from the book.Here are three of them, with slices of life in Palm Desert from as far back as the early 20th century.The sets are available at:Historical Society of Palm Desert, 72-861 El Paseo, Palm Desert, 346-6588.Arcadia Publishing, 888-313-2665, arcadiapublishing.comCost: $7.99As the Coachella Valley experiences great growth and change, it’s interesting to recall how our desert was settled and developed. Our History, a weekly feature appearing on Monday in The Desert Sun, offers tidbits of desert history and lore. If you have history you’d like to share, please contact:Jamie Lee Pricer750 N. Gene Autry TrailPalm Springs, CA 92262 or jamie.pricer@thedesertsun.com