Ingleside Inn - Adults Only

A 1920s Estate That Hollywood Kept Secret

In 1922, heirs to the Pierce Arrow Motor Company hired Santa Barbara architect George Washington Smith to build a two-acre Spanish Colonial Revival estate behind hedges on the edge of downtown Palm Springs. Seventeen years later, hostess Ruth Hardy turned it into a private club: stays were by invitation, dinner guests required approval, and the roster that passed through, Marilyn Monroe, Clark Gable, Elizabeth Taylor, Marlon Brando, Salvador Dalí, never advertised itself. Wrought-iron gates, exposed beams, Spanish tile floors, and a scatter of vintage casitas around a courtyard fountain survive largely as built. The estate changed hands and names over the decades, but the bones Smith drew in 1922 are still the ones guests walk through today.

Why It Works

We chose Ingleside Estate for the rare thing a renovation usually erases: continuity. Proper Hospitality's restoration, completed after PlumpJack Group's earlier work, kept the original Spanish Colonial architecture, the courtyards, and the scale, this is still a collection of casitas and bungalows around gardens, not a resort tower. Melvyn's, the restaurant and lounge Mel Haber opened in the 1970s, still operates on-site, carrying the estate's social history into the present rather than retiring it to a lobby plaque. Few Palm Springs addresses can claim a hundred unbroken years on the same two-acre footprint.

Why This Location

The estate sits at the edge of downtown Palm Springs, close enough to walk to Palm Canyon Drive's restaurants and galleries without hearing the traffic from behind its hedges. Joshua Tree National Park is within reach for a day trip east, and the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway is a short drive north for anyone who wants mountain air after desert heat. The property's own two acres, courtyards, gardens, and a pool ringed by palm trees, are reason enough to stay close to the grounds for most of a visit.

Fast Facts

• Price: Luxe

• Vibe: historic, discreet, old-Hollywood glamour

• Rooms: 30, a mix of casitas and bungalows around the estate's courtyards

• Best For: couples and travelers drawn to Palm Springs' Hollywood-era history over newly built resorts

• Our Favorite Thing About the Hotel: the wrought-iron gates and Spanish tile floors original to the 1922 build

• Dining: Melvyn's restaurant and lounge, on-site since the 1970s

• Amenities: Estrella Spa, courtyard pool, mountain views, event and wedding spaces, adults-only, pets welcome

• Attractions: Palm Canyon Drive, Joshua Tree National Park, Palm Springs Aerial Tramway

A Century of Quiet Fame

What distinguishes Ingleside Estate from Palm Springs' other historic addresses is how little it tried to be famous. Ruth Hardy's 1939 private club operated on referral, not advertising, and the guests who found their way in came precisely because no one else could. That instinct for discretion carried through Winston Cowgill's 1965 ownership and into Mel Haber's 1975 restoration, which opened the doors to the public without opening them wide. The 2016 renovation under PlumpJack Group and the 2019 arrival of Proper Hospitality modernized the rooms without touching the estate's basic character: low-slung casitas, hedged courtyards, and a scale that has never chased a resort's room count.

Before You Book

The estate is adults-only, and the grounds reward a slower pace than a typical Palm Springs stay, guests come to sit in the courtyard, eat at Melvyn's, and use the spa rather than treat the property as a base for sightseeing. Check-in runs from 4pm into the evening, and check-out is at 11am. The Estrella Spa and event spaces are bookable separately for guests planning a wedding or a longer stay, and pets are welcome on the grounds. Walk-in dining at Melvyn's is possible, but a reservation is the safer bet on weekends, when the lounge fills with guests staying elsewhere in Palm Springs just for the evening.